More than ever, funders are looking for concise, evidence-based impact stories – hard data to reinforce programs’ narrative anecdotes and stories of success. One nonprofit, Hero Spark, is leveraging the Impact Genome®’s standardized outcomes to align its programs to evidence-based practices and to more clearly communicate its mission.

Hero Spark is an “Orlando-based nerd-nonprofit that teaches kids how to learn through unplugged games and gaming.” While the organization is currently adjusting programming to fit the current needs of children and youth at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, their focus remains the same: infusing strategic board and role-playing games with social-emotional skills so students can understand that learning is a life-long, fun endeavor.

Hero Spark completed the Impact Genome’s nonprofit program impact survey in the Winter of 2019 as part of a collective impact initiative with the Central Florida Foundation to better understand the breadth and depth of services in a region.

“I was very energized to go through the process, and honestly, it really allowed me to dig deep into my program, something that isn’t always on top of my day to day to-do list.” – Phil Zoshak, Founder, Hero Spark

Hero Spark decided to report on their largest of three programs. After-School Adventures is an after-school drop-in tutoring program implemented at libraries around the county using elements of Dungeons & Dragons and similar games. In the Impact Genome survey, all programs select the set of outcomes they work towards, then prioritize one as their “Primary Outcome” to benchmark across other programs in the Impact Genome database. For Hero Spark, this was an easy decision: Social and Emotional Skills:

“My initial reaction was a lightbulb going off in my head, EUREKA! For years I have been trying to categorize what we do at Hero Spark in a simple yet impactful way. Throughout the survey, I realized that we were firmly in the 21st-century skill set, something I wasn’t familiar with at the time, but soon realized that we were practicing these skills in all Hero Spark programming.” – Phil Zoshak

Aligning to a standardized outcome prompted Phil and the team to do more research about 21st century skills, revamping all three of their programs to more clearly focus on improving the outcome criteria listed above. They already did work with social-emotional and educational skills, but this enabled them to more clearly communicate their work and demonstrate their impact.

“I feel way more confident in reporting my data and the impact of our programs to our funders. The [Impact Genome® Scorecard] was a real game-changer for us, and an important tool in our funding arsenal.” – Phil Zoshak

To nonprofits with who are looking for new ways to demonstrate their impact, Phil recommends aligning to standardized outcomes.

“because it’s a good compliment to the appeals we already create for donors. There is a certain fear among donors about what the impact of their gift will be. I believe the Impact Genome allows us to allay these fears and adds a sense of data to the donor process. Storytelling will always be key to donations, but I believe backing those stories up with real data on how a donor’s gift will be used is important.” – Phil Zoshak

Are you a nonprofit interested in learning more about aligning to standardizing outcomes and measuring your impact? Or are you a funder who wants to learn how to better support grantee evaluation? Visit impactgenome.org to check out the Impact Genome’s taxonomy of standardized outcomes, explore levels of evidence, and see how your nonprofit compares to peer programs.

Additional questions? Get in touch at https://impactgenome.org/contact/

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