Making your economic impact assessment count

Our recent interview with Tim Fanning highlighted how broad economic impact work can really be.  

But being so immersed in this work, it’s easy for us to forget how unfamiliar this niche world can be. So, if you’re thinking about commissioning an impact assessment, read our insights into what makes a successful study.  

Before embarking on any impact study, consider these critical questions:   

• How do we want to use this?
• Who do we want to read it?  
• What key messages do we want to convey?  
• What data do we have to inform this?   

Getting clear about these things helps ensure the study is appropriately tailored.   

Sometimes you’ll have a specific audience in mind. Where this is a local community, headline stats and visual communication is most effective. But there might be a wide range of audiences, in which case you’ll need to deploy a variety of approaches.

Measure the right things 

Make sure you measure what’s most relevant to the audience and the purpose of the study.    

Most studies will focus on core economic effects as a base—through direct activity, supply chain effects (indirect) and personal spending effects (induced).   

From there, wider impacts might be focused on, depending on the purpose and audience. It might be appropriate (or tempting) to try and capture all of these other socio-economic and environmental impacts. But be careful: being this ambitious takes time and resources, and going too broad can obscure the key messages you want to get across. So, focus on what is material.  

In a recent study of a major proposed infrastructure project in a remote territory, it was essential for us to cover all socio-economic effects because there were important policy implications that flowed from these. Whereas our work for BT is more narrowly focused on the company’s core economic footprint, because its scale and geographic spread is compelling in itself.  

Get the right data  

It pays to work out in advance what kind of data you can access, and whether it has the level of detail (e.g., by geography) you need. Do any aspects need primary research? How long will it take to collect?  

It might be easy, for example, to gather figures on direct employment from your organisation or project, but getting data on the effects of your community engagement activity will likely be more complex and require some survey work.   

Involve stakeholders  

A good impact study is not just about putting data through a sausage machine. It brings in the views of stakeholders to substantiate and bring to life claims that are being made. Stakeholders might be local policymakers, national stakeholders in an industry body, or beneficiaries of a programme of activity. So, gather their viewpoints through one-to-ones and focus groups.   

We did this recently for the Glasgow School of Art, by consulting with local stakeholders and testing findings through a workshop with the Board of Governors. Their insight shed new light on the project and helped us establish their unique role in the ecosystem.  

Communicate the results effectively  

Above all, a successful study needs to have a clear narrative—numbers are of little value unless that are part of a compelling story. To strengthen your narrative:

• Put impacts into context. For example, what is your contribution as a proportion of the local economy? How do the impacts fit with wider government policy objectives?   
• Bring your findings back to the original questions you set out to answer.  
• Be credible and realistic with the numbers you put out, or you will lose the audience.   
• Be transparent about the assumptions and methods to satisfy technical reviewers.   

At Hatch, we are well versed in tackling these considerations head on, to make sure that your economic impact assessment delivers on your original objectives, whatever your sector, audience or scale.  

Contact Hatch today to start the conversation about how we can help you understand the impact your project, asset, organisation or institution is having.