Write an impact report
Turn activity data and beneficiary feedback into a report that separates outputs from outcomes and is honest about the gaps.
Yours to copy, change, and make your own.
Replace every [BRACKETED PLACEHOLDER] with your own material before you send it.
Help me write the impact section of a report for a UK charity. Audience: [AUDIENCE] Period covered: [PERIOD] What we did, with numbers: [OUTPUTS] What changed as a result, with any evidence: [OUTCOMES AND EVIDENCE] Beneficiary feedback we have consent to use: [FEEDBACK] What did not go well: [WHAT DID NOT WORK] Length: [WORD COUNT] Structure: 1. Headline: the single most important change this period, in one sentence. 2. What we did: outputs, as figures, briefly. This is not the impact. 3. What changed: outcomes, each tied to the evidence supporting it. 4. What we learned, including what did not work and what we changed because of it. 5. What is next. Rules: - Never present an output as an outcome. "We ran 40 sessions" is an output; "31 of 40 participants reported sleeping better" is an outcome. Flag anywhere I have given you an output where an outcome is needed. - Use only my figures. Do not round, extrapolate, or annualise. - Where a claimed outcome has no evidence behind it, say so plainly in the text rather than dropping it. - Use British English. Finish with the claims a sceptical funder would most want evidence for.
- [AUDIENCE]
- Who reads this: trustees, a funder, supporters, the public.
- [PERIOD]
- The period the report covers.
- [OUTPUTS]
- What you delivered, with the figures exactly as you hold them.
- [OUTCOMES AND EVIDENCE]
- What changed for people, and what you have that shows it.
- [FEEDBACK]
- Quotes or survey responses, anonymised, that you may publish.
- [WHAT DID NOT WORK]
- What underperformed or was dropped, and why.
- [WORD COUNT]
- Roughly how long the section should be.
Where it shines, and where it falls over.
- Annual reports and trustees' annual reports
- End-of-grant reports back to a funder
- Turning a year of monitoring data into something a supporter will read
- Give it the bad news too. Reports that admit what did not work read as more credible, and funders notice.
- Ask it to rewrite your outcomes as a short theory of change. The gaps in your evidence become obvious.
The characteristic failure is quiet inflation. Asked for impact, a model will phrase an output as though it were an outcome, attach a cause to a correlation, and smooth over the point where your evidence runs out. Read section 3 line by line and ask of every sentence: what would I show a funder who asked me to prove this?
Numbers are the second risk. Models merge figures, attach them to the wrong period, and helpfully annualise a quarter. Check each one against your source. Nothing identifiable about a beneficiary should go into a public AI tool either, quotes included, unless it is anonymised and you hold consent to publish it.
AI output is a first draft, not a finished product. You are responsible for whatever you send, publish, or decide with it.
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