How we will report impact

Reporting impact well means telling the truth about what happened for the people we served — including the parts that did not go as we hoped — with the numbers to back it up.

Why this page exists before we have data

Publishing a methodology before the first Annual Impact Report is a discipline against the temptation to select measures after the fact that make the charity look good. Everything below has been adopted by the Board as our reporting spine. We will not change these definitions to flatter a year.

Our reporting principles

1. Truth over polish. The numbers are the numbers. Where a period was harder than expected, or where we did not serve as many people as we planned, we say so, and we explain why.
2. Beneficiaries first, not brand. No individual beneficiary appears by name or in identifying detail in our reporting without their fully informed, revocable, written consent — and even then only where they have expressed a wish for it. This is the discipline set by our Beneficiary Depiction Guardrails.
3. Unit costs are published. Every year we publish what a casework hour cost us on average. Not to compete with other charities on efficiency, but to let readers understand the shape of the work.
4. Methodology moves slowly. Definitions change only with Board approval and only where a genuine measurement flaw or a change in the operating environment justifies it. Every definition change is disclosed in the report in which it takes effect and reconciled to the prior year.
5. Comparators are honest. Where we compare against sector benchmarks, we say where the benchmark came from and what its limits are.

What the Annual Impact Report will contain

• A letter from the Board — a one-page narrative statement, signed by the chair, that is honest about the year that was.
• Beneficiary story summary — anonymised composite cases that illustrate the work, with beneficiary depiction discipline applied.
• Outputs — beneficiaries served, debts resolved, casework hours (definitions as in /grants-pipeline).
• Outcomes — self-reported distress reduction, referrer feedback, post-bereavement estate impact (once the third cohort measurement is complete and independently reviewed).
• Financials summary — a plain-language summary of the audited financial statements, unit-cost table, and reserves position.
• Governance summary — Board composition, meetings held, conflicts declared and managed, complaints received and their disposition.
• The full audited financial statements — filed with ACNC and available on our site.
• Where we did not get it right — a dedicated section for the year's disappointments, misses, and lessons.
• What we will change next year — one page. No more, no less.

Template (working draft)

A downloadable template of the Annual Impact Report — as a PDF and as an editable document — will be provisioned in Sprint 37 alongside the media kit. Grantmakers wishing to see the working template in advance may request it via grants@cosailifewithoutdebt.org.

Methodology notes

On outputs. A "casework cycle" is defined as an intake conversation, a documented plan, at least one direct negotiation with a creditor on the beneficiary's behalf, and a documented conclusion (resolved, referred on, or withdrawn). A "beneficiary served" is one unique person for whom at least one full casework cycle was completed in the reporting period.

On outcomes. Self-reported distress reduction uses a brief pre/post measure, opt-in, anonymised. Referrer feedback uses a structured post-engagement survey. Post-bereavement estate impact is measured only for a consented subset and only after independent methodological review, published no earlier than the third annual report.

On costs. Unit-cost per casework hour is calculated as total operating cost divided by total supervised casework hours delivered. Overheads are not stripped out; the true cost of delivering casework includes supervision, training, insurance, technology, and audit.

Compliance cross-reference

This methodology is designed to satisfy ACNC Annual Information Statement requirements, ACNC Governance Standard 2 (accountability to members and the public), and the reasonable expectations of major donors, grantmakers, and corporate partners.

Privacy & complaints

Impact-reporting data is aggregated and anonymised; individual beneficiary detail is protected under our Privacy Policy. Concerns about methodology or reporting can be raised via /complaints.

Version 0.1 · HA1 draft · Sprint 36. Related: Grants pipeline · Major-donor case for support · Beneficiary Depiction Guardrails · Board & Governance.