Impact

Motel One
We aim to use our resources meaningfully – which is why impact is very dear to our hearts.

That’s why we insist that the projects we support don’t just look good on paper but actually make a contribution to fairer educational opportunities. And this is why impact is the cornerstone of our work. We use the term ‘impact’ when the aim is to set change in motion.

If we want to have a positive influence and truly reach our target audience, we feel it’s important that we do so transparently and effectively. Impact isn’t just something in the air. Throughout the process, we strive to ensure that actions align with the original goal. And not just for ourselves, but for the projects we support as well.
Motel One

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What is Impact?

In this video, our foundation Manager Katrin Lepold-Natterer explains why the impact of the projects we support is so important to the One Foundation.

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The four ingredients

By ‘impact’, we mean the change that a project has on the target group (outcome), or on a societal level (high-level impact). This impact is generated by a project’s activities or benefits, or ‘output’. The resources used to provide these benefits are the ‘input’.

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How we define impact

Grafik zeigt die Verbindung zwischen gesellschaftlichem Problem, eingesetzten Ressourcen, Wirkung auf Gesellschaft, Ergebnissen für Zielgruppe und angebotenen Aktivitäten einer Stiftung, um soziale Ungleichheiten durch Bildung und Unterstützung junger Menschen zu verringern.Grafik zeigt die Verbindung zwischen gesellschaftlichem Problem, eingesetzten Ressourcen, Wirkung auf Gesellschaft, Ergebnissen für Zielgruppe und angebotenen Aktivitäten einer Stiftung, um soziale Ungleichheiten durch Bildung und Unterstützung junger Menschen zu verringern.

To find out where change is needed and the best way to go about it, we need to have a clear sense of the societal problem, its causes and its consequences. In turn, we can use this information to draw up impact goals.

Diagramm zeigt vier Stufen: Input (Ressourcen wie Tutoren, Raum), Output (Angebotene Dienstleistungen), Outcome (veränderte Ergebnisse wie bessere Noten) und Impact (gesellschaftlicher Einfluss wie Chancengleichheit). Jede Stufe baut logisch auf der vorherigen auf, dargestellt an einem Nachhilfe-Beispiel.Diagramm zeigt vier Stufen: Input (Ressourcen wie Tutoren, Raum), Output (Angebotene Dienstleistungen), Outcome (veränderte Ergebnisse wie bessere Noten) und Impact (gesellschaftlicher Einfluss wie Chancengleichheit). Jede Stufe baut logisch auf der vorherigen auf, dargestellt an einem Nachhilfe-Beispiel.

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Measuring impact

We aim to use our resources meaningfully, which is why we set up an ongoing impact management system in 2022. The system is being refined on an continuous basis. As the bulk of our available funding budget goes towards external projects, the One Foundation’s impact analysis is closely intertwined with these projects.


While we principally support projects committed to more equal educational opportunities, the individual approaches can vary widely. Consequently, we have not identified a set performance indicator that can be collected across all the projects to give useful, meaningful insights.

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Hand in hand with our project partners

We therefore measure impact on a project-by-project basis. Our project partners know their work better than anyone, and can decide on their own impact goals and useful indicators. At the end of the project term, our project partners refer to their own targets when reporting on achievements within the period. It’s normal for these results not to align fully with the application – but it’s good to reflect on the reasons for this and learn from it for future projects.

While the One Foundation’s financial support means the projects can be carried out, we would like to emphasise that they would never make an impact without the impressive dedication of our project partners.