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Understanding the Emerging Field of Evaluation in Corporate Social Good

Driven by our commitment to understanding social impact, our Corporate Measurement & Evaluation Community of Practice (CoP) conducted a comprehensive benchmarking survey of CSR practitioners at global companies from June to September of this year, gathering insights from 30 companies. 

As companies make plans for 2025, we have heard from many members of the CoP that they are making decisions about how much to budget for their social impact evaluation work, how many positions they need in their staffing plan, and where they should be directing their evaluation resources.  

We believe this is the perfect time to share some key highlights from our survey findings. Stay tuned for the full report, Understanding the Emerging Field of Evaluation in Corporate Social Good (scheduled for release in February), which will provide a comprehensive look at the current landscape of social impact measurement and evaluation, spotlighting emerging trends, critical challenges, and innovative best practices in the field. 

Finding 1: Evaluation staffing is spread thin and wide. 
  • ½ of the companies that responded don’t have a full-time evaluator. 
  • Staff combine evaluation with other responsibilities, generally distributing responsibilities among several people.  
  • Overall evaluation staffing capacity has remained stable, with 21% increasing, 17% decreasing, and 59% reporting no change in headcount. 

Finding 2: Corporate staff doing evaluation have learned on the job and have limited options for building their capacity. 

Of the staff who have evaluation responsibilities, how would you characterize their overall, aggregate level of evaluation experience?

Only 10% of companies regularly invest in evaluation capacity building.
55% of respondents don’t think their company has sufficiently invested in evaluation.
Finding 3- Evaluation budgets are small – and this is one of the biggest challenges faced by evaluators in a corporate setting. 

The biggest challenges faced by corporate evaluators:

  1. Limited capacity (expertise, staff time, budget, and resources)
  2. Disparate data systems and lack of centralized processes (fragmented data systems)
  3. Lack of clear vision on program goals, outcomes, or established theory of change

To receive an advance copy of our report, Understanding the Emerging Field of Evaluation in Corporate Social Good, contact us!

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