The University of Virginia, with the help of ImpactX, devised a methodology and system that reflects the impact of climate action NGOs. As a result, an online assessment and application that will assign point values to an organization’s impact was created, as well as highlighted key impact features on the NGOs’ profiles. This helps in measuring impact, specifically to create standard and quantifiable metrics for NGOs that accurately reflect their social impact over time. Several NGOs draw heavy emphasis on the work they are doing to mitigate the negative effects of climate change but do not necessarily outline how their work results in meaningful impact nor report sufficient metrics to even begin an impact assessment. It is a priority to assess how these organizations are performing in regards to metric reporting and measurable impact.

The most accurate and effective methodology for measuring the impact of climate action on NGOs is modeled after the B Impact assessment. The B Impact Assessment is a series of questions that requires companies interested in becoming B Corp certified to be transparent about their financial, social, and environmental impact. The assessment is broken down into sections of questions and assigns positive point values to the questions that influence a company's overall score when answered favorably. If a company scores above a certain number of points on the assessment, then they are evaluated and reviewed for B Corps status by the B Lab team of analysts. While this assessment is more impact-focused, a series of questions with point values that encourages companies to be more transparent about the metrics they are using and the impact they are making was devised. At the end of the assessment, the companies get a score that will reflect their levels of predictable and consistent impact.

The assessment score is out of 10 points. An NGO that receives a score between 9 to 10 points will be considered to have the “highest levels of predictable and consistent impact;” an NGO score between 2 to 0 points will have a rating of “lowest levels of predictable and consistent impact.” The use of the terms “predictable and consistent impact” is to signify whether an NGO will have high or low volatility of impact in the long term. When an NGO has high volatility, donors may be wary of making a dollar contribution because the organization in question had uneven levels of impact in the past. This will signify unknowns and even red flags. With lower volatility, equated with higher ratings, donors will have the confidence to donate to an NGO and expect predictable and consistent consequences of their dollar contribution in the future.

The Univesity of Virginia team created a series of questions based on their research on B Impact Assessment and climate action NGOs in the following categories: Impact Focus and Direction, Financials, Transparency, Membership, and Outreach. The preceding categories can be expanded based on further findings on what metrics are needed for future assessments. ImpactX is recommended to go through a series of trial runs with this assessment by encouraging several climate action NGOs to take the assessment. Upon completion of the assessment, members of ImpactX are suggested to go through each NGO’s assessment to make sure their report is valid. The points value of the proposed system assesses the potential that an organization has to create an impact. It is important to note that in order to conduct a successful impact assessment, NGOs must also have a good and transparent way of collecting data. 

This solution aims for organizations to be more transparent about the steps they are making and goals that they have towards their theory of change rather than the exact impact they have been able to achieve with their investment and donation dollars. Overall, the impact assessment for climate action NGOs and application address criteria are important in determining the social impact of an organization. Creating a standardized assessment of impact is difficult, but we hope that elements of this research and solution will be beneficial towards the efforts of quantifying social impact moving forward.