Whether raising capital, reporting to investors, or building marketing and communication strategies, mission-driven businesses must stress not only financial viability, but also social or environmental value. IRIS provides a respected and independent standard by which mission-driven businesses can measure and report their impact. IRIS adoption also enables organizations to measure and evaluate performance against industry benchmarks and internally-set performance goals.
IRIS adoption helps mission-driven companies:
- Manage toward increased social or environmental impact
- Attract capital
- Report to investors
Companies that wish to report their performance using the IRIS standards are not expected to report data for all indicators within the IRIS framework, nor are they precluded from reporting data outside the scope of IRIS. Companies can adopt IRIS by identifying the IRIS indicators that best convey the overall performance of the organization, and reporting performance data consistent with the IRIS definitions.
The following process is recommended for organizations wishing to adopt IRIS.
- Identify Impact Areas: Determine the primary social and environmental impacts associated with the organization’s activities as well as any other impacts that are material to the organization’s stakeholders.
- Determine Applicable IRIS Indicators: For each of the identified impact areas, browse the IRIS framework and identify the applicable metrics. Start with the “cross sector” indicators, and then look at the “sector specific” indicators for those sectors that are relevant to the organization. (Note: If you cannot find an indicator to measure a critical objective of the organization, you should still track the information as a non IRIS indicator. IRIS accepts suggestions for new indicators here)
- Establish Reporting Protocols: Determine how the required data will be collected and how frequently it will be reported. Establish or adapt businesses processes to collect the necessary data for each selected indicator.
For additional guidance:
- Review the sample reports provided on the IRIS website, especially for those examples that are relevant to your organization.
- Contact key organizational stakeholders to discuss the social and environmental objectives that are important to them.