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Funding
Why funders keep asking "but what does success look like?
Funders ask what success looks like because most answers are lists of activity. One sentence that defines your End Vision, and how it shapes every story you tell.
It’s one of the most common questions in a funding conversation, and one of the hardest to answer well.
Most organisations reply with a list. Workshops delivered, families supported, people reached. Those numbers matter, but they describe how busy you’ve been rather than what you’re building.
This guide is for charity leaders who want a clear answer, and want it to shape every story they tell.
The problem behind “we don’t have time”
Earlier this year I asked readers of my newsletter what was stopping them telling better impact stories. Three answers came back most: not enough time, not knowing where to start, and no budget for photography or video.
Two of those three are about clarity more than resources. When you know exactly what success looks like, you know where to start, and you stop spending time on stories that don’t help.
What success looks like
Before you choose which stories to tell, collect case studies or book a photographer, answer one question:
“
What specific change are we working towards?
I call the answer your End Vision. It describes the world your organisation is trying to bring about, in terms specific enough that you’d recognise it if you saw it.
Our End Vision
After the tragic death of my fiancé, Naz, in 2014, I set up the Naz and Matt Foundation. We could have measured success in sessions delivered or resources downloaded. Instead we wrote down the change we exist to create:
"A world where LGBTQI+ people from religious and culturally conservative backgrounds can live safely, and without fear of family rejection."
Naz and Matt Foundation
Every story we tell, every image we share and every campaign we run is tested against it. Does this move us closer to that world? If it doesn’t, we think hard about whether to tell it.
The one sentence
Here’s the simplest way to write yours:
“
Our work is successful when [specific group] can [specific action] without [specific barrier].
It forces three decisions: who the change is for, what they’ll be able to do, and what stands in their way today. Keep rewriting until each part is specific enough that a funder could picture it.
Ask for: a one-sentence End Vision, agreed by your leadership team and board, before you plan the year’s stories.
Three levels of success
A good End Vision works at three levels, and your stories should cover all three over time:
The person. What can one individual do, believe or feel that they couldn’t before?
The system. What has changed around them: in a service, a policy, a community or a family?
The evidence. What could you point to that proves the change has happened?
Most organisations tell plenty of stories at the first level and almost none at the other two. Funders want all three.
How it changes your storytelling
Once you have an End Vision, choosing stories gets easier. A moving story that doesn’t connect to it can wait. A less dramatic story that shows real movement towards it goes to the front of the queue.
It also changes how you answer the funder’s question. Instead of a list of outputs, you can say what you’re building, then show one person, one change in the system and one piece of evidence that you’re getting there.
Six questions to test your End Vision
Does it name a specific group of people?
Does it describe something they’ll be able to do, rather than something you’ll deliver?
Does it name the barrier you’re removing?
Would a funder recognise it if they saw it happening?
Can your team say it from memory?
Did your last three stories move towards it?
Where to start this week
Write your End Vision using the one sentence above. Show it to two colleagues and one trustee. If they’d each describe the change differently, keep going until they wouldn’t.
If you’d like to work out your End Vision with your whole team, and leave with a storytelling plan built around it, that’s what my social impact storytelling workshops are for.
Questions people ask
What is an End Vision?
A specific description of the change your organisation exists to create, written so that you’d recognise it if it happened.
How is it different from a mission statement?
A mission statement says what you do. An End Vision describes the world you’re trying to bring about, so you can tell whether your work and your stories are moving towards it.
How does an End Vision help with funding?
It gives you a clear answer to “what does success look like?”, and helps you choose stories that show real progress rather than activity.
Matt Mahmood-Ogston is a London-based social impact storyteller and documentary photographer. He founded the Naz and Matt Foundation in 2014 and has led it for more than 12 years.
