Antworks Community

From January 1, 2026, something important shifts in the charity world. The updated Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) now mandates impact reporting as a “must” for all charities. For some, this news lands like yet another compliance burden. But what if we told you this could be where the real joy of charity work lives?

At Antworks Community, we’ve spent a lot of time with small charities and community projects. We’ve seen the exhaustion that comes from chasing numbers – counting beneficiaries, logging activities, ticking boxes. We’ve also seen the spark that lights up when someone shares a story about the moment everything changed for one person, one family, one community.

The new SORP requirements ask charities to move beyond listing activities to demonstrating the actual difference made. This means focusing on what changes rather than just output metrics. And yes, we know what you’re thinking: “Great, more work.” But hear us out.

What if monitoring impact could reconnect you with why you started this work in the first place?

The numbers matter. Of course they do. Funders need to know how many people you’ve reached, how many sessions you’ve run, how many meals you’ve served. But those numbers are only the beginning of the story, not the story itself.

The real story lives in what happened next. It lives in the person who came to your community café isolated and anxious, and six months later is volunteering to welcome others. It lives in the young person who couldn’t look anyone in the eye at your youth project, who now stands up to speak at your annual meeting. It lives in the parent who thought they were failing, who learned they were already enough.

These are the stories that remind you, on the hardest days, why this work matters.

Chose impact frameworks that honour stories alongside statistics

Most Significant Change (MSC) for example is one of a number of participatory monitoring and evaluation approaches that collects stories of change and analyses them to understand impact. Don’t let the formal name put you off. Story-based Impact Monitoring approaches are essentially this simple: you ask the people involved in your work to tell you about the changes they’ve experienced or witnessed, then you collectively make sense of those stories.

We don’t think you need to implement a complicated monitoring framework in its full, academic glory (though you absolutely can do that if you want to). What we’re encouraging is putting stories of change at the heart of your practice; and adapting your impact monitoring approach to fit your reality. Because small charities and community projects don’t need another complex system – you need something that works with the time, people and resources you actually have.

Making it work for you: simplified, safe, and dare we say it… fun?

Here’s how we think about it at Antworks Community:

Gathering stories doesn’t have to be formal. It can happen in casual conversation, through WhatsApp messages or even a TikTok reel! It can happen over a cuppa at the end of a session, or it can be something someone said that sticks in your head. The key is creating space for people to reflect on what’s changed, and listening deeply when they share.

Analysis doesn’t have to mean spreadsheets and coding frameworks. It can mean sitting together as a team, reading through the stories you’ve collected, and talking about what patterns you notice. What keeps coming up? What surprises you? What makes you feel proud? What worries you? Using a framework, such as your own Story of Change (also called Theory of Change, yikes!) can help to structure your conversation. We’ve written a guide to creating your organisations’ own Story of Change. Check it out!

Making sense of impact should be emotionally safe. This is crucial. When people share stories of change, they’re often sharing vulnerability – their own or others’. The process needs to honour that trust. This means thinking carefully about consent, about confidentiality, about how you’ll handle stories that contain difficult experiences.

And it can genuinely be enjoyable. Really. When was the last time a team meeting left you feeling energised and reconnected to your mission? Story-gathering and analysis sessions, done well, can do exactly that. They remind you that you’re not just running programmes – you’re part of people’s journeys of change.

Bringing it all together: hard data meets human story

The new SORP requirements aren’t asking you to choose between numbers and narratives. They’re asking you to show both. And actually, that makes sense. Because the numbers give scale and the stories give meaning.

When you report that 150 people attended your community events this year AND you share the story of the older gentleman who hadn’t left his house in months before he came to your coffee morning, you’re painting a complete picture. When you record that 30 young people participated in your mentoring programme AND you describe how one young person’s confidence grew enough for them to apply for college, you’re demonstrating real impact.

We’re here to help

At Antworks Community, we know that moving towards genuine impact monitoring and reporting can feel daunting, especially for smaller organisations stretched thin. That’s why we’re passionate about supporting charities and community projects to not just comply with the new requirements, but to genuinely enjoy the process.

We can help you:

• Design a simple, realistic impact monitoring approach that fits your context
• Adapting Most Significant Change or another framework to your needs and capacity
• Create emotionally safe spaces for gathering and discussing stories
• Integrate story and data collection into your existing work (not as another thing on top)
• Present your impact in ways that speak to funders, trustees, and the people you serve

The new SORP requirements might feel like pressure, but they’re also permission. Permission to slow down and ask what really changed. Permission to value stories as seriously as statistics. Permission to find joy in discovering and sharing the impact of your work.

Over to you

How are you feeling about the new impact reporting requirements? Are you already collecting stories in your work? What would make impact monitoring feel more manageable, more meaningful, or even more enjoyable for your organisation?

We’d love to hear from you. Because just like the ants that inspire our work, we know that the best solutions come from collaboration, sharing knowledge, and supporting each other to build the future we need.

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Want to talk about how Antworks Community can support your charity or community project with impact monitoring and reporting? Get in touch – we’d love to hear what you’re working on.