Overview

Your work likely produces impact across multiple dimensions, even if you haven't formally categorized it yet. Some organizations expand access to resources. Others strengthen financial stability or build individual skills. Some improve community health. Others reshape infrastructure or shift cultural narratives.

The six categories:

• Access — Opening doors to resources, services, or opportunities

• Economic — Improving financial stability or creating pathways to income

• Capacity-Building — Strengthening skills, knowledge, or organizational capability

• Wellbeing — Supporting physical, mental, or emotional health

• Environment/Infrastructure — Improving physical conditions or systems

• Cultural — Shifting narratives, representation, or community identity

Understanding these categories helps you recognize patterns in your outcomes and communicate them more effectively. You'll use this framework to organize examples and build a record that strengthens every proposal you write.

What's Next

The next lesson walks you through documenting your own impact examples and building a living log inside your Grant Operating System.