Matt Stevenson-Dodd: Measuring What Matters in Social Enterprise

Join hosts Paul Edginton and Milly Albers as they sit down with Matt Stevenson-Dodd, founder of Trust Impact, to unpack how organisations can run with rigour while staying true to purpose. Matt shares how his early youth work and personal journey shaped a commitment to better outcomes for young people, and why live, simple evidence matters more than bulky reports.Through this conversation, Matt explains how joined up data and live dashboards help organisations make faster, smarter decisions, why publishing honest failure builds credibility with funders and communities, and how running a social enterprise with commercial discipline protects mission and impact. He also outlines the origins of Trust Impact, the governance lessons from a YMCA pilot that joined federated databases to create a live impact dashboard, and practical steps leaders can take to move from backward looking reports to real time evidence.In this episode:• The core principles of measurement design and how to decide what truly matters• The YMCA pilot that linked federated databases and the governance lessons it revealed• Building dashboards that support both frontline decision making and strategic oversight• How transparency around success and failure strengthens credibility with funders and staff• Practical steps for leaders to move from static reporting to live evidence through governance, pilots and continual improvementThis episode is for anyone working in charities, social enterprise, policy, or program delivery who wants frameworks that actually move the dial, and practical examples of how to measure impact without getting lost in complexity.