Transparency
Framing for Reporting
How we measure, document, and communicate our social impact — for funders, partners, and the communities we serve.
Transparency
How we measure, document, and communicate our social impact — for funders, partners, and the communities we serve.
Our Approach
Primed Community is committed to honest, structured, and useful reporting. We don’t just count activities — we track who we reach, what changes for them, and whether that change lasts. Our framework comes from public health research and is adapted for nonprofit community programs.
This page explains how we think about impact, what we measure, and how we present results to different audiences — from community members to institutional funders.
Measurement Framework
RE-AIM is an evidence-based framework developed by Glasgow et al. for evaluating the real-world impact of community programs. It asks five questions.
Who participates? The proportion and characteristics of people who engage with our programs relative to the target population — including who we’re not reaching.
We track: enrollment numbers, community demographics, dropout rates, barriers to participation.
What changes? The impact on outcomes that matter — language proficiency, employment, confidence, economic mobility, and community belonging.
We track: Storyteller income, language assessment results, employment placements, participant self-reports.
Who delivers the program? The number and type of settings and practitioners implementing our model — chapters, partner organisations, volunteer cohorts.
We track: active chapters, partner organisations, certified Storytellers, volunteer throughput.
How is it delivered? The consistency, quality, and cost of program delivery — fidelity to methodology, local adaptations, and what it takes to run well.
We track: session attendance, curriculum fidelity, volunteer hours, operational costs per participant.
Does it last? The sustained effects at individual and organisational levels — whether change endures after programs end and whether chapters become self-sustaining.
We track: 6-month follow-up outcomes, chapter self-governance milestones, Storyteller retention in tourism economy.
Source
Glasgow et al. (1999). Evaluating the public health impact of health promotion interventions. American Journal of Public Health, 89(9), 1322–1327.
In Practice
Who We Report To
Clear, accessible summaries of what the program delivered, who participated, and what changed. Shared in community meetings and via social media — in Spanish.
RE-AIM structured reports with quantitative outcomes, reach statistics, cost-per-participant analysis, and sustainability indicators. Available upon request for institutional partners.
Impact briefs aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals — SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 17 (Partnerships).
SDG Alignment
Primed’s work aligns with the following SDGs. We frame our reporting against these goals when communicating with government agencies, international NGOs, and institutional partners.
Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all, particularly those in situations of vulnerability. Our CLIL methodology and Storyteller formation pathway create sustainable, community-embedded learning pathways.
Promoting sustained, inclusive economic growth and decent work for all. Storyteller graduates earn income through tourism guiding, translation, and content creation — skills-based employment in their own communities.
Reducing inequalities within and among countries. Language access is a lever of social mobility. Our programs target communities historically excluded from quality English education and international economic networks.
Strengthening the means of implementation through global partnerships. The Dandelion Network model — 158 international volunteers from 23+ countries in 2025 — is a direct expression of SDG 17 in action.
Valuation
Quantifying the economic contribution of volunteer labour is essential for demonstrating value to funders and policy-makers. We use two established methods, applied conservatively.
$178M COP (2024)
3,560 volunteer hours × $50,000 COP/hr professional replacement rate. This method values volunteer time at the market cost of hiring equivalent professional services (Mook, Richmond & Quarter, 2007; Handy & Mook, 2011).
Our base rate of $50,000 COP/hr is below Medellín market rates for professional English instruction ($60,000–$120,000 COP/hr), making this a conservative floor estimate.
$490M COP (2024)
2.75× multiplier on the base value, reflecting created assets and indirect benefits beyond direct service hours. This aligns with standard social return on investment (SROI) methodology (Nicholls et al., 2012).
Multiplier range of 1.5–3× is standard in community development evaluation (Gaskin, 2011; Points of Light Foundation).
Volunteers contribute far more than teaching hours. The 2.75× multiplier reflects documented value creation across six categories:
Learning materials, lesson plans, and assessment tools created by skilled volunteers that persist beyond their placement.
Social media content, photography, video, and TripAdvisor reviews that drive organic visibility and tourism revenue.
Grant applications, funding proposals, and donor communications written by volunteers with professional development backgrounds.
Community garden development, space renovations, and physical improvements that increase community asset value.
Workshops (Bailemos, Parcharte, Conversemos) that attract new participants, volunteers, and alliance partners.
Word-of-mouth recruitment, international connections, and partnership introductions that compound over time.
Independent Sector — Our approach aligns with the Independent Sector’s value-of-volunteer-time methodology, the most widely adopted standard for nonprofit volunteer valuation globally.
Colombia: Ley 720 de 2001 — Colombia’s legal framework for volunteerism recognises volunteer contributions as measurable inputs to social development. Our valuation supports compliance with Colombian reporting requirements.
SROI Framework — The Social Return on Investment methodology (Nicholls et al., 2012) provides the basis for our multiplier approach. SROI captures value that traditional financial accounting misses — particularly relevant for community-embedded programs where indirect benefits compound over years.
Note: These figures represent the economic replacement value of volunteer labour and created assets — not revenue generated. Actual community economic impact through graduate employment, tourism income, and alliance partner activity is tracked separately through the RE-AIM impact framework.
Research
Primed is developing its first formal evidence synthesis — a descriptive whitepaper documenting 10 years of community-embedded education outcomes using the RE-AIM framework. This whitepaper (WP1) will provide the systematic evidence base needed to support institutional research partnerships.
We are actively seeking partnerships with universities and research institutions to advance from descriptive evidence toward hypothesis-testing studies with validated instruments, ethics approval, and longitudinal follow-up design.
Systematic community portrait: who participates, what changes, and how 10 years of engagement produced measurable outcomes. In development (2026).
Validated instruments, institutional ethics approval, and statistical rigour. Requires academic partnership. Planned post-WP1.
Multi-site evidence and a replicable model for community-embedded language education. The long-term vision.
Institutional partners, funders, and researchers can request our full RE-AIM impact reports. We are committed to transparency and evidence-based practice.
Get in TouchWe’re building an evidence base for community-embedded education. Join us as a research partner, funder, or ally.
