Overcoming the 3 Myths of Social Impact

Marianna Lemus Boskovitch is a senior impact measurement specialist with over 10 years of experience developed across the UK not-for-profit and private sector. Her expertise spans across the planning, design, commissioning and reporting of policies, programmes and strategies in different domains, in the UK, EU and US.

Committed to contributing to evidence-based planning, Marianna’s expertise stems from assessing data availability and constraints in order to develop proportionate impact measurement approaches helping clients making informed decision-making.

Before joining Purpose Impact Action, Marianna was Senior Consultant at BOP Consulting – a UK-based leading consulting practice for culture and the creative economy. In that role, she helped various UK government departments and museums evaluate the effectiveness of their work, focusing on social impact, and bringing about systems-level change.

Marianna also worked at RSM UK and Ipsos MORI Policy and Evaluation Unit where she led the Economic Consulting team on the development of theory-based evaluation frameworks, responsible for overseeing the robustness of the research work underpinning impact studies.

Prior to working in the private sector, Marianna was the Research and Evaluation Manager at Young Enterprise – the UK leading financial and enterprise education provider – where she set up the evaluation practice, and oversaw the charity’s expanding impact measurement expertise.

Marianna graduated with an MSc in Development Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London, and a BSc (hons) in Economics with Economic History from Queen Mary University of London. She is also a Senior Associate at BOP Consulting, a member of the European Evaluation Society and a Social Return on Investment Practitioner Training (Social Value UK).

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

I hope to see NGOs and businesses prioritising evidence and impact measurement in all social policies, interventions and/or programmes.

I believe that focused monitoring and evaluation is a critical step that can change lives. To secure better outcomes for society, it is critical that the full power of impact measurement is realised by NGOs and businesses.

Implementing social impact strategies for evaluation can lead to continuous improvement in decision-making, greater impact, and will reinforce public trust and foster a culture of continuous learning.

Pia Wong, a social impact leader with 25+ years of experience, specializes in stakeholder engagement and measuring, improving, and communicating organizational impact. Pia’s passion in impact measurement stems from her 12-year tenure as Executive Director at Bring Me A Book Hong Kong, and her corporate communications experience at Weber Shandwick and Synovate.

As the Founder of Purpose Impact Action Ltd., Pia helps businesses, NGOs and social enterprises evaluate the effectiveness of their work, strengthen governance and operations, using globally recognized impact standards. Pia also advises on social impact strategies, and helps companies mitigate greenwashing through improvement tools such as the B Impact Assessment.

To address systemic challenges in the NGO sector in HK during the height of the pandemic, Pia co-founded Voice for Social Good, ensuring partnerships between nonprofits and funders are based on trust and deliver on impact.

In 2020, as part of her work for Voice for Social Good, Pia was recognized as 2020 AmCham Women of Influence nominee for “Global Issues, Local Heroes, Women Taking the Lead.”
More recently, Voice for Social Good was a 2024 finalist for the Shared Value Initiative Award for Bravery.

Pia has a BA (Hons) from University College London and received a scholarship to attend Harvard Business School (HBS) Executive Education program on Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management. Pia has also successfully obtained the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership’s (CISL)’s Business Sustainability Management Certificate and Impact Measurement and Management for the SDGs certificate from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme SDG Impact.

My Sustainability Goals for 2024:

I hope to see more businesses in Hong Kong partner with NGOs strategically to address many of the social issues in Hong Kong.

NGOs, with the support and guidance from their board members, invest more time and resources into impact measurement for better due diligence. I truly believe this will elevate trust between funders and NGOs, which in turn will increase operational funding (eg. staff salaries, capacity building) for the NGO’s long-term sustainability and impact.