Developed by a community of over 2000 practitioners through the Impact Management Project. The Five Dimensions represent a set of management questions that, when answered, help fully understand an individual impact and compare or choose between different impacts. These questions guide measurement and the data requirements for impact measurement and management (see Impact data categories below).

What – What outcome level is occurring in the period? Is it positive or negative relative to an outcome threshold? How important is the outcome to the people (or planet) experiencing it?
Who – Who experiences the outcome? How underserved are the affected Stakeholders in relation to the outcome (when comparing the baseline to the outcome threshold)?
How much – What is the change in outcome? For how many people? And for how long does it last?
Contribution – Would the change likely have happened anyway?
Risk – What is the risk to people and planet that impact does not occur as expected?

Impact Frontiers (2022). Five Dimensions of Impact. https://impactfrontiers.org/norms/five-dimensions-of-impact/