Measuring impact for the cultural heritage sector

Impact

Working in the cultural heritage sector is all about making a difference to the people who visit and use our products and services. We believe that we are all better off if we understand how the things we do contribute to bringing about change.

To support cultural heritage professionals to grow this understanding of the impact of their work and activities, we have developed the Europeana Impact Framework, which includes the Europeana Impact Playbook, resources, information and documentation to build capacity and knowledge. Explore and use them below!

The Europeana Impact Playbook is a step by step approach to help cultural heritage professionals design, measure and narrate their impact. Download the four phases of the Playbook, and explore accompanying resources from each phase to support your impact practice.

Download it today

Title:: impact exercise
Creator:: Europeana
Copyright:: CC BY-SA

Tools and knowledge

Access information and research on the impact of the Europeana Initiative through our documentation and case studies.

Title:: Star fruit, axial view, MRI
Creator:: Alexandr Khrapichev, University of Oxford
Institution:: Wellcome Collection
Country:: United Kingdom
Copyright:: CC BY

Impact Assessment Report: 'Europeana in your classroom' MOOC

This report focuses on the impact of the ‘Europeana in your classroom' MOOC, which supports teachers to use digitised cultural heritage material by providing an introduction to Europeana and relevant resources.

Title:: Passion fruit, axial view, MRI
Creator:: Alexandr Khrapichev, University of Oxford
Institution:: Wellcome Collection
Country:: United Kingdom
Copyright:: CC BY

Impact Assessment Report: Europeana 2021

This Impact Assessment Report explores Europeana’s annual conference, Europeana 2021 - Recover, Rebuild, Grow.

Title:: Cabbage, sagittal view, MRI
Creator:: Alexandr Khrapichev, University of Oxford
Institution:: Wellcome Collection
Country:: United Kingdom
Copyright:: CC BY

Impact Assessment Report: Europeana Network Association 2021

This report sets out the findings from the second investigation into members’ satisfaction and the outcomes of their participation in the Europeana Network Association.

Title:: Detail from Vas cu flori
Date:: 1930-1940
Institution:: National Heritage Institute, Bucharest
Country:: Romania
Copyright:: CC0

How to use Outcome Harvesting to investigate your impact

In 2020, Europeana piloted the use of Outcome Harvesting in our impact work, an evaluation method increasingly applied in the development sector. Here we share what we learned about the methodology, how we used it and how it could be useful to cultural heritage impact practitioners.

Title:: Detail from Landscape with a Chair
Creator:: Galanda, Mikuláš
Date:: 1929/1930
Institution:: Slovak national gallery
Country:: Slovakia
Copyright:: Public Domain

Our impact word of the year: embedding

For a decade, Europeana has been working to standardise an approach that we - and others - could adopt to better understand the impact of digital cultural heritage. We look at the progress we have made towards this goal over the last year.

Title:: Monastère fortifié de l'Ile Saint-Honorat, Abbaye de Lérins, Cannes (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)
Creator:: Jerome Kelagopian
Institution:: © Fondation du patrimoine

How impact assessment helps us to understand the value of built cultural heritage

We interview Ana Aziza, Project Manager, Fondation du patrimoine (France), who shares how an economic impact assessment completed by the Fondation provided insights into the value of the work they do and cultural heritage in France.

Explore our Impact assessment reports

Network and communities

Join our vibrant Impact Community to engage, collaborate and transfer knowledge with peers and experts working on impact in the cultural heritage sector.

Title:: TuEuropeana workshop: Myślenie Efektami - Klaudyna Schubert 2018 Poland
Copyright:: CC BY-SA

PageCreated: 25 May 2019

Impact Community

We contribute towards the ongoing development of the Impact Playbook, advocate the benefits of impact assessment and support our members to develop and refine their practice.

Events

Register for upcoming events which support cultural heritage professionals to gain new skills and knowledge.

Title:: From the Harbour at Naples. Gathering Storm
Creator:: Catel, Franz Ludwig
Institution:: National Gallery of Denmark
Country:: Denmark
Copyright:: CC0

27 September 2023
14:00 — 15:00 Online

Europeana Impact Community Café - Collecting the data that matters: impact and digital cultural heritage

In this Impact Community Café, we’re welcoming participants for an open conversation about what we know, and don’t know, about the digitisation of Europe’s heritage collections and its impact.

Impact Europeanaimpact Webinar

Webinars

Watch our webinars to learn more about our approach to the Playbook and refine your impact practice.

News

Keep up to date with the latest news, policies and good practice around impact and cultural heritage.

Title:: Number Fascination
Creator:: Domestic Data Streamers
Date:: 4 May 2022
Institution:: Estonian National Museum
Country:: Estonia
Copyright:: CC BY-NC

Learning from data collection with the Me-Mind project and Estonian National Museum

Created: 22 November 2022

The Estonian National Museum shares tips from their recent ‘Numbers Fascination’ exhibition, organised by the Me-Mind project, about how cultural heritage institutions can embed impact thinking and data collection into their exhibitions.

Impact Impactplaybook Imd2023

Title:: Shofar blowing on New Year
Creator:: Bernard Picart
Date:: 1725
Institution:: Jewish Historical Museum
Country:: The Netherlands
Copyright:: Public Domain

16 sustainability indicators for digital heritage projects: a Jewish History Tours reflection

Created: 2 November 2022

To what extent does the Jewish History Tours project strengthen the ecosystem around digital storytelling in cultural route creation? With project partners, we mapped out 16 sustainability indicators to guide the project’s next steps. Find out more about the indicators and see how they can help you evaluate and plan for your own project’s sustainability and impact.

Impact framework Impact Sustainability

Explore terms used in the Europeana Impact Framework in our glossary.

Impact

Download the four-phased impact playbook

Tools and knowledge

Access information and research on the impact of the Europeana Initiative through our documentation and case studies.

Network and communities

Join our vibrant Impact Community to engage, collaborate and transfer knowledge with peers and experts working on impact in the cultural heritage sector.

Events

Register for upcoming events which support cultural heritage professionals to gain new skills and knowledge.

Webinars

Watch our webinars to learn more about our approach to the Playbook and refine your impact practice.

What’s in the name - what impact means for us

Design your impact: Impact Playbook Phase 1

Get the data (right): Impact Playbook Phase 2

Narrating and sharing your impact story: Impact Playbook - Phase 3

Looking at the bigger picture: evaluation to increase your impact

News

Keep up to date with the latest news, policies and good practice around impact and cultural heritage.