How We Measure Impact

At Humanity Direct, measuring impact means more than just counting the number of surgeries we fund.  But some are left wondering exactly how we measure impact. It’s about understanding how each operation improves a child’s health, dignity, and future.

We believe that donors deserve transparency and that the children we support deserve long-term change, not just quick fixes. That’s why we track both immediate outcomes and ongoing benefits for every child we help.

What We Track and How we measure Impact

1. Number of Surgeries Funded

Every donation made through our platform, whether to an individual child or our Universal Fund, is tracked and recorded. We publish:

• The number of operations completed

• The types of surgeries performed (e.g. hernia repairs, tumour removals, cleft lip repairs)

• The hospitals or clinics where treatment took place

2. Children Treated

We keep a transparent, real-time record of every child helped, including:

• Their name, age and condition (with consent)

• Their treatment plan and funding status

• A summary of their recovery once surgery is complete

You can see many of these cases listed publicly on our Operations page.

3. Before and After Updates

For many children, we provide updates with:

• Post-surgery photos (where appropriate and respectful)

• A brief medical update

• Notes from our field teams about recovery and follow-up

This gives donors a real connection to the people they’ve helped—and ensures our work remains open and accountable.

How We Assess Long-Term Impact

A successful surgery is only the beginning. We work with our local medical partners in Uganda to assess:

• Recovery progress

• Return to school for children who had previously dropped out due to illness or disability

• Improved mobility, speech or vision depending on the procedure

• Family wellbeing, especially where children can now participate fully in daily life

We gather this data through follow-up visits, interviews with parents and teachers, and collaboration with local health workers.

Reporting and Feedback

We use the data we collect to:

• Improve future surgical outreach programmes

• Prioritise the most urgent cases and remote regions

• Report back to individual donors and partners

• Build trust by showing exactly where donations go and the change they make

We are constantly working to improve the way we measure outcomes not just outputs.

Why Our Impact Model Is Different

Unlike many charities, Humanity Direct operates on a 100% donation model: every public donation goes directly to funding a child’s surgery. This means that every statistic, every story, and every recovery is the result of direct donor action.

Because we don’t deduct admin fees, our impact is clean and traceable. When you fund a surgery, you get to know exactly what you’ve made possible and who you’ve helped

Want to See Your Impact?

Visit our success stories to see where your money went. Alternatively, donate today to fund a child’s surgery and see the difference you’ve made.