Written by: Libby on October 13, 2026
InnovateHer is on a mission to get girls ready for the Tech industry and the Tech industry ready for girls. Our mission shapes our impact; it’s the driver behind all that we do. It’s our guide. And it’s for those reasons that we want our impact to be strongly measured and clear.
Over the past year, our InnovateHer Impact Framework has become more and more central to our work and is the method behind everything that we do. The journey of the framework is Awareness → Confidence → Intent → Progression. It’s a theory of change that we want to take students on.
InnovateHer’s latest social impact report represents the effort and determination to drive change. Below are some key learnings that we discovered over the past year.
Over the 25/26 academic year, InnovateHer reached 57,484 students across all activities. This reach is incredible, and something that we’re all immensely proud of, but reach isn’t what’s important; it’s the impact and progression students go on in the long term.
For example, at our World Cup event, aside from delivering a pre-recorded event exploring how tech links with Football and Sport, we encouraged students to undertake our Sports Tech course and for Schools to book our Sports Tech Assemblies.
We did this because, by developing multiple touchpoints and adding more opportunities for students to grow their learning on a non-standard subject, we not only increase their exposure but also boost their confidence and interest to the point where they may end up pursuing a career in that industry.
Our impact framework begins with awareness, but we want our programmes to continue on through confidence, intention, and progression. It’s why being able to work directly with students, track their progress, and get their feedback is essential to the work we do.
One student who undertook a programme with InnovateHer explained how “The whole experience really adapted and changed the way I view the world. It was very professional and ethical.” Hearing this directly from students correlates with the importance of having an impact framework, so the work put in is built out to be as effective as possible for young people.
To understand more about InnovateHer’s work, read our social impact report here.
People want to be involved!
InnovateHer’s Ambassador network is something we’re incredibly proud of. Over the past year, we have increased our Ambassadors by 234, which takes us to 590 in our network. These Ambassadors are essential to the work that InnovateHer does; they share their journeys, and they get to meet and inspire students through their experiences. In return, students see themselves represented in the world of tech and leave feeling more empowered after an activity.
As a result of our Role Model Talks, in the past year, we have seen a 101.8% increase in students feeling confident they could see themselves working in the tech industry one day. By directing opportunities to where they create the greatest value, the impact is substantial.
Ambassadors have a key role in the impact framework, and we couldn’t have the impact we do without them: they create awareness opportunities through sharing their experience with students. As Marianne Haggstrom, an InnovateHer Ambassador, put it, “You don’t have to change someone’s future in one session; you just have to spark their curiosity. Sometimes that’s all it takes to open a door they didn’t know existed.”
Awareness is all about showcasing a different side of the coin, a route a young person may not have thought about. It’s about exposure to what’s possible, opening a new door, so that young people can start to build the steps towards a career they may not have had in mind, but now want to pursue.
To get more insights about the importance of being an Ambassador, read our social impact report.
InnovateHer Partners have a vital role in our impact framework, as they are essential to long-term viability. Partners come to us knowing the difference they want to have, and we work with them to ensure that is achieved.
Over the past year, we achieved a 79% partner retention rate, demonstrating that our collaborative approach delivers measurable progress toward EDI objectives while transforming employees into active ambassadors.
It works in 2 ways:
In our annual survey, 100% of InnovateHer partners felt that the partnership has supported their organisation’s goals or mission well. This showcases how committed efforts to establish initiatives that curate change, spread awareness and grow learning all feed into the impact framework.
To read more, click here to view InnovateHer’s 25-26 social impact report.
Our work is about lasting change, and the impact framework plays a key role in shaping that. Creating impact is something that requires time, focus and attention to detail to establish and alter programmes in order to drive significant influence.
To get more insight and information on the work we do, and on how you can work with InnovateHer, read what we achieved in the past year in our Social Impact Report here.