Communicating Impacts

This article addresses the need to share Extension program impacts with our constituencies and groups that fund our programs. The article reviews the literature surrounding the need for communicating impacts with decision makers. It also identifies two reporting mechanisms used in one state, County Narrative Reports and the Extension Accountability Reporting System (EARS), that are successfully working to share program impacts with county commissioners, legislators, and the general public. The success of these two reporting systems is based on level or increased funding we have received at the county and state level since the implementation of these two systems.