The collective shrug: embracing reasonableness over rigidity

The “collective shrug” is a metaphor used in the Common Framework to signal a shift in mindset about impact data aggregation. It means accepting that we may never get perfectly uniform or precise data across a diverse ecosystem—and that’s okay.

Instead of striving for an impossible level of accuracy or uniformity, we aim for reasonableness and transparency over rigid uniformity.

In practical terms, the collective shrug acknowledges that:

• Aggregated indicators won’t be exact, but they can still be useful. Different organizations may define or measure the same concept differently, but if they’re close enough and transparently grouped, they can be aggregated.
• It’s better to interpret diverse data carefully than to ignore it or impose a one-size-fits-all metric.

Without the collective shrug, efforts to aggregate impact data often fall into two traps:

• Forcing uniform indicators which can alienate or burden social purpose organizations.
• Avoiding aggregation completely, leaving decision-makers with no insight.

So instead, we “shrug”—collectively—and agree: “Let’s not pretend this is perfect, but let’s do it transparently, reasonably, and usefully.”