KACE is more than a loose affiliation of organizations. KACE is a purposeful network unified around a strategy for impact management and a commitment to equitable economic development.

Through participation in the Impact Management System, KACE organizations share a vocabulary and metrics to guide their activities. Approaches vary based on the unique challenges of their communities, but the commonalities created via KACE allow for the statewide exchange of best practices and lessons learned.

Impact Management System

The Impact Management System helps demonstrate that when creative businesses access resources and opportunities, their growth expands and diversifies Pennsylvania’s economy. For outcomes, the CBA uses a Creative Business Ladder (CBL) Survey with financial, operational, and attitudinal inquiries to generate a diagnostic score in the IMS for the creative businesses. The scores correspond to levels include Experimenting, Starting, Emerging, Sustaining, Scaling, and Manufacturing. The goal of the CBA is to help creative businesses score at the Sustaining, Scaling, or Manufacturing level. At this “Impact Zone,” positive economic and social outcomes are most likely to be generated by creative businesses.

Six Core Elements

The CBA accomplishes this goal by providing these “creative businesses” with enhanced access to six key elements of business success – capital, markets, peers, workforce, assistance, and space. When empowered with these elements, creative businesses achieve financial resilience, grow small businesses, create quality jobs, reactivate main streets and postindustrial buildings, and enhance the overall cultural and commercial vitality of the region. The IMS enables KACE organizations to capture output data related to Six Dimension of Capital Readiness –  space, capital, markets, etc.), but also outcome data. For outcomes, the CBA uses a Creative Business Ladder (CBL) Survey with financial, operational, and attitudinal inquiries to generate a diagnostic score for the creative businesses. The scores correspond to levels include Experimenting, Starting, Emerging, Sustaining, Scaling, and Manufacturing. The goal of the CBA is to help creative businesses score at the Sustaining, Scaling, or Manufacturing level. At this “Impact Zone,” positive economic and social outcomes are most likely to be generated by creative businesses.