Summarized highlights from Beyond Impact and Scale: Affection as Living Transformation | Graciela Selaimen

“What if what we now call ‘impact’ is, in many cases, a way of silencing life’s complexity? The language of philanthropy and impact investing has long been structured around metrics, scale, and measurable results.”

“And when we let these metrics define what is valuable, we risk losing what is essential: care, time, mutual implication — the kind of transformation that happens quietly, in the underground networks of living processes.”

“To me, the word ‘impact’ carries the image of a force acting upon another — as if there were a ‘we’ who transforms and a ‘they’ to be transformed. This grammar reinforces asymmetries and ignores something essential: real transformation happens when we recognize our entanglements within the very systems we seek to change.”

“Warm data reveals living contexts. It listens to the relational patterns among people, places, stories, and languages. It doesn’t measure what was done, but how, with whom, and with what emergent effects.”

“It’s not about counting event participants, campaign signatures, audience reach, or media mentions — but about understanding how actions alter relationships, shift patterns of reciprocity, reduce asymmetries, and amplify the possibilities of collective existence — including the transformations experienced by the funders and their institutions.”

“Rethinking the impact paradigm doesn’t mean giving up on rigor — it means expanding our evaluative repertoire. It means experimenting with tools that can listen to transformation in relationships.”

“This is the space where new practices are already emerging — ones that point toward a more implicated future. For example:

• Warm data sessions that gather diverse actors to reflect on how their relationships have shifted

• Participatory relational mapping, which explores how bonds are strengthened

• Emergent pattern evaluations, which recognize unexpected effects: new leaderships, collective care, affective resilience, shared visions of future possibilities”

“What if we created indicators of relational quality, deep listening, and subjective transformation? What if we valued what is unfinished, what escapes, what can only be felt together?”