Measuring the impact of your charity Belinda Vernon David Pritchard 29 th September 2011

2 About NPC : doing good, better Our purpose is to help charities and funders achieve greater impact Part think tank, part consultancy A charity, founded in 2001, currently 30 staff ResearchConsultingCommunications social issues structural challenges new ideas advice for charities advice for funders support to intermediaries lead the debate on effectiveness disseminate NPC’s knowledge and tools

3 Questions about impact Where should we start? What if our results don’t look good? Why do I need to think about our impact? How should we measure? How do we know if we are doing well? How do we know what is good? How do we focus the staff on impact? What should we do with the information on our impact?

4 Measurement: the bare bones Why measure What to measure How to measure How to use the information Find out how you make a difference? Test each element of your theory of change Qualitative and quantitative.... Target your audience

5 Why measure your impact? You should measure the impact your charity has if you want to: -increase the impact you have; and / or -demonstrate your impact to stakeholders. Hard to do either well if you cannot measure the impact of your charity. You don’t need to measure your impact only if these are not priorities!

6 What? You should start with: A clearly defined goal (or goals) that can be tracked, albeit imperfectly, such as: -“To enable people with mental illness or epilepsy to live and work successfully in their own communities” -“To make sure the best of the past is kept to enrich our lives today and in the future” A ‘Theory of Change’ that explains how the activities of your charity bring about, or you think will bring about, the desired goal or goals.

7 Putting these together Goal: Funders and charities increase their impact Outcome 2: Charities / funders improve their effectiveness Outcome 1: Increased understanding of what makes charities effective Activity 2: Consultancy Activity 3: Communi- cations Activity 1: Research Outcome 3: Charities / funders understand how to improve effectiveness

8 How? Number of options depending on what you want to achieve and your processes: Types of measures: Objective or “hard” measures (eg, people employed) Subjective or “soft” measures (eg, how people feel) Methods: Questionnaires / surveys Case management data Administrative data One-off evaluations

9 How to use impact data Purpose Strategy Activities Impact Government – influence Charity Commission – compliance Funders/donors – raise funds Beneficiaries/public – public accountability External Internal

10 Belinda Vernon Director of Research & Consulting Tel: David Pritchard Head of Measurement and Evaluation Tel