Through our work and research with charities, we have identified six characteristics that show an organisation has the potential to be resilient, one of these is evidencing impact.
With increased need for services and limited funding it is crucial that your charity can make strategic decisions about how to maximise your impact. This includes being able to meaningfully and convincingly evidence the real-world change your work is bringing about for the people you support.
It keeps you focused on what matters most
Having a strong and evidence-based understanding of the needs of the people you work with will help you make decisions about how to allocate your resource and deliver services in your community. It will also make it more likely that the services you offer will be effective and impactful.
It supports learning and improvement
Seeking feedback from people you support and hearing from them about their experience – positive and negative – of their engagement with your charity will help to ensure you are having the impact you hope to have.
It tells an engaging story
Evidence can help you tell your story in an authentic, transparent and compelling way that can engage other stakeholders, including people who might use your services, other organisations and funders.
Top tips to set yourself up for success
Clarify the evidence you need from the beginning
One of the trickiest, but most essential tasks of all, is deciding where to focus your time and attention. Using a theory of change can help you identify your key outcomes and prioritise what you need to measure.
It’s crucial to ensure evaluation is considered at the outset of any project, not as an afterthought. It's fairly common to not consider learning and impact questions until mid-way through a programme or intervention, or even until after it has finished. Agreeing research questions at the beginning will help you to stay focused on priorities, ensure you have the necessary data collection touchpoints built in, and help you provide clarity around what will be measured and what will not.
Remember that capturing impact does not necessarily mean measuring it all indiscriminately. Being strategic on what you capture, having clear measurements, and focusing on relevant data is the key to efficiency.
Think strategically about maximising capacity and systems
Getting into the detail of measuring impact can be time-consuming, particularly when you want to do it in a truly meaningful way. Consider having dedicated resource for this, or carving out time in existing processes to build this in. Utilise systems you already have, where possible, and consider upskilling existing staff who are interested in data and impact. Look out for opportunities where you can learn from organisations who may be on a similar journey to yours.
How you collect data matters, not just what you collect
Like everything you do, evidencing impact should be aligned with the values and culture of your organisation. Are the data gathering tools you use accessible? Are you hearing from a diverse range of voices? Have you carefully considered whether the questions you ask and tools you use are appropriate?
Think about whether and how the people who use your service or people with lived experience could feed into the approach you take and ensure the environment for evaluation/data collection is carefully considered with the appropriate safeguards in place. Try to understand how it would feel for people to be asked certain questions or complete a survey and seek feedback on this when piloting new approaches.
For example, visual tools such as journey mapping might feel more accessible in some scenarios than asking a set of questions. Emojis or pictures may feel more accessible for children and young people. Evaluation can also be integrated into programme delivery, for example through designing interactive games that can be used at the end of sessions to gain insight into what people have learned or are taking away.
Seek a breadth of data and a variety of methods
Surveys are one of the most commonly used tools as they are a cost-effective way of gathering both qualitative and quantitative data. However, can’t always provide an in-depth view of your impact or help you tell an engaging story.
Similarly, while quantitative data can help you demonstrate the breadth and scale of your impact, numbers alone won’t speak to the depth of impact or the long-term change for a person, family or community. Using qualitative methodologies such as interviews or focus groups provide a more in-depth view. Case studies and storytelling can help bring your impact to life.
Triangulation, using multiple data sources or datasets to examine your impact, will strengthen your evidence base so consider how different approaches can sit alongside and enhance each other.
Building your charity’s resilience
This is one of a series of six articles that give charity leaders ideas on how to build the resilience of their organisations.
Read the next article on valuing people and culture.