Making an impact: making impact measurement work for you

1. Making an impact: making impact measurement work for you Chris Dayson, Sarah Pearson and Peter Wells 15 November 2012

2. Overview of the Event 10.00-11.15 Opening Plenary Presentations Questions and Answers 11.15-11.30 Refreshments 11.30-12.15 Workshop Groups 12.15-12.30 Feedback 12.30-12.45 Closing Debate 12.45-14.00 Lunch

3. Why are we here? We are therefore looking for ideas and advantages/disadvantages of different approaches Improve our evidence of impact To gain further experience in measuring impact and sharing best practice what evidence funders require PRACTICAL ways in which small orgs can measure the IMPACTS (rather than outputs) of their activities Learning about different approaches and techniques I am new to this area of work We need to prove our impact, but do not have the processes in place to capture the required info. We would like to complete a SROI report

4. Why are we here? to communicate the value of our work we do what evidence funders require How we can better measure the impact of small grants Managing funds, reporting to funders, and communication Our services are going out to tender and we want to be able to measure impact. To support client organisations in developing an approach to designing services for social impact and measuring outcomes

5. Who is here today • Frontline charities and community organisations • Funding advisers and infrastructure/support organisations • Charity Funders/Foundations • Local authorities • Evaluators and measurers of impact • Private companies • University funding advisers

6. Why the current focus on outcomes and impact? • Policy developments • Social Value Act • Payment by Results and Social Investment • Public Expenditure cuts • National wellbeing • Voluntary and community sector • Responsibility for demonstrating change shifting to the sector • Evidencing the strengths of the sector: reach, innovation, voluntary action, change • New measurement frameworks • Social return on investment • Outcomes stars • New indicator sets • A more widely understood field?

7. Where to start? • "Measuring outcomes and impact in the voluntary and community sector" • 2,420,000 Google results • Some useful starting points: • NAVCA Social Value Briefings: www.navca.org.uk/socialvaluebriefings • Inspiring Impact List of Measurement Tools: http://inspiringimpact.org/resources/ • Charities Evaluation Services First Steps report: http://www.ces-vol.org.uk/Publications-Research/publications-free-downloads/first-steps-monitoring-evaluation • SROI Network: the Guide: www.thesroinetwork.org/sroi-analysis/the-sroi-guide • Outcomes stars: www.outcomesstar.org.uk/

8. First principles in measuring outcomes and impact Key considerations • Starting point: describe the change your organisation has: on service users and other stakeholders (e.g. funders, employees) • Can quantitative or qualitative methods be used? • What evidence do you collect and could you collect? • How can the change be attributed? • How might outcomes and impact be communicated?

9. Workshops • Thank you for voting • Three workshops identified: Group 1: First steps in impact measurement: getting started. Led by Peter Wells Group 2: Navigating tools, methods and frameworks for impact measurement. Led by Chris Dayson Group 3: Commissioning and funding for social value. Led by Sarah Pearson • Measuring impact in service delivery areas will be picked up • Key questions for each group • What are the key challenges? • What examples of there of success and good practice? • What further support is needed? • What cannot be measured and why?

10. Making an impact: making impact measurement work for you Chris Dayson, Sarah Pearson and Peter Wells 15 November 2012