understanding the impact of community projects
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In Pursuit of Happiness:
Understanding the impact of community
projects
Lessons from the Gloucestershire Action POV research project
The plan..Brief introduction to the Gloucestershire POV project
Evidence of impact - What we found in terms of impacts and social value
The SRA tool we developed and the associated challenges
Measuring impact and the systems and resources to achieve it – A discussion
What we set out to do in the project
Establish and value the economic contribution of 3 SPO’s in Gloucestershire:
To skill the SPOs in the identification an valuation of their activities
To assist them in planning future activities in light of revealed impacts (And process)
To produce a guidance pack to assist the VCS in Gloucestershire to assess their impact
The Gloucestershire POV Partnership
CCRI
GAVCA
GCCCP GL11 Fairshares
A game of two halves..Broadly speaking, all case work was
undertaken in two stages:
Year 1: Seeking to measure socio-economic outcomes using the principles from a tool originally designed for RCCs
Year 2: Based on these experiences, piloting and sequentially developing a new set of impact guidance for the VCS, which has resulted in the SRA tool
Gloucester City Centre PartnershipY1 Project Orienteer (SRA Stages B&C) - led by Barry using CCRIs initial Economic Outcomes tool
Y1 Greyfriars Bowling Green (SRA Stage A)- led by Paul using an SROI ‘Theory of Change’
Y2 Fielding and Platt SRA (SRA Stages A, B and C)- Led by Ollie Taylor and Barry, with Paul advising as the SRA was also developed and refined
Greyfriars Impact map for Young People and community
Activities Short term Outcomes
Medium termOutcomes
Long-term OutcomesRange of
training/educational/recreational
activities
Representation in community
Exposure to substance mis-use programmes and
information
Off street meetings and gatherings as opposed to on
street
Reduced contact with street
drinkers
Increased Local democracy/group
participation/social networking
Increase in youth volunteering
Greater inter-generational activity
Improved relationships between youth and
police
Improved safety and security
Increased trust, community
cohesion & well being
Improved confidence and
self esteem
Improved employment and FE/HE prospects
Reduction in juvenile crime
Improved physical health
Improved mental health
Reduction in alcohol abuse
Reduction in crime levels through cultural shift
Reduced pressure on health service
and criminal justice system
in welfare payments and increase in tax
receipts Reduction
Facilities for formal/informal youth provision
The Fielding and Platt SRAHeritage Lottery funded about the
memories of F&P, managed by Ollie Taylor
Stages A, B and C of the SRA tool
Undertaken by Ollie with support from Barry and Paul taking an advisory / mentoring role.
In tandem the tool and workbook was developed, tested and refined by the CCRI team.
Stage C still in process. Findings reported in the POV Final Report, early Nov.
Stakeholder group Medium-longer term Outcomes
Previous employees of F&P
Increased resilience and self esteem
Increase in supportive relationships
Increase in sense of trust and belonging
Relatives of F&P employees
Legacy to leave future generations
Volunteers Increased competence, engagement and purpose
Increased resilience and self esteem
Supportive relationships
Increased sense of trust and belonging
VCS Increased vibrancy and efficiency of VCS
Increased public support for VCS
Local Community Increased volunteering in the communitySubjective well being -
Happiness
Summary of GCCCP outcomes
GCCCP
Greyfriars Bowling Green Improved mental healthImproved confidence and self-esteemIncreased trust and community cohesionIncrease in youth volunteering and intergeneration activityReduction in juvenile crime
Project Orienteer Improved physical health and weight lossIncreased social interactionLocal income generation through contractingTraining in the sport of orienteering
Fielding and Platt – Three main outcome groups:
-Health and well being
-Skills development (especially IT)
-Community
Increased resilience and self esteemIncreased supportive relationshipsIncreased sense of trust and belongingDevelopment of IT skillsIncreased emotional well beingIncreased competence, engagement and purposeIncreased efficiency and funding sources for voluntary and community sectorIncreased capacity building and volunteering
Fielding and Platt benfit-investment ratio
Value of Inputs (Total Investment, including in-kind):
£100,900
Value of Inputs (Grant investment)
£42,900
Total Present Value of Outcomes (after deadweight, attribution, displacement, drop-off and discounted at 3.5%)
£149,197
Benefit-to-investment ratio 1.48:1
Benefit-to-investment ratio (Grant)
3.48:1
GL11 - Impact evidenceAssessment of 4 projects (Deployment of volunteers;
Employability courses; Try to Remember project; and a forecasting of Cam-Unity project using SRA) revealed a range of outcomes including:
Improved Quality of life
Improvement in sense of engagement and self worth in 75 elderly people suffering memory loss
Personal development of staff members, volunteers and carers
Improved employability of volunteers
Increased social interaction and trust in the community
Reduced demands on local GP services (potential reduced expenditure for the State)
Key messages from GL11, the process of forecasting impact using the SRA
has.....assisted in writing a bid for a subsequent project through its emphasis on being outcome-focussed
..helped to sharpen the focus of the Cam-Unity project, clarifying objectives
..provided a simple information system for on-going monitoring and evaluation, and identified what needed to be monitored
..made suggestions for effective management of the project
..provided basis for better communication by GL11
..assisted in staff development
..provided the framework for an evaluative assessment in 2 years time
Purpose of the Social Return Assessment
(SRA) toolTo make the processs of valuing impact more accessible to small, voluntary organisations
To Simplify (and de-mystify) SROI
To emphasise the importance and value of assessing OUTCOMES
To reveal to SPOs some good practice in terms of planning, record keeping and monitoring that might be useful beyond impact measurement
SRA tool - the options
3 levels of sophistication (With emphasis on simplicity and flexibility):
• Stage A…Exploring (and describing the change)
• Stage B…Measuring the Change• Stage C…Valuing the Change
• Level 1 comprises only A• Level 2 comprises A plus B • Level 3 comprises A plus B plus C
SRA - Stage A - Describing change
Understand what has changed, and why, and how stakeholders have been affected
Scope your activities and identify all of your stakeholders (who has been
affected and involved)
Map out your outcomes to understand how one outcome leads to another over
varying time frames
SRA - Stage B - Measuring change
Collect some data and obtain some measurements for each of your indicators
Decide which outcomes are significant and identify ways of establishing that change has taken place (Indicators)
Take into account what would have happened anyway, and how much
change you can really attribute to your project
SRA - Stage C - Valuing change
Calculate the initial investment (giving all time, resources, goods and services a
financial value)
Identify financial approximations (proxies) for each your outcomes
Calculate a ratio of benefits to investment (i.e 3:1) and check how
sensitive it is to changes in the main assumptions
Final step of the SRA tool....
Reflect on what the findings mean for your organisation and your target audience
Should you be doing anything differently?
You should now have systems n place for understanding and monitoring your outcomes..
Discuss with colleagues and your stakeholders before going public!
Consider how you might go about implementing a tool like SRA:
• Why do you need to assess your impact?
• What level of the SRA tool would you need to follow – do you need to measure, value or just describe change?
• Who are your target audience?
• What information data do you have to hand?
• How much do you know about your target beneficiaries?
• How will you go about consulting them – and will they be accessible / receptive?
• What skills do you have available to evaluate, monitor, measure and value change and produce impact estimates?
• What support or resources do you need – How could the Impact Hub help you evidence your impact?
Working in groups of 5 or 6 have a go at considering challenges and
solutions in relation to each of these questions
Try and come up with some recommendations for the Impact Hub on how they might provide a
structure for helping small organisations establish their impact
Identify a rapporteur to feed the main issues and recommendations
back to the group
CCRI, Oxtalls Campus, UoG
Paul Courtney pcourtney@glos.ac.uk
Carol Kambites ckambites@glos.ac.uk
Good luck!
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