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!