Social Impact
Define Measureables - Measure Change - Evaluate Performance
- We help organisations to research and define their aims, objectives, outputs and outcomes
- We offer training to capacity build or consultancy to assist organisations.
- We work with the public, educational and third sector to help them evaluate their performance.
Social Impact Frameworks and Processes
We help organisations to define their social impact through providing either :-
- Internal Capacity Building Support - Coaching or training for staff to equip them with the knowledge and skills to develop an internal framework and measurement process, or
- Hands-On Assistance - Consultancy to help our clients develop a Theory of Change Model and design and implement a monitoring processes for measuring impact.
- Management Support with combined expertise and support in Business Planning, Change Management Strategy and Management Systems as needs arise.
We work with a wide-range of organisations spanning youth, education, housing, health, economic development and regeneration. Many of our projects span a range of social and economic indicators and we treat each project and organisation as unique in it’s approach and terminology. We don’t propose that you use any specific impact tool or approach, but work with your team to identify a set of indicators, processes and a system to meet the needs of your organisation.
Measuring Social Impact Training CoursesWe deliver a public Measuring Social Impact Masterclass every couple of months for individuals to attend. It covers our ten steps for Measuring Social Impact, and it is based on our Guide for Measuring Impact, which you can download here. We also customise and run these workshops in-house for organisations and their teams.
Find out more here: TRAINING WORKSHOPS >
Independent Evaluations
We have 15 years experience conducting independent evaluations for national to local organisations to review the performance and impact of their services. We have a specialism in evaluating economic development and youth related programmes funded by National Government Departments or The Big Lottery.
Our evaluations can include quantitative and qualitative research techniques with a range of stakeholders to identify impact, best practice, challenges and future recommendations.
Our Track Record
Case Studies
We conducted an Independent Evaluation of the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy programme funded by SEEDA with extensive interviews with former students and stakeholders, working with The Mackinnon Partnership.
‘Heather’s consultany work for the Peter Jones Foundation was first class. Can recommend with without reservation!’ David Corke, PJEA
A representative from Social Firms UK attended our Social Impact Masterclass training and also accessed our training support services to help them develop their Salesforce CRM to manage a new government funded contract.
‘I’ve used Economic Change’s services for help with developing and tailoring CRM systems, and developing a social impact measurement strategy. Heather cuts through the jargon and provides clear advice and practical solutions.’ Di Cunliffe, Policy and Service Officer, Social Firms UK
We worked with Livity to develop a social impact framework and process for evaluating their Big Lottery Funded Programme somewhereto_. We also advised and supported them to develop their Salesforce CRM system to capture data in an efficient way and monitor performance real-time through a series of reports.’
‘Working with Heather was great! She offered a real insight and structure during a period of development of our social impact framework. In addition to the theoretical side of work, crucially she was also able to implement through our Salesforce setup and was on hand to help up skill the team and answer a huge array of questions along the way.’ Kate Harwood, Senior Account Manager, Livity
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We have undertaken two Social Impact Evaluations for Mind in Harrow to review their Head to Work programme funded by the Big Lottery and the Hayaan Somali Mental Health Promotion Project , funded by the Department of Health Volunteering Fund, Trust for London and the Social Action Fund..
“Heather has conducted two impact evaluation reports for Mind in Harrow projects over the past couple of years. The reports have been extremely well presented and the recommendations from the evaluation insightful. I have experienced Heather to be professional and a pleasure to work with. She completed both reports on time within a tight timeframe. We have have used the evaluation reports to successfully secure a further £260k for the Head for Work Programme and to date a further 50% funding for the Hayaan Project. ” Mark Gillham, CEO, Mind in Harrow
Read More Case Studies Below:
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We undertook an independent evaluation of their £4m Young Partners Programme funded by the Big Lottery. This involved undertaking interviews and focus groups with professionals and young people to anticipate best practice, learning and future opportunities. We produced a theory of change model to demonstrate the impact of the organisation.
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We worked with the CEO to review and define the social impact of 4Myschools in response to interests of stakeholders and social investors. Activities were prioritised with input from stakeholder interviews and a theory of change model was developed with a monitoring process for measuring impact in the future.
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Heather was commissioned to undertake a review and best practice guide into Corporate Engagement with the Black and Minority Ethnic Community, to produce the BITC Publication, ‘Business Action on Neighbourhood Renewal’
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Heather was commissioned to undertake a review and best practice guide into Corporate Engagement with the Black and Minority Ethnic Community, to produce the BITC Publication, ‘Business Action on Neighbourhood Renewal’
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We delivered a social impact training programme for members of ACEVO, a national network of CEOs from the voluntary sector.
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We undertook a National Evaluation of Inspiring Enterprise Programmes, funded by BERR. We developed an enterprising outcomes framework and conducted qualitative research to produce an evaluation report to assess the impact of four enterprise support programmes.
Other clients include
3SC, Locality, timto, CAF, Livity, Future Foundations, London Legacy, Clearly So, Every Family Matters, Central St Martins University, The British Library, Social Firms UK, Social Investment Business, Parent Skool, Family 1st, The Albany, amongst others.
Prior to delivering our own independent evaluations, our team have previously worked for private consultancy firms evaluating a range of socio-economic programmes delivered by the public sector. We have over 14 years experience of working in this sector.