Designing an Outcomes Framework to Measure Impact

• Conducting research: what the charity currently measure, how similar organisations structure their frameworks, what key funders are looking for.
• Determine the challenges & necessities in establishing an universal framework across all variety of projects (i.e. a framework that can cover employment support to emotional well-being).
• Design and sign off a questionnaire to collect views of key stakeholders.
• Apply the findings to hold a workshop for staff, trustees, volunteers, and service users to agree the key outcomes that should be measured.
• Utilise the workshop findings to develop the final framework.
• Fine-tune the framework through discussion with staff about the feasibility of the measurements and OR peer review.

"You work amazingly well with us… and it is "real" work - when resources allow we will be able to finish and implement the framework."

- Charity Director

Elfrida Rathbone: a charity that supports young disabled people and families in need in the London borough of Camden.

The client seeks to develop an outcome framework at an organisational level which can be applied across all of their projects in order to evaluate the effectiveness of their work.

Running a workshop in which a wide range of stakeholders agreed what outcomes they would like to measure and suggested how.

A measurement framework of proposed performance indicators and measurement methods for each outcome has been produced.

The client now has a high-level framework at organisational level that can be applied to all their projects in order to demonstrate the organisation’s impact on the community and provide evidence for funders.

In order to design the framework, we facilitated a workshop which gave the client an opportunity to communicate with the service users, trustees and volunteers in a constructive and interactive way, to promote understanding and reach consensus.