Measuring the Impact of Supported Projects

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The Approach

The approach taken was to send a questionnaire to the partner charities.  The questionnaire had 21 questions to collect information on each project.

This provided basic information on the projects that The Childhood Trust supports – from this a set of metrics were derived. It was recommended that:

  • The Childhood Trust use these metrics as a basis for future insight into supported projects.

A key question (in the questionnaire) requested information on how the partner charities assess the impact of their projects.  These descriptions were reviewed and divided into 4 categories:   Measurement with target;  Measurement;  Methods for collecting data;  Re-iteration of their activities. 

A second recommendation was that:

  • The Childhood Trust should use these findings to encourage partner charities to improve the way they (partner charities) think about, and measure, the impact of their activities.

“This project helped us know where to start, which is always useful to know – and it’s given us data to help our fundraising & broader communications too” - CEO

The Client

The Childhood Trust is a grant giving organisation, that provides matched funds to partner charities operating in London who alleviate the impact of child poverty.

The Client's Problem

The Childhood Trust had two objectives:

  1. Historically: to assess the impact of The Childhood Trust grant making to date;
  2. For the future: to design a framework and process for future impact measurement.

The Solution

  • A set of metrics to provide information on the projects supported:
    • Basic information on the children supported (numbers, ages).
    • The broad areas in which children are supported (emotional well-being; education; life prospects).
    • Whether (and how) children are referred (to the partner charity) – and the criteria for accepting children (onto the project).
  • A review of how the partner charities assess the impact of their projects resulted in a recommendation to encourage partner charities to improve the way they think about, and measure, the impact of their activities.

The Benefits

  • The Childhood Trust has a set of metrics that they can use to give an insight of supported projects.
  • The Childhood Trust has specific objectives to improve they way that partner charities think about, and measure, their impact.