Welcome to our December impact round-up. Each month in NCVO Charities Evaluation Services we summarise the latest news in impact and evaluation and share useful guides, resources and data collection tools.
Walking our talk: how we developed a theory of change for NCVO
Earlier this year we published NCVO’s theory of change, setting out what difference we plan to make for the voluntary sector. In her latest blog post, our head of planning, digital and communications Megan Griffith Gray looks at how we went about it, involving staff from across the organisation to come up with our theory. Megan shares what went well, where we faced challenges and how we overcame them – we hope that organisations using, or thinking of using, theory of change will find it helpful to learn from our experience. You can also read our how-to guide for tips on getting started.
Creative evaluation findings: getting people to sit up and take notice
Sharing your evaluation findings in a creative way can help engage the people you want to listen to them. From infographics and data dashboards to podcasts, blogs and postcards, there are a lot of creative reporting options to choose from. Find out more about what’s available, see examples and read tips on using different approaches in our how-to guide.
UK Evaluation Society conference: call for abstracts
The UK Evaluation Society is calling for abstracts and poster presentations for its 2018 annual evaluation conference. Being held on 2 and 3 May 2018, the conference has the theme: The Quality of Evidence from Evaluation: demand, supply and use. Organisers are looking for contributions on evaluation methods, practice and policy from civil society, government, academia and business. The deadline for abstracts is 18 December and poster presentations should be submitted by 17 April 2018. We think this year’s conference theme is of particular interest for the voluntary sector – as more voluntary organisations improve their evaluation skills, understanding how to deliver good quality evaluation with limited resource is an important next step.
New report on how charities help bring about health impacts
NPC has published a new report summarising evidence about social factors that impact on health and wellbeing and showing how charities that don’t have a specific health focus often help support people’s health. The report, Keeping us Well: How non-health charities address the social determinants of health, links to a detailed evidence review from the Institute of Health Equity. It’s intended to help ‘non-health charities’ design services, communicate the health benefits of their work and demonstrate their wider impact to funders and supporters.
Training and events
NCVO provides training and events covering a range of topics, from impact to governance, volunteer management and data protection reform. Here’s what’s coming up:
- Outcome and impact measurement (one-day course) – 11 January
- Developing your theory of change – 18 January
- Outcome and impact measurement (two-day course) – 7 & 8 February
- Collecting outcome and impact data – 13 February
- Better outcome and impact reporting – 22 February
- Data protection – a course to help you navigate the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) reforms:
Harriet is a senior consultant at NCVO Charities Evaluation Services – the team helps voluntary organisations, volunteering programmes and their funders with practical impact measurement and evaluation. 
