Welcome to our April 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.
Evaluation and strategy: Hot topics at our Annual Conference
At NCVO’s Annual Conference on 16 April, Sir Stuart Etherington and Baroness Stowell, the new Charity Commission chair, gave the keynote speeches. Under the theme ‘Different thinking, bigger difference’, we ran sessions on strategy and impact. With panellists from government, international development and the world of theatre, we explored whether long-term planning is possible in a rapidly changing world – read our twitter thread for immediate reflections.
In our impact workshop, we heard about the importance of demonstrating your difference for organisational survival. Guest speaker Laura Alcock-Ferguson from the Campaign to End Loneliness shared her experience of using evaluation for planning, fundraising and to improve the Campaign’s work. Take a look at the slides from the session and read our Knowhow Nonprofit case study on how the charity used evaluation findings as a tool for future funding applications.
Sharing your evaluation findings
Campaigning, partnership building and awareness raising are just some of the many reasons why you might want to share evaluation findings outside your organisation. If you have a positive story to tell, this can be a moment of celebration of your achievements and the work you have done. If things haven’t gone as you expected, there is a still a lesson to be shared: what happened, what you learnt, and what you’re going to do next. Our how-to guide will help you use evaluation to engage external audiences.
Taking responsibility for impact as a trustee
Monitoring and evaluation of charity work is often considered the operational realm of staff and senior management teams. But trustees, especially in smaller organisations, have a crucial role in understanding what’s working – and what needs developing – to better hold the SMT to account, ensure resources are used effectively, and make informed strategic decisions. In his blog post for the Inspiring Impact programme, our lead consultant Alex Farrow discusses the importance of articulating impact to build public and beneficiary trust and shares a range of resources that can help.
On the blogs
- The new chair of the Centre for Youth Impact reflects in his blog on leadership and impact.
- Better Evaluation share new resources for evaluating ‘Communication for Development’ (research and practice focused on engagement and dialogue using methods including video, radio and community dialogue meetings).
- NPC and Global Integrity on making evaluation and learning work for complex change.
Training and events
NCVO provides training and events covering a range of topics, from impact to governance, volunteer management and data protection reform – with discounts for NCVO members (not a member? Find out more).
Here’s what’s coming up:
- Outcome and impact measurement (one-day course) – 22 May or 12 June
- Developing your theory of change – 31 May
- Collecting outcome and impact data – 20 June
- Better outcome and impact reporting – 21 June
- 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. 
