Welcome to our April impact round-up. Each month at NCVO Charities Evaluation Services we summarise the latest news in impact and evaluation and share useful guides, resources and data collection tools.
Looking to the future – NCVO’s Annual Conference
This year’s NCVO Annual Conference took place at the start of April. The theme of ‘looking to the future’ was poignant as we mark our centenary year and the last state of the sector address by Sir Stuart before his retirement.
Danny Sriskandarajah gave the morning keynote on the need to embrace the PACT in the Civil Society Futures report and dramatically shift power. In the afternoon, Ruth Ibegbuna from the Roots Programme challenged and provoked the audience on our motivations, diversity and the need to connect better with those with different backgrounds and opinions. From our team, Sally Cupitt led a session called ‘Impact? I’m so over it!’ building on our recent evaluation with Just for Kids Law. Alex Farrow spoke about #newpower and the need to radically change the way charities deliver services.
All the slides and videos are here. You can also follow the day’s events on Twitter at #NCVOconf.
New Inspiring Impact website launched
Inspiring Impact supports people who work and volunteer for charities and social enterprises across the UK. They provide peer learning networks, online resources and grant funding so that you can improve your impact measurement and learn from others.
Inspiring impact have just launched their new and improved website, with easy-to-access resources for organisations that are just getting started as well as those who want to improve their practice. On the website, you can get inspiration for your impact measurement from case studies or you can inspire others by sharing your stories on the peer learning network.
Evaluators on film: Watch one of our consultants in action
Shehnaaz Latif, lead consultant at NCVO Charities Evaluation Services, led an interactive session earlier this month to provide guidance on impact assessments, theory of change development and other considerations for grant makers wanting to demonstrate the difference made through their funding. The session was convened by the Association of Charitable Organisations (ACO).
This session gave attendees the opportunity to share their impact stories, and consider proportionate ways to gather information from grantees, using examples and practical work to help explore what might work best in your setting.
You can watch Shehnaaz’s session in full on YouTube.
On the blogs and social media
- Head of NCVO Charities Evaluation Services, Sally Cupitt, explores eight reasons to love theory of change (ToC) in her most recent blog
- Zenda Ofir, an evaluator specialising in issues affecting the global south, has an excellent guest blog series of tips for young and emerging evaluators – although that sells the series short, as the tips are great reflections for all of us working in the voluntary sector. The most recent post by Leslie Goodyear reminds us that ‘the job of an evaluator is to represent people’s lives.’
- We’re really impressed by CLIC Sargeant’s latest impact report. We love page 21 (Hands up, we’re not perfect!) and the way it prioritises young people’s stories.
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:
- Developing your theory of change – 24 April
- Outcome and impact measurement (one day) – 23 May
- How to collect outcomes and impact data – 20 June
- How to report on outcome and impact data – 25 June
- Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference 2019 is inviting contributions focused on the future of civil society and the broader issues facing the voluntary sector and volunteering, including measuring civil society outcomes, impact and social value. The deadline for submissions is 13 May 2019.
We can also come to you! Our courses can be delivered at your venue, providing an affordable way to train groups of staff, trustees or volunteers. Contact us for more information.
Amira is a senior consultant at NCVO Charities Evaluation Services working across projects including delivering open and in-house training, supporting clients to build their evaluation capacity, conducting external evaluations, and supporting clients with strategy development. 
