Funders should give charities financial support to measure impact, says NPC

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 11 May 2011

New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) has called on funders to pay charities to measure their impact, and is mooting setting up a consortium which would lobby government for access to statutory data in order to help the charity sector co-ordinate impact measurement.

The consortium is one of a number of recommendations that NPC makes in its first charity sector measurement report, which focuses on youth justice.

Measruing together: Impact measurement in the youth justice sector states that if measurement across charity sub-sectors, such as mental health or youth justice, was co-ordinated, charities and funders could compare the impact of different services and allocate resources to achieve maximum impact.

“Different sectors face different measurement problems,” the report says. “So by looking at measurement in a sector as whole, we can identify the main challenges and propose solutions."

It continues: “Such an approach could help to identify the most effective way for charities to measure results, and improve progress on measurement across the charity sector as a whole. It would also encourage co-operation between charities and funders working within the same field, and avoid charities working in isolation to develop their own frameworks.”

The report recommends that charities working in the youth justice sector form a consortium to lobby government for access to statutory data. NPC is exploring how to support such a consortium. The Big Lottery Fund also indicated it would support a push on government to release statutory data earlier in the year.

The report also encourages youth justice charities to collect data from young people it works with, and calls on funders to pay charities to measure results and also fund independent research and policy analysis.

The Ministry of Justice is encouraged to enable access to re-offending data, in the report.

NPC aims to publish a number of Measuring together reports over the coming months and years.

Directory: New Philanthropy Capital

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