The Inspiring Impact Group, a coalition of voluntary sector bodies seeking to provide collective leadership on measuring impact over the next 10 years, is considering encouraging funders to allocate at least 5 per cent of funding to evaluation and measurement.

The group, which includes NCVO, Acevo and Charities Evaluation Services (CES), met for the first time this month. Andy Gregg, chief executive of CES, said the group was thinking about encouraging funders to make sure 5 - 10 per cent of their funding is spent on the evaluation and measurement of that funding.  

Speaking about the meeting, Gregg said it was the first time that everybody in the sector had come together to provide a better leadership on impact:

"Some people had not collaborated well in the past," he said. "New Philanthropy Capital has done a good job of co-ordinating it."

He said the group hoped to get initial funding from the Big Lottery Fund and Office for Civil Society, which are also part of the group. It also plans to get small amounts from other funders. The group's next meeting is due in June.

CES has also had its first meeting this month to discuss its new Jargonbusters website, which will aim to provide guidance on terms around impact measurement.

Gregg said the group planned to meet every 6 months to refresh the website: “We’ve decided we are not going to be a thesaurus of terms,” he said. “But we’ll signpost definitions which are already online.”

Those involved in the work on Jargonbusters include Northern Rock and the Association of Charitable Foundations.