Members of the Inspiring Impact Group, which includes a number of the sector's umbrella bodies, have teamed up with Ipsos Mori to launch a major new study into impact measurement, taking place over the coming months.
The research has commenced with a UK-wide survey of charities, building on previous research by Charities Evaluation Services, which the group hopes will ultimately help charities to measure better.
"By finding out what is holding charities back from measuring their impact, the organsiations involved in the project can act to help overcome these stumbling blocks. For example, one common complaint we hear is that different funders demand different sets of information on impact, or information presented in a different way - something which might ultimately be changed with work in different subsectors on standardised reporting," New Philanthropy Capital, one of the group's members said in its blog announcing the study.
The survey asks questions such as how sophisticated charities' level of evidence is, what research methods they are using and what barriers charities are facing to measuring impact.
"Although we hear a lot of anecdotal evidence to support the view that charities are serious about measuring the difference their work makes, we don't have the data to back this up. We don't know how many charities in the UK are actually measuring their impact, what they are measuring and how they are doing it," advise NPC.
Eibhlin Ni Ogain, who works in the measurement team at NPC and who wrote the survey said it differs from previous research by providing representative results from targeted respondents. It will be used, she said, to ascertain attitudes towards impact measurement and barriers faced, also to discover what areas of improvement are needed and where to target support.
The study is supported by Inspiring Impact Group members NPC, NCVO, Acevo, CES and TSRC and is being funded by the Big Lottery Fund, the City Bridge Trust, the Northern Rock Foundation and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Members of the umbrella bodies involved can expect to receive an email from Ipsos Mori regarding the survey in the coming weeks. A free report will be compiled and issued in the summer.
