Outcome and impact evaluation has many benefits for voluntary organisations.
Develop your strategy and organisational plans
Identifying the difference you want to make can help you focus your organisation’s strategy and plan how to use your resources efficiently.
Make your work more effective
Through evaluation, you can identify where your work is most effective, and where you might change or develop. This can help you improve services and programmes so you can make a bigger difference for your beneficiaries.
Report to funders and attract further funding
Those funding, commissioning or investing in voluntary organisations increasingly ask about the difference organisations have made – not just what they’ve delivered. Collecting evidence of your outcomes and impact can also help build a case to attract further funding.
Improve your communications
Evaluation findings can help you communicate with your organisation’s key audiences. You could share your findings to engage current or potential donors, or to increase public understanding of what you achieve. You might also be able to use your data for lobbying or campaigning.
Motivate staff and volunteers
Seeing evidence of what their work has achieved can boost staff and volunteer morale, generating a sense of shared purpose.
For more information
Voluntary sector initiative Inspiring Impact discusses the benefits of focusing on impact in ‘Are you leading for impact?’ (pdf)
