Measuring Impact - Nicva
Measuring Impact - Nicva
Measuring Impact - Nicva
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54 <strong>Measuring</strong> <strong>Impact</strong> – Case-studies of impact assessment<br />
Lessons learnt and<br />
guidance for future work<br />
8<br />
Karl Wilding,NCVO and Marion Lacey,SCVO<br />
This final section draws together a few conclusions about our experience of assessing the<br />
impact of the voluntary sector, from sector level through to individual organisation level. It<br />
also highlights the common approaches to impact assessment that worked for us. However, it<br />
is first worth summarising some of the impact themes uncovered in our findings, and these<br />
are the focus of the next section.<br />
Summary of the main impact themes 8.1<br />
One of the main issues highlighted by the four studies is the diversity of impacts achieved not<br />
only by the sector as a whole, but also by individual organisations. The studies also highlighted<br />
how organisations impact on other organisations, individuals, and the environment.<br />
The process began by thinking in terms of social, economic and political impacts, but organisations<br />
highlighted themes using quite different language: quality of life, improved health and<br />
well-being, enhanced cultural life, improved local environment, new skills and opportunities,<br />
and community involvement and cohesion. The different language suggests that organisations<br />
are not output-oriented.<br />
However, there was also evidence of hard thinking about the economic impact of organisations’<br />
activities. The case-study organisations recognised that their work indirectly reduced<br />
demand for government services or welfare benefits – although no quantification of these<br />
impacts was undertaken.<br />
Given the diversity of areas where the sector and organisations can achieve impact, an overall<br />
summary is problematic. Table 8.1 attempts to summarise areas of impact by looking at the<br />
relationship between voluntary and community sector functions, and three main groupings of<br />
those impacted upon (a typology developed in Chapter 4).