THE CLIENT
Local Trust is a foundation that funds 150 local groups across England to the tune of £150million over ten years with grants to improve their local areas.
THE CHALLENGE
The local groups that receive funding from Local Trust are made up of volunteers of mixed backgrounds. These people love their local communities but many of them have not worked in charities or the public sector before. They are unfamiliar with the language of impact measurement and are resistant to concepts which come across as too theoretical and far removed from the day to day operations of the projects they run. Some of the members had previously attended impact training workshops run by other providers which had put them off the idea of impact measurement. They were reluctant to come to yet another workshop focused on impact.
THE SOLUTION
We ran a Makerble All-In-One Impact Workshop: Identifying The Impact You Already Make for 30 representatives of local groups. Because the focus of the workshop was on drawing on people’s insight rather than lecturing them on the theory, the participation level was high and people felt empowered to contribute. We used post-it notes to create a visual Theory of Change. The practical nature of the workshop drew on the knowledge and expertise of the representatives and gave them a straightforward structure within which to discuss and consolidate the differences they saw their projects making.
THE RESULT
Representatives from the different local groups realised the commonality and overlaps of the similar local projects they were each running in different parts of the country. Representatives were able to organise the insights they had into the difference their projects made into an easy to articulate Theory of Change which they can now use to better communicate externally and raise funds from other funders interested in their work and moreover, their impact.