Summary
Funders influence how impact is measured in the social sector. Their data needs to shape both the type of data charities collect and how they use it. However, the need for charities to balance data collection with providing services to beneficiaries can create tension between funders and grantees. Funders must find a balance between asking for data to understand impact and reducing the burden on grantees and their beneficiaries.
However, wellbeing measurement offers a valuable opportunity for funders wanting to become more measurement focused. Our wellbeing – the sense of how we are feeling and functioning – is now a robust outcome that can be measured using simple, pragmatic tools. These measures can help to provide robust impact conclusions while minimising costs and complexities for funders and their beneficiaries.
Spirit of 2012 – the legacy funder from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – adopted the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) standardised personal wellbeing questions across its grantees in order to measure what mattered most to the stakeholders it worked with. This helped to build the evidence base for how sporting, cultural, and community events across the UK can improve wellbeing, inclusion, and social connection.
Spirit of 2012 used the data to great effect. It worked with grantees to understand who they were supporting and refine programmes throughout the delivery period to ensure they were targeting those that needed the support the most. Spirit of 2012 used the data to identify comparison groups for some initiatives to better understand what would have happened in the absence of the interventions it was funding.
As they approached their planned closure, Spirit of 2012 wanted to explore what more could be learnt from the data and reflections that they had collated from grantees over the past 12 years. PBE was commissioned as one of three Legacy Learning Partners to review archival content and use it to produce new insights for their own audiences. Having gathered data using the ONS’ standardised personal wellbeing questions, it opened up the opportunity of doing retrospective wellbeing cost effectiveness analysis on a selection of closed projects. Three former grantees were approached, selected to provide some sense of the variety of what Spirit of 2012 has funded, who all agreed to take part.
Through this work, Spirit of 2012 has gained value for money assessments to help demonstrate the difference that fun and supportive ‘free time’ activities make to our lives. This was particularly important for Spirit of 2012 as these participatory sport, arts, and volunteering projects typify those that are used in planning for and delivering a legacy from events. The key findings include:
- The EmpowHER programme – an initiative led by UK Youth, in partnership with the British Red Cross and Young Women’s Trust, which engaged young women and girls in inclusive, meaningful social action – represents good value for money, delivering around £5 in wellbeing benefits per £1 spent.
- Get Out Get Active (GOGA) – a programme led by Activity Alliance that supported disabled and non-disabled people to enjoy being active together – delivered around £3.70 of wellbeing benefits for every £1 spent.
- City to Sea was a surf-therapy project which targeted young Londoners whose complex physical and mental health needs made them vulnerable to isolation. Spirit of 2012 funded Laureus Sport for Good to work with The Wave Project to deliver this initiative. PBE analysis suggests less than a third of the improvement in wellbeing experienced by participants needs to be down to the programme in order for the benefits of the programme to outweigh its costs.
We can also learn a lot from Spirit of 2012’s experiences. Firstly, there are barriers that can make it difficult for grantees to measure wellbeing – and a funder can help to bridge the gap. Secondly, developing an understanding of what might have happened in the absence of the programme can be particularly important where programmes are having a ‘protective’ impact (preventing things from getting worse). Finally, providing central support for grantees to access the right expertise can be critical to deliver a truly ‘measurement focused’ approach. Our report captures these important lessons and offers guidance via three of Spirit of 2012’s grantee experiences or ‘case studies’.
Ultimately, Spirit of 2012’s experience demonstrates that putting measures of wellbeing at the centre of impact measurement approaches can deliver pragmatic, insightful results that could form a useful blueprint for other funders to follow.