Impact of multi-purpose community organisations
The Impact of community anchors research is a collaboration between IVAR, New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) and nine multi-purpose community organisations (also described here as ‘community anchors’). This exploratory research runs from Autumn 2009 to Autumn 2010.
Why the impact of community anchors is important right now
The term ‘impact’ – which resonates with the idea of delivering change – is of growing importance to Government policy, as well as to statutory and non statutory funders. In 2004, the Home Office sought the development of appropriate indicators to ‘measure the …impact of community engagement’[i], while in 2007, the Treasury argued that voluntary sector organisations needed to ‘demonstrate clear impact’ [ii]. At the same time, Government has become more interested in the potential for community anchors to contribute to a wide variety of policy objectives for communities[iii].
We are using ‘impact’ as a way of describing long term, sustained changes that affect a whole community as compared with programme outcomes, which tend to be about shorter term change and their effect on individuals or groups of individuals. We are focusing on long term changes, which are community wide, because these are the kinds of changes that multi-purpose community organisations themselves ultimately aspire to.
The aim of the research
The central aim of the research is to develop approaches to capturing and reporting the impact of community anchors, that reflect the multiple nature of these organisations’ activities and interest groups. In other words, we are trying to find ways to assess impact that embrace rather than obscure their complexity. We are interested in what makes these organisations more than the sum of their parts. We make a distinction, therefore, between this understanding of impact and the idea of outcomes, which tend to be investigated through programme evaluation.
A collaboration between multi-purpose community organisations, their stakeholders and a multi-disciplinary research team
We will work with nine multi-purpose community organisations, located in three different geographical areas across England. There will be a mix of ‘young’ and well-established charities; development trusts and community associations; and organisations located in semi-rural and urban areas. Each organisation will be asked to include a small number of local or regional stakeholders, including funders and policy makers, in the research process.
We have assembled a multi-disciplinary team of researchers with a range of perspectives, insights and expertise around outcomes, impact and the history and nature of multi-purpose community organisations. Expert guidance on the use of systemic action research as an approach is provided by Professor Danny Burns of SOLAR, University of the West of England. Leila Baker, IVAR and Lucy Heady, NPC, are jointly responsible for project management.
How will we share the learning?
A final report will set out what we have learnt about the impact of community anchors and about how best to tackle impact assessment in this context. Each multi-purpose community organisation will be left with a bespoke system for continuing to assess their own organisation’s impact.
Contact: Leila Baker - leila@ivar.org.uk or
Lucy Heady -lheady@philanthropycapital.org.uk
[i] Home Office (2004) Firm Foundations The Government’s Framework for Community Capacity Building, London: Home Office.
[ii] HMT (2007) The Future Role of the Third Sector in Social and Economic Regeneration: Interim report, London: Her Majesty’s Treasury.
[iii] See i and ii above