Research and evaluation coaching makes social impact evaluation less daunting for community
Community organisations need to evaluate their operations for accountability and social impact. UTS supports not-for-profit organisations to measure and demonstrate their impact, as seen in the case of Home-Start National.
The community sector has been under increased pressure to evaluate its operations to remain accountable for funders, members and donors, as well as to demonstrate social impact.
Although the benefits of evaluation are clear, many not-for-profit organisations don’t have the capacity to undertake such work, says Dr Kathleen Blair, Research and Evaluation Specialist at the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion (CSJI).
A fundamental task for community organisations is to determine what impact their programs have on the people they serve. Given the crucial importance of evaluation for funding and service quality, we run workshops and offer coaching to support them so they are able to continue doing the important work they do.
The CSJI has a series of capacity-building offerings and provides community partners with valuable tools to measure and demonstrate their impact, strengthening the quality of their programs and ultimately improving outcomes for their beneficiaries.
One such partner is Home-Start National, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping children and families by providing practical parenting support and community connection. CEO Michelle McDonell felt particularly relieved when she received support from UTS.
Like many not-for-profit organisations, we depend on funding and need to report on our operations and outcomes to maintain it. But our team is fairly small, and none of us are experts in evaluation.
At the same time, it can be very daunting to reach out to grant givers for help with evaluation. That’s why we were really grateful to be connected with evaluation specialists at UTS who are approachable, knowledgeable and genuinely care about us and the work we do.
Using a number of data collection and measurement tools, Dr Blair enabled Michelle and her team to embed evaluative thinking and processes into their day-to-day work.
As a result of personalised coaching sessions, the Home-Start National team acquired the skills needed to draw a clear picture of their services, collect and analyse data, better understand demographic patterns and identify unmet community needs.
The coaching has been invaluable for us. We’ve uncovered crucial information in our data that has helped us redirect resources better. For instance, we didn’t realise the extent of homelessness in certain areas we serve, but now that we have this knowledge we can act accordingly.
The evaluation approach adopted for Home-Start also highlights the importance of individual stories of change and impact.
“It is also important to listen to individual stories to understand how the services are meaningful in an individual’s life. Ultimately, this is where we can see evidence of impact. Paired with other qualitative and quantitative data, it can help organisations plan their service delivery based on real, insightful information,” Dr Blair concludes.
