I’ve just spent an inspiring hour at the regular Tuesday morning get-together of the Bradford on Avon Community Network, Boacan. They are currently creating a hub in an empty shop, which will provide a platform for the new food bank that they are assisting set-up of. The hub will also provide computer access, Wi-Fi, digital learning plus local information; Boacan are talking to TCAF (the Trowbridge Community Area Partnership) about their newly published guide for migrant workers & families, as they wish to develop a similar resource for BoA residents. The network is also working with partners to secure a new youth centre, creating a cooperative to administer volunteer Time Credits, supporting the Dementia friendly training and signing up to roll out the Safe Places scheme. And that was just today’s meeting.
Boacan are just one of a dozen Community Area Partnerships operating across Wiltshire, and a visit to any of their meetings would inform you of a similar myriad of projects.
Of course, I realise it’s not realistic for grant-givers to sit-in on community meetings, but just the level of vibrancy, knowledge, passion and expertise, evident from one hour this morning, embraced everything about Community Area Partnerships at their best. And that’s so hard to emulate on paper with just raw data.
By nature, community networks & partnerships tend to share the work, and therefore the credit, of success, which means often these endless lists of work and achievements go un-recognised, that is to say, the result is recognised but not necessarily the group behind the work. And you can appreciate, from the breadth of initiatives listed above, that CAPs aren’t the easiest of organisations to promote and explain in a simple, tangible way, being somewhat all-encompassing in their output. And for the group members, and the community at large, that doesn’t really matter, as long as a difference has been made, but for the increasing need for ‘impact measurement’.
WfCAP have recently become a charity which opens up a much larger range of grant funding which we’re hoping to tap into in order to continue to support the CAPs in their important work. But with grant applications and annual reporting, funders, of course, want evidence of impact. There’s some great toolkits online such as Measuring Up, or VIVA for calculating economic value. In 2012 Phd Students from Bath University conducted an Impact Survey on behalf of Wiltshire’s Voluntary Sector. But for small, volunteer-based groups like the CAPs, or even for us as WfCAP with just 60 hours of staff time a week, impact measuring is a resource-heavy undertaking.
Last year we compiled our Making a Difference report which collated as many statistics and case studies as we could gather on local engagement, volunteer hours, actions completed etc. But it inevitably consumed time from the frontline work with the CAPs. Was it worth it? Of course; 12 of the 14 CAPs continued to receive funding again this year, as did WfCAP. Was it the best use of time? Well that issue was something that many community organisations were debating at the recent Voluntary Sector Assembly. Although everybody of course gets the need for rigorous accountability and transparency in public spending, and realises the need to ensure monies are having the best possible effect, there were inevitable frustrations. As I’ve already mentioned the CAPs, like many other organisations, often work in partnerships, and so how do you calculate your slice of the impact? They often kick-start a project and then pass it on, enabling someone else to grow and develop it – how then, on its completion, do they claim the value of their input? Some of these projects are long-term, the benefits of which won’t be calculable for years and certainly not within a financial, reporting annual cycle. And other projects don’t provide anything to calculate, they prevent. How do you prove the ‘negatives’ that never occurred and evidence that your project was the reason behind them, not occurring!!
We also discussed the anomaly between being asked for evidence against KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) when being commissioned, but funders not having to evidence against KPIs when decommissioning? i.e. you could deliver all and more on a contract but still other factors, out of your control, may take precedence in the ‘who to fund/who not to fund’ decision. The Assembly also highlighted the recent Independence Panel report (produced in light of the Lobbying Bill) which is concerned with ensuring the third sector still has a voice.
So okay, my blog title is tongue-in-cheek, but seriously, just being part of a conversation with a community group really is a snapshot of the extent and value of what is happening locally. And it’s a much more honest and efficient way of illustrating impact for those tiny organisations that just don’t have the time or resource to produce detailed, academic impact studies.
Yesterday the Community Development Foundation published Tailor Made: How community groups improve people’s lives illustrating the vital contribution of small community groups. I think this quote, from a news article about the research, sums it up perfectly: “They are praised and thanked, but their true social and economic contribution is overlooked. Yet they are the glue holding our society together.”
Laura