About GoldStar 
Measuring performance in terms of impact
and outcomes
Committed organisations should set out their aims clearly, any resources they need identified and ready to deploy and have a systematic approach to operational recording keeping. Collectively these measures enable the organisation to conduct the critical task of assessing impact on the communities they serve, and the outcomes for individual volunteers and beneficiaries.
Below are a few examples of how other organisations have accoplished this: |
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Chance UK measures impact through review systems |
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Bank side open trust has a very strong evaluation culture. |
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Refugee Action’s Horizon Project developed formal evaluation processes |
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Bankside Open Spaces Trust
Bankside Open Spaces Trust, (BOST), is a charity in North West Southwark that works to shape local concern into action for parks, gardens, and the wider shared environment.
It promotes inclusive action to ensure that local needs are met for each green space in the area. It has a strong culture of evalutating its outcomes, and sometimes even the impacts of its projects. The main features of the approach adopted by BOST are:
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Clarity of aims and objectives - this is necessary to provide benchmarks for evaluation purposes. At BOST these are first embodied in policies, procedures and business planning, then developed at a more detailed level specific to a project or activity;
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Objectivity - evaluation of projects and activities that are concerned with public open spaces is an opportunity to account for feedback from relevant organisations;
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Spreading and developing expertise - BOST has carried out evaluation of its own work and been commissioned by the Pool of London Partnership and the ODPM to carry them out on community involvement in park projects;
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Review the process - because BOST is a community based organisation aimed at fulfilling the needs of local people, it is continually critical of it's performance and impact and aims to collect information wherever possible to refine this
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Cost recovery - wherever possible, BOST includes the cost of evaluation in any new major project before embarking on the project.
Refugee Action’s Horizon Project
Refugee Action’s horizon project has recognised the importance of formal evaluation of its activities. From March to June 2007 the Project commissioned an evaluation of the outcomes and benefits of the Horizon’s Project for clients and voluntary organisations.
A number of different approaches were used to hear from clients, placement organisations and members of the project team. These included interviews, questionnaires and focus groups, which explored the clients experience, the benefits they have gained from volunteering and their perspectives of the project.
The results of the evaluation demonstrate:
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A significant and positive impact on the lives of refugees and asylum seekers;
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That the Project has achieved the expected outcomes for clients;
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A significant impact for the voluntary organisations with which it has placed clients.
The evaluation concluded that Horizons has much to offer enriching the lives of its clients, raising awareness, supporting organisational chance and making an important contribution to the local and voluntary community through volunteering resource it provides.
Chance UK
Chance UK values the importance of measuring the impact of the mentoring programme has on their children.
Children are referred to Chance UK by primary schools and, to a lesser extent, by social services and other agencies. Chance UK assesses their behaviour using Goodman Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). A score of 16 or over indicates that a child has a behavioural difficulty and is suitable for the Chance UK programme (many score 30+). Other home and environmental factors will also be taken into consideration.
Once a child meets referral criteria, the child and his or her parent are visited at their home to carry out a further assessment. This gives an opportunity to answer any questions that they may have about Chance UK mentoring programme. Chance UK accepts a child on to the programme only when there is clear evidence of a willingness to participate on the part of the child and the parent.
Once a child has been accepted, she/he is matched with a volunteer mentor. The first three months is the bonding period between the mentor and child. All children, with the support of their mentor set goals at three months into their mentoring year at a review. All relationships are closely supervised with a minimum of monthly face-to-face supervision session with the mentor throughout the year. In this session, ways of moving closer to the goals are suggested and tried out within the mentoring sessions.
After each child and mentor pair graduate, Chance UK staff conduct debriefs with all parties involved so that the progress of each child can be evaluated. These debriefs take place with the referrer, child, mentor and parent and look at changes in relationships, behaviour and social development.
At this point the SDQ is revisited. The referrer’s original score from the SDQ shows whether a child is suitable for inclusion onto the programme. At the start the parent is also asked to complete the same questionnaire and then at the review stage the mentor completes yet another. This gives a broad base form which change can be measured. At the debriefs with all parties involved, the SDQ is completed again and gives a measurable indicator of a change in the child’s behaviour.
Based on this process, in 2005 45% of the children had no behavioural difficulties at the end of the programme, and 88% had a reduction in score.
Chance UK has identified funding for a longitudinal study of it’s’ work which took place in October 2006. The work was carried out by the Unit for School & Family Studies, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College and identified five cases at the matching stage and followed them through the full year to debriefing; then they compiled comparative data on starting and ending SDQ’s for all children completing the programme since December 2005, when the last evaluation was completed. The study also identified 40 children who completed the programme in the last three years to see how changes had been maintained.
Chance UK has also introduced a self-esteem measure in October 2006. This questionnaire will be completed by the child at the beginning and end of the programme so that comparative data on self esteem can also be measured alongside the SDQ score.
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