A year-long journey to articulate impact with young people charity YSS
Client: YSS
Date: Late 2019 - late 2020
Work: Improving outcome measurement
When a client contacts us and asks for support on articulating impact and improving their outcome measurement it's exciting, but we also know how tough the process can be. It means challenging or questioning everything they do against their intended mission, to crystalise it into a clearly-defined impact statement. This takes courage and determination, as demonstrated by the year-long journey we had supporting the charity YSS to do just that.
YSS supports vulnerable children, young people and adults across West Mercia, from young carers to troubled families and ex-offenders or those at risk of offending. The journey began with an organisational data maturity assessment, which highlighted areas for improvement in terms of data.
We ran workshops with senior managers and board members to develop their theory of change and articulate an impact statement across the many and varied projects and funding streams. There were several iterations to define outcome measures in a way that could be communicated to others outside the organisation.
We mapped the flow of data collected for beneficiaries at various points in their journey of support with YSS and recommended standardised ways to do this, to make sense of it across the whole organisation.
Finally, we produced a roadmap with key findings and recommendations for improving impact measurement, which was presented to the board of trustees.
Once again, we have been humbled by the fantastic work done by the staff and volunteers of YSS (and many other charities), who 'walk alongside' people who need support, without judgement and believing in their potential to overcome adverse experiences. Being a social enterprise was an important factor in YSS choosing us as a contractor and we - in turn - are grateful to be working with such inspiring clients who help make the world a better place. Meeting the no-nonsense Princess Anne, their patron, was interesting too!