Working with charity impact consultants - what to expect

Listening is what we’ll do first – what evidence you want to be able to generate, who you want to inform or influence, your deadlines and resources. What you already know, so we can build on it. How confident you feel with data and evidence. If you’re clear what you want, great – but we can also help you identify the best next steps in your journey to being able to demonstrate your impact. 

Charities are tackling complex, hard to shift problems in society, with lots of barriers and external influences, and usually with inadequate resources. Time spent understanding the circumstances in which a charity is operating puts the work on a good footing.

We’ll talk to you about your vision, mission and values and circumstances you’re operating in. We’ll review your website and key documents. Whenever it’s appropriate we like to see first hand what you do – for example by visiting a service or taking part in an activity.

We will spend time understanding the challenges faced by the people you support and work with and their accessibility needs.

We will help you get the most from your research or evaluation budget. We'll make use of existing data and IT tools wherever possible. We don't charge for use of our own specialist software. Wherever possible we travel at our own expense. Our day rates are highly competitive and as a network of freelancers we have low overheads.

We'll help you identify and mitigate any risks involved in each piece of work. We take safeguarding and data protection extremely seriously and have extensive measures in place to ensure compliance with relevant legislation.

Regular communication is key and we'll do that in ways that suit your ways of working. We aim to provide a flow of evidence so that you can influence the direction of the work and so that there are no surprises when the findings arrive. We strive for plain English and clearly presented data in all our outputs.