Horsham District Council’s Community Grant Guidelines for Measuring impact

This guide is for those who have been awarded a grant from Horsham District Council. It should help you describe the changes that have happened because of the project or activity that we have funded. We call these changes ‘outcomes’.

We expect reporting to be proportional to the size of your grant, but we also expect it to reflect how you told us you would report your outcomes when you submitted your application.

Poor quality reporting (which is not the same as reports of projects that have failed to achieve their goals) may harm your chances of funding in the future.

Outcomes

Outcomes are not the activities or services you provide. They are the results of what you do. For example, they could be improved health, increased confidence, or gaining a job or qualification.

It is best to describe your outcomes using words of change. For example, ‘less’, ‘reduced’, ‘more’, ‘better’.

Whatever your outcomes are, they should link logically to the need or problem that your project addresses.

Reporting outcomes

Outcomes are the most important part of your end of grant report.

We want you to use the language above to report your outcomes to us.

These could be both the outcomes you expected and any that were unexpected. You may also have encountered some negative outcomes, which we would also like to hear about.

Case studies

Case studies can be one of the most powerful ways to communicate the outcomes you have achieved with our funding. A well-written case study should provide some inspiration, alongside some facts and figures.

Here are a few essential elements that every case study should contain:

A powerful opening

The aim here is to have an impact and get your message across from the start:

“When Olivia first started coming to youth club, she didn’t get involved in many group activities; she was quiet and introverted”.

Name the change and consequences

After making a powerful opening statement, it is important to identify the problem that you were trying to address.

“We identified the need for a quiet space for young people who responded more positively to one-to-one interactions”.

Next, identify the solution to the problem (the intervention), which our grant funded. If the grant covered core costs, talk about a variety of your services as a charity and why it was important for us to fund core costs.

“The recent grant from Horsham District Council of £2,000 provided core funding for the youth centre to stay open one more night a week to hold a dedicated session for young people who found it difficult mixing in larger groups. It allowed us to provide a space where young people could bring their homework or study in a quiet place; talk to the youth workers about any problems they had; or simply hang out in a safe space”.

Finally, identify the outcome of the solution (the intervention). We are not only looking for how many people attended the event or how many people it helped but rather the impact that it had on those people. If it helps, try to answer the question, “What would the consequence have been if this funding did not exist?”

“The grant allowed us to open the youth centre for an additional night which helped provide these young people with the social skills and confidence they needed to progress into the world of work and contribute more positively to their communities. Olivia responded so positively to these sessions that she went on to become a volunteer at the youth club. She now leads some activities and is studying for a qualification in childcare and youth work”.

Provide an image

Ideally this should be an image of one single person or at most two people enjoying their time together. Please make sure you ask people for permission to take their photo. Please note that Horsham District Council may use on our social media pages and or website for publicity reasons.

Media guidance:

• Images/videos can be attached and sent to us via email.
• Videos files must be mp4. or MOV format.
• Up to 30 seconds long per video clip.
• Allow space at the bottom of your video for subtitles (accessibility purposes).
• Children safeguarding - When children are featured, we require confirmation that you have written parental permission to use the photos. Wherever possible we would also like to know who is in the photograph.

Get linked up

Provide a link to a website,  X  (Twitter) profile or Facebook page to the group in case readers want to learn more about the charity.

Make it anonymous

We have changed the name of the person in the case study above, and you may choose to do the same.