Our workshop series on measuring and evaluating social impact returns for another round this November. Find out more about the programme, what participants thought of our first edition and how to sign up.

Building skills and expertise

Following conversations with researchers and local community organisations in Bath and North East Somerset, we launched a workshop series on measuring and evaluating social impact, led by Stacey Pottinger from Octopus Impact. 

Funded by Research England as part of our ParticipatoryResearch@Bath project, we were keen to support a range of local community organisations to develop their skills and expertise in this area and provide an opportunity to meet researchers at the University of Bath.

The three-week series equipped participants with practical tools and strategies for effectively measuring, evaluating, and communicating their projects' social value. 

What did people think?

In addition to researchers from the University, we had attendees from local organisations such as Bath Mind, Bath Welcomes Refugees, 3SG, Bath City Farm, Healthwatch, Homeshare, and more—all in different roles and stages of their projects and initiatives, all bringing a breath of experience and generous contributions to the table.

By the end of the first week, many attendees were already applying what they’d learned, sharing new approaches with their teams and managers. 

I’ve showed these tools to my CEO and will carry on showing them to my team. We are going to use them for mapping out future projects and where we are going to go

As one participant shared:

There is so much richness and diversity in this room

For us, a definite highlight was watching the collaboration and connections between participants grow. From the feedback we received, this was a shared highlight, and the group has continued to stay in touch. 

The networking part of this has been so important, we are often so busy and working in isolation

Sign-up for our next course  

Due to the popularity of our first and the positive feedback received, we have decided to run another edition of the series this November, and all the details you need can be found below: 

Who is it for?  

This free training programme has been informed by our conversations with community organisations around Bath and North East Somerset and researchers at the University and is for: 

• community-based and third-sector organisations, 

• social enterprises, 

• researchers and academics, 
• anyone interested in deepening their understanding of their project or organisation's social impact and learning about different techniques to measure and communicate this. 

Workshop Programme 

Over the course of the three workshops participants will: 

🔍 Gain Insights: learn about the methodologies and frameworks in social impact measurement. 

📊 Practical Tools: get hands-on experience and techniques to collect data and analyse social impact effectively. 

 Engage and Connect: Meet like-minded people, share practice and build a network of support and collaboration. 

💬  Across the three workshops, participants will have the chance to work through or hone a Theory of Change, develop a five-step framework to evaluate their impact and then consider how they can gather data and communicate impact. 

Workshop one: Theory of Change [Half-day] 

📅 Date: Tuesday 12th November 2024 

⏰ Time: 10:00-14:00 

This workshop will be creative and will: 

• explain the difference between research & evaluation, 

• confirm long-term goals and impact of the organisation, 

• explore different models available, 

• work through the development of a Theory of Change, which could either be organisational or project-focused.

Workshop two: Five-Step Evaluation Framework [Full-day] 

📅 Date: Tuesday 19th November  2024 

⏰ Time: 09:30 - 16:30 

This full-day workshop will build on the theory of change development work done. During the workshop we will: 

• work through a five-step framework model – dedicating time to evaluation, audience, research questions and evidence sections, 

• discuss and explore principles of evaluation, 

• consider ethics and equity, 
• reference trauma-led practice and considerations. 

Workshop three: Communicating Impact [Half-day] 

📅 Date: Tuesday 26th November 2024 

⏰ Time: 10:00-14:00 

This half-day workshop will build on the theory of change and five-step evaluation framework. Together we will: 

• define stakeholder groups using a communications matrix, 

• analyse good and bad examples of impact communications, 

• learn about methods and channels of communication for specific audiences, 

• develop a comms plan for platform and stakeholder groups. 

By the end of the programme, participants will have developed the basis of an actionable plan, taking them from understanding their impact in the context of the problem they’re addressing to communicating that impact to their chosen stakeholders/audiences. 

📍 Location: All three workshops will be held at University of Bath, Claverton Down Bath, BA2 7AY.  Room details TBC.

🥙 Refreshments will be provided with your dietary requirements accounted for. 

Register your interest

Places on this programme are limited and we are prioritising those who work in Bath and North East Somerset and those who are available to join all three workshops in the programme. If you would like to join us, please register interest using the Measuring and Evaluating Social Impact training registration form and we will be in touch. 

If you have any questions or would like to find out more, please drop us a line public-engagement@bath.ac.uk.