Outcome Funding

Progressive grant making is no longer interested in only short-term outputs: funders are increasingly interested in the impact of their funding rather than just the outputs.

What do we mean by outcome funding?

Outcome funding refers to the process whereby funders fund for change brought about by particular activities - or outputs - not simply the delivery of outputs themselves. 

• It is sometimes referred to as the 'investor approach'.

What do we mean by outcome assessment?

Outcome assessment is a way of focusing not so much on what we do as what we achieve.

• Read more about Assessing your Outcomes

Why is an outcomes approach important?

Together, outcome funding and assessment provide a discipline and framework for doing things better.

Very simply it is deciding what you want to achieve, recording how well you achieve it, and then using this information to help you achieve more.

• Read more about the Importance of Outcome Funding
• What are the Critical Challenges of adopting this approach?

Further support

• Several terms are used in describing this process, which are often confused, so we have devised a fictional example of the Riley Readers. This includes a glossary for added clarity.
• Signposting to additional resources.