Building a strategy, monitoring progress and demonstrating impact
How do you know if your campaign is making a difference?
Campaigners are often passionate and action-orientated but frequently underresourced. For many, monitoring and evaluation may seem like an unaffordable or unwelcome mechanism of control. But simple and effective monitoring and evaluation can, if implemented well, become a powerful tool for social and political change.
Monitoring and evaluation is basically about assessing whether your campaign is making an impact, learning and reassessing your campaign strategy.
Getting you started
Our free two-page guide introduces the benefits of monitoring progress and demonstrating the impact of your campaigns, and outlines some ways to go about it.
Download the factsheet (PDF 51KB)
Developing a theory of change and embedding evaluation
Campaigning for change: Learning from the United States
This report explores how change happens and provides campaigners practical ways to evaluate, to understand and ultimately to more effectively achieve change. It outlines a systematic approach to evaluating campaigning know as Theory of Change which has emerged in the United States through a number of Charitable and Philanthropic Foundations seeking to develop an overarching approach to setting the strategy, planning and evaluation of campaigning. This approach has major implications for how we should think about what constitutes best practice in the development of campaigns strategy and evaluation and involving stakeholders in this process.
Find out more and download the report Campaigning for Change learning from the US (PDF 484KB)
Monitoring progress, demonstrating impact
Susie Rabin NCVO Meaningful and Manageable Evaluation
Meaningful and Manageable Evaluation workshop Campaigns Conference 2011
Hugh Mouser Global Witness Evaluation case study
Meaningful and Manageable Evaluation workshop Campaigns Conference 2011
Is your campaign making a difference?
This guide has a three layered structure. The first section Getting the basics right is available as a free download. It provides an overview of the key elements and suggests some simple approaches. The next sections make further suggestions about how to deepen the approach. The appendices provide a simple step-by-step guide that can help you design your own framework as well as signposting further resources and practical tools.
Find out more and download the free section: Getting the basics right
"As a regional charity run by and for disabled people, it's vital we know if the campaigns we run are having the impact we hope for, and whether they are helping us achieve our vision of improving the everyday lives of disabled people in Essex and beyond. We're only just starting out on the path of evaluating our work, but to have this book as a reference and guide - and especially to have concrete examples of how to do it, both in depth and more simply - is a great support."
Rich Watts, Director of Operations, Essex Coalition of Disabled People.
For general resources see NCVO's Strategy and Impact webpages.
