It’s The Results That Really Matter

By Alex Le Vey, Fundraising and Development Manager, Fight for Peace

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results” – Winston Churchill

Something quite exciting has been happening to the charity sector in recent years. Charities have begun to move away from talking about what they do, to talking more about what they achieve. Less about their strategy and activities, and more about results delivered.

However, more work needs to be done to stress the importance of results above everything else. This will encourage higher levels of charitable giving to impact driven organisations, leading to transformational social change.

Faltering charities should be allowed to fail

There is still a perception that charities are doing a good job simply because they exist and have a registered charity number. This isn’t right, more scrutiny is needed.

Shareholders would not be convinced of a public company’s performance just because it has appropriate legal registration, and the same should be true for charity donors. Results must be the focus, and as someone who believes fully in competition, faltering charities should be allowed to fail and close down, allowing a better organised, results driven organisation to fill the gap.

Articulating impact effectively

Whilst donors should look at results when choosing which causes they would like to support, it is the responsibility of charities to articulate their results and impact in an effective and easy to digest way. Charities must recognise that results can be demonstrated in a number of ways and different audiences respond better to different messaging.

I’m a big fan of stats; here are a couple from my current employer, Fight for Peace. In 2013:

• 95% of those who got into trouble prior to attending Fight for Peace stopped getting into trouble at home, at school and on the streets;
• 81% of those enrolled on Fight for Peace’s education courses achieved English Level 1 or 2 qualifications, and 77% achieved Maths Level 1 or 2 qualification.

This is so much more powerful than simply stating what we do.

Quotes and case studies can be equally as effective for some audiences providing they tell a story and highlight results delivered.

Turning lives around

Speaking of Fight for Peace, I can confidently say that we lead the way in terms of impact measurement. We monitor our work continuously and are independently evaluated by an external evaluator every two years. Young people coming to Fight for Peace really do turn their lives around due to our work, but don’t take my word for it, take a look at our results for yourself – click here.

My desire is that people will no longer feel proud saying “I give to charity”, but will name the causes they support and the results they achieve. After all a charity number is just that, a number, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s the results that really matter.