Step 8 – Show the impact of your project

This section will offer help on how to keep track of what you do and how well you are doing it. Try not to leave this to the end of a project – it’s best to integrate it into your regular activities or meetings, so you can quickly adapt to the needs and activities within your community.

Although terms like ‘demonstrating impact’ can sound a bit daunting and full of complicated jargon, assessing your project can be a really useful process.

Taking a step back and considering the difference your project is making to your community has a number of benefits, by:

• Enabling you to identify and address issues early on
• Helping you to improve your project if you want to expand or continue beyond the initial project timeline
• Being used as evidence to support applications to funding bodies (as they will want to ensure they are backing successful projects with a track record for having a positive impact on their community)

By gathering information on the difference you are making by running a community project, you are likely to end up with a more complete and accurate picture of your achievements when it ends.

Going back to Step 3 (where you developed a plan of action) will help you keep track of the direction your project is headed in and help you understand whether you are meeting, or exceeding, your goals.

Once you’ve collected evidence of the difference you are making, many community groups choose to present it and make it public. It’s a great way to show your community what the project has achieved and of course is invaluable if you need to submit monitoring reports to funders or regulators. Ways to do this include:

• Creating a blog or website
• Making a video (you don’t need any fancy equipment)
• Taking photos (on your phone is fine)
• Publishing printed reports (if you have the budget)

Below are some links to free guides, software and websites you can use to prove that you are making a difference.