Gloucestershire County Council’s (GCC) Active Together (AT) programme aimed to help encourage more participation in sport and physical activity across the county and was open to a range of community groups, from sports clubs to scout groups and parish and town councils, and schools. In September 2014 the University of Gloucestershire was commissioned Public Health Gloucestershire to evaluate the AT programme as a means of establishing evidence of whether the programme was a good way of using funds to encourage greater participation in health enhancing activities. Using a mixed methods approach incorporating a Social Return on Investment framework the evaluation sought to understand and value the changes that occurred as a consequence of projects implemented with AT funding.

1. A small grants programme
to encourage participation
in sport and physical
activity
Innovative Councillor-led
approach
Open to a range of
community groups e.g.
sports clubs, scout groups,
parish and town councils,
schools
Evaluated by the
University of
Gloucestershire (2014-
2017)
Collaborative evaluation
approach in close liaison
with Gloucestershire
County Council Public
Health
Mixed methods to
understand and value
changes that occurred as
a consequence of funded
projects
Active Together
Social Return on Investment (SROI)
Gloucestershire
2017
Results
Background
SROI
INPUTS OUTPUTS
£2.3m £16.67m
£2.12m
£125k
£50k
Grant funding
Staff & resourcing
Volunteers & Councillors
Evaluation
£5k
Community connections &
resources
Education & skills
Health & Wellbeing
£5.27m
£702k
£10.7m
For every £1 invested in Active
Together, £7.25 worth of social
value was created
University of Gloucestershire, 2017. Data correct as of 15th September, 2016.
Active Together provided a
powerful means of engaging
with community stakeholders
at different levels and to
create a sense of ownership
over local projects.