The document discusses how to demonstrate impact through developing a theory of change, collecting evidence of numbers and stories, and creating an impact report. It recommends establishing a theory of change that outlines desired impacts and the activities and outputs needed to achieve them. Evidence should include quantitative data like passenger journeys and qualitative data like case studies. An effective impact report uses the theory of change to frame and prove the organization's impact through both numbers and personal stories.

1. Demonstrating Your Impact
Tom Jeffery
Marketing and Communications Executive
@CTAUK1|#CTARoadshow

2. What are we going to be looking at?
• What impact do you want to be having? What’s your Theory of Change?
• Collecting evidence
 Your Numbers
 Your People
• Telling people about your impact
 What is your data telling you?
 Creating a compelling impact report

3. What’s your Theory of Change?
Activities Outputs Impacts
The things you do What happens when
you do them.
What change is
accomplished?
• ‘Theory of Change’ is a way of laying out the impact you want to have, and
understanding what you need to do to get there.
• It’s useful for understanding what you want to measure, and the story you
want to tell.

4. What’s your Theory of Change?
Activities Outputs Impacts
What do you do to
make that happen?
What needs to happen to
create the change?
What change do you want
to create?
• ‘Theory of Change’ is a way of laying out the impact you want to have, and
understanding what you need to do to get there.
• It’s useful for understanding what you want to measure, and the story you
want to tell.

5. Impact
Activities
Outputs

6. Theory of Change: HCT Group
• NCVO Knowhow NonProft – How to Build a Theory of Change
knowhownonprofit.org/how-to/how-to-build-a-theory-of-change

7. What do you need to measure?
Your Numbers Your People

8. Your Numbers
• There’s a lot of data that community transport providers can capture:
 Passenger journeys
 Distances travelled
 Trips to doctors’ appointments
 People who say they feel less lonely
 The number of trips to the shops
 Volunteering hours donated
 Number of children helped to school
• Every journey you take tells a different story
• Look back on your theory of change to plan what you need to collect

9. Theory of Change: HCT Group

10. Your Numbers
• Gathering this data is important to demonstrate your impact social impact.
• There are also ways that you can use these sorts of numbers to put a
monetary value on the good you put into the community.
ECT Charity – Measuring your Social Value
• Calculation tool to put a monetary value on your social impact.
ectcharity.co.uk/news/story/how-do-you-measure-up

11. Your Numbers
• How much money flows through
your minibus? How much do your
passengers spend in their
community?
• Measuring this can help you to say
that for every £X invested in your
service £X will be put back into the
local economy.
Your local economic impact
• Community transport preventing
loneliness and isolation could save the
NHS up to £1.1 billion a year.
• Better integrating community transport
into non-emergency patient transport
could save £74.5 million a year.
CT’s Wider Economic Impact

12. Your Numbers
Over the course of a month, Devon County Council carried out a
survey of around ring and ride and shop mobility users on
various community transport schemes in Devon asking them
how much they spent on trips that month.
The survey showed that they spent a total of £128,000 over the
course of the month. Based on that figure, they estimated that
service users spent £2.19 million in Devon during a year.
This meant that for every £1 invested by Devon County Council
almost £9 was spent in the local economy.

13. Your People
• The other type of evidence you can gather to measure and demonstrate your
impact is your people – the real life, personal stories of the lives you effect.
• Without an insight into who your passengers are and why your work means so
much to them, your numbers can seem quite abstract.

14. Your People
Case Studies and Testimonials – top tips:
• Look at the real, individual, lives that your services impact.
• The key is emotion – what would their life be like without access to your
services, and what does it mean to them that they do.
• Tell a story – who is this person? Why is it that their struggles and successes
should resonate with us?
• Tie these stories in with the impact you’re trying to demonstrate.

15. Your People
A good case study can consist of:
• Who is this person? How old are they?
• What service do they use?
• What was their life like before they started using your service? What problems
did they face?
• What is their life like now they can use your service? How has it helped them
overcome the problems they faced?
• Include first person quotes

16. Your People
Photos and videos – top tips:
• Visual representations of the work you do are just as important as written
case studies and testimonials.
• The best photos are the ones that focus on people.
• You don’t need professional equipment – most phone cameras are now just
as good!
• If you’re doing a case study, try to get a good close up of the person you’re
profiling!

17. Your People

18. Your People

19. Your People

20. Your People

21. Your People tom@ctauk.org

22. Gathering your information
• Plan what data you want to want to collect - be as clear as possible about
what you’re trying to measure. That way you’ll ask the right questions and
get the right data.
• What’s the best way to collect this evidence? What will get you the best
response rate?
• Be mindful of people’s privacy – make sure you let them know what you’re
using it for. Statistics should be anonymised and case studies should only be
used with consent.
• Explain why you’re doing this – why do you need to collect this information,
why is it important, how does it benefit your passengers?

23. Telling people about your impact
Creating an annual impact report:
• Three key aspects of an effective impact report:
 Why do you do what you do? Lay out your Theory of Change.
 What do you do? Talk about your services, using some of your more
general numbers around passenger journeys etc.
 What is your impact and how can you prove it? Use the specific numbers
and stories that you’ve gathered to demonstrate that you have create the
impact laid out in your Theory of Change.

24. Telling people about your impact

25. Telling people about your impact

26. Telling people about your impact

27. Telling people about your impact

28. Telling people about your impact

29. Telling people about your impact

30. Demonstrating your Impact - Recap
• Measuring your impact takes time and resources, but is worth doing.
• Start by creating your Theory of Change – this helps you understand what
you need to measure and what stories you need to tell to demonstrate that
you make a difference.
• Collect your evidence – numbers that show the breadth of what you do and
stories that help give those number life.
• Create an impact report where you tie your evidence to your Theory of
Change, proving that what you do makes a difference.