This document discusses the impact of infrastructure organizations and the challenges they face. It outlines strategies used by CommUNITY Barnet to support community groups through funding cuts, including training on social enterprise and income diversification. It also addresses challenges in demonstrating impact and moving groups away from reliance on grants. Tools like the VIP system are presented as being valuable for capturing outcomes data to evidence impact and support continuous improvement.

1. Impact of Infrastructure 2012
Implementing impact: managing
change
Marilyn Keats, Community Barnet

2. Work with groups around enterprise
and generating income through trading
• Lead with Sustainable Funding approach -
covering all aspects of income generation/
diversification
• Involve LA staff to explain trends and changes to
future funding arrangements
• Support groups through cuts, with advice on
moving away from grant funding
• Recognise importance of partnerships/
collaborative working
• New SLA – inc. responsibilities around premises
and bringing groups together

3. Work with groups around enterprise
and generating income through trading
• Being awarded NCVO Sustainable Funding Beacon
status
• Social Enterprise events – two delivered:
 One regional, with speakers (inc. London Rebuilding
Society and funders) & workshops
 One within Barnet, a combination of case studies*,
networking and a presentation on trading.
• Book of Social Enterprise case studies produced
• CommUNITY Barnet website – page dedicated to
Trading & Social Enterprise, including definitions,
resources and funding opportunities
(* what is the definition of “success” – is it financial?)

4. Challenges & barriers
for infrastructure organisations
• Members used to free, unlimited services
including free training – need to explain
what’s needed to maintain service delivery
• Lack of knowledge of exactly how we can help
– who is seen as the expert?
• Charges for training? Provision of lunch?
• Recognising & addressing differing needs of
large & SMEs, new, struggling and well-
established organisations

5. Challenges & barriers
for infrastructure organisations
• Challenging perception of what CVSs are here
for – gradual change, public voice, promote
positive change
• Moving with the times – e.g. social media
• Higher public profile generally – more visible
• New membership structures and packages
• New corporate relationships

6. Challenges & barriers
for groups we support
• Cuts vs increasing demands
• Moving groups away from dependence on grant
funding
• Overcoming resistance to charging (inc. venue hire,
static membership fees, free at point of delivery)
• Developing fair and reasonable charging policies whilst
still maintaining accessible services
• Lack of confidence in sector to try new things and to
value their own skills and knowledge – more proactive
support, bringing groups together, targeted training

7. Demonstrating Impact –
Challenges
• Reduced numbers on training courses
• Loss of staff to administer training programme
• Difficulty in relating outcomes/ impact measurement
to work +/or to get others on board – we encourage
staff to bring a trustee along to training
• Embedding outcomes focus across entire organisation
• Smaller groups without resources to do necessary
work on their impact/ gathering evidence
• Smaller groups worry about getting subsumed +/or
losing their voice if they work with larger groups

8. Demonstrating Impact - tools
• CES Outcomes Champion
• NCVO Sustainable Funding Beacon
• Making full use of NCVO & other resources
• Ongoing internal and external Outcomes training
• External training in Impact Measurement & Social
Impact.
• Training in partnerships/collaborative working
• Training feedback form asks What are you going
to do differently?
• F/up training questionnaires after 3 – 6 months

9. Demonstrating Impact – what we do
• Constantly reinforce message to diversify –
via 1-1s, in supporting funding applications, on
training courses, etc.
• Upskill in income diversification/ promote use of
tools and produce fact sheets
• Explain the need for charging and ways to do it
• Stress importance of baseline & producing
evidence of impact
• Encourage groups to factor in costs of monitoring
& evaluation in funding applications

10. Demonstrating Impact –
what we have achieved
• Partnership with L.A. to publicise and support
groups in applying for Innovation Bank funding –
8 successful, inc. one partnership
• Contracts awarded
• Groups helped towards independence
• Several groups that we have helped work
together have remained viable as a result, e.g. in
fields of advice and information, disability,
mental health and learning difficulties, carers –
others now in trouble.

11. Use of VIP
• Will be a very valuable tool – both for us as an
organisation and for our member groups
• Currently doing health checks but these are not
sufficiently outcomes-focused
• Problematic to find time & resources to put
learning into practice – useful NCVO support and
f/u training with Data Manager
• Will be time-consuming and hard to implement –
resistance of groups who are very time-limited

12. Use of VIP
• Used to create new training feedback form –
well-received and will make f/u survey much
easier & more meaningful
• The tool will help us help groups:
identify their strengths and weaknesses
devise an action plan
follow their progress
check short and long-term impact
take steps to adapt & improve where
necessary

13. Managing Change: Top Tips
• Get everyone involved: trustees, managers, staff, volunteers
• Ensure understanding of outcomes and importance of gathering evidence
• Explain change and how every individual has valuable input into process
• Use VIP & other appropriate tools for standardisation of systems, for ease
of capturing information & evidence, for motivation thru seeing progress.
• Be open, transparent, patient and flexible – acknowledge feelings around
change and offer support
• What’s in it for them? Invite feedback so they don’t feel it is being done to
them
• Provision of appropriate personal and professional learning &
development – in cooperation with staff members
• Can staff learn/use new skills?
• Look at how teams work together +/or how they might be re-configured
• Recruit with skill and insight – look for and encourage transferable skills
• Value older, more experienced members of staff and don’t dismiss their
accumulated knowledge

15. Marilyn Keats, Development Officer: Sustainability
CommUNITY Barnet, 52 Moxon Street, Barnet, Herts EN5 5TS
T: 020 8364 8400; E: marilyn.keats@communitybarnet.org.uk
www.communitybarnet.org.uk