This is a tool to help faith communities engage with their local communities and the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, and work out what they can do

1. www.hertsdirect.org
Mission and Contribution Audit:
A workshop for faith communities
Jim McManus, Director of Public Health, Hertfordshire County Council
Jim.mcmanus@hertfordshire.gov.uk
Version 6, August 2016

2. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
Context
• This audit tool is designed to help faith
communities understand their strengths and
how these apply to needs in the local area
• We will take about two hours to go through this

3. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
Other resources you could use
• Diocese of London Community Audits tool
http://www.london.anglican.org/kb/community-audits/
• Anglican Church Mission Audits http://www.acpi.org.uk/Joomla/index.php?option=com_cont
• St Agnes’ United Church Leeds – example audit
http://www.stagnesunitedchurch.org/community-audit.html
• Diocese of Salisbury learning tool on church and community audit
http://sal.beetledev.co.uk/learning/discipleship/church-and-community-mission-audit
• Auditing and profiling tool for rural churches
http://www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/library-of-good-practice/item/6676-auditing-or-
profiling-for-rural-churches-and-communities-an-introduction
• Mission and community tools used by churches http://www.vision4life.org.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2010/11/V4LE-CRCW-7-Mission-Community-Development-
Tools.pdf

4. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
Steps
1. Understand the needs of your community
2. Understand your strengths
3. Understand what you could contribute from
your strengths to the needs of your community
4. Understand who you could work with and how
5. Understand what needs to be in place to do it
6. Understand how to evaluate it

5. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
Working out what to do and for whom
What population?
What issue/need?
What outcomes do
we want?
Which
interventions fit
best?
How do we know
it’s working?
(Evaluation)
1. Service cost and
demand
2. Needs (JSNA)
Define the outcomes clearly
so you can really assess
feasibility
1. Financial Assessment
2. Evidence Assessment
3. Logic mode where
evidence silent
1. Financial Assessment
2. Outcome Assessment
Questions to ask Tools for HCC

6. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
To do
• Work through each of the stages below.
• Write up each stage on paper
• This should give you an assessment of what
you could do, how feasible it is, and what you
need to do it
• You can then turn this into a business case and
action plan

7. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
1. Understand the needs of your
community
Questions about your area
1. Get the Joint Strategic Needs
Assessment from your local
public health team
2. Look at what it says are key
gaps
3. Combine this with what you and
other faith groups/vol orgs know
4. Put this together and create a list
of greatest needs and gaps
5. Get your local public health team
to give their views on this
Questions about you as a
faith community
1. What population do you serve
directly as members/adherants?
2. What is the local population like
compared to this?
3. What needs do your adherants
have and how are you addressing
them?
4. Do you have the
energy/skills/resources to do an
external facing project?
5. Are you better doing an internal
project for your community?

8. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
2. Understand your strengths
1. What expertise and experience do you have?
2. What physical and human resources do you
have?
3. What finance do you have?
4. How likely is this to be sustained for the
duration of any project?
5. What could you be really good at?
6. How good are you at engaging your local community? Try this audit
http://www.connectingpoints.org.uk/assets/uploads/docs/Community_Inv
olvement.pdf

9. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
3. Understand what you could do
What are the
needs /gaps you
identified in
Stage 1 which
resonate most
with you
What are the
strengths you
have identified
in Stage 2 above
you could bring
here
What could you
contribute to
meeting these
needs/filling
these gaps?
Rank these in
terms of 1-5 (1 is
easiest for you
to deliver
sustainably, 5
most difficult)
e.g. poor mental
resilience in
adults with long
term ill health
Premises,
volunteers, faith
members with
expertise in MH
Provide a space
and a support
group for people
2 (need leaders
and work team)

10. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
How feasibile is it for you to do this?
Strengths/Reso
urces
Weaknesses/Ga
ps
Your view
Human resources
Physical resources
Finances
Insurances, compliance,
health and safety, risk,
safeguarding etc
Sustainability
Skills
Reliability of the people
How will you care for your
own people involved in
this to keep them
energised and working?
The more of these you meet, the better the likelihood of outcome

11. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
4. Understand who you could work with
1. Who do you know in your community is doing
this?
2. Who do you know who has similar interest?
3. Who has sources of resources (human, plant,
equipment, premises, funding)?
4. Who has the statutory role, if any, in this?
5. Could you build alliances to work together?
6. What could they do? What could you do?

12. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
5. Understand what needs to be in place
1. What financial, insurance, premises, human
resources and other key infrastructure needs
to be in place?
2. What governance mechanisms need to be in
place
3. What physical and human resources systems,
structures and processes need to be in place?
4. What safeguarding, policy, data protection and
other compliance issues need to be in place?
5. What marketing and communication needs to
be in place?

13. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
6. Understand how to evaluate it
1. Consider what you want to achieve
2. Use the FaithAction evaluation tool to work on
this and demonstrate impact

14. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
Next Steps
• Put all this together and then consider what your
key next steps are