Grants impact research
As part of our determination to fund effective programmes, and to be able to measure the actual impact of these programmes, SHINE commissioned the London School of Economics (LSE) to carry out Grants Impact Research.
The general aim of the research was to carry out an impact assessment study on private educational grant-making. The specific aims were:
- to assess if SHINE grants, as case examples of educational grant-making, are having any impact across its educational grant programme;
- to discuss the various impacts across SHINE's educational programme; and
- to discuss what leads to the impact of an educational grant.
Grants impact
Overall, the findings of this research indicate that SHINE grants were making a difference, in some instances a big difference, in securing the outcomes that our educational programme wants to achieve from its funding to help under-achieving children do better educationally.
The research states that the impact types, which varied across grants, can be divided into four main categories:
- educational: many children improved specific educational achievements, like improvements in literacy, some very significantly;
- personal and social: 'improvements in self-confidence' and 'better communication levels for the child' were among the highest-rated impacts; and
- organisational: the most frequent organisational impacts reported were that the SHINE grant had strengthened the grantee by 'increasing the(ir) funding leverage' or by 'increasing the grantee's credibility'.
Interpretation of 'what works' and perceptions of 'successful grants' or 'successful projects' varied across the stakeholder groups involved in SHINE grant-making (the grant-maker, the grantee, and the beneficiary), with some aspects overlapping across all three groups.
Relationship with grantees
Overall, grantees were satisfied with the way we process our grants, especially with: the straightforwardness of the grant application; the speed of the decision; the type and quantity of evaluation information requested (which is 'manageable' and 'as expected'); and the hands on nature and regularity of our communication and contact.
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We believe that this research has been very helpful to SHINE in our own grant making, giving us objective comment and constructive feedback on the impact of our very first grants, on our monitoring and evaluation processes and procedures, and on our relationships with our grantees. This will help inform our growth and development as an organisation and as an educational grant-maker. We hope that it might also be of benefit to the work of the organisations we fund and to other grant-makers.
The SHINE trustees are very grateful to the members of the advisory board (made up of representatives from several appropriate sectors: education, voluntary, finance, corporate) who have supported this research over a period of three years, and especially to Baroness Dr Kay Andrews, who chaired the board during the scoping phase and first year of its work, and Dr Jean Ellis who chaired the board in years two and three.
Advisory board
- Dr Jean Ellis: Assistant Director, Charities Evaluation Services (Chair)
- Professor Martin Knapp: Professor of Social Policy, LSE
- Dr Diana Leat: Voluntary Sector / Social Policy Researcher; University Lecturer
- David Emerson: Chief Executive, Association of Charitable Foundations
- David Robinson: Director, Community Links
- Emma Turner: Charitable Services Manager, Goldman Sachs
- Dr Catherine Walker: Head of Research, Charities Aid Foundation
