Four people sit around a table covered with papers, sticky notes, and a laptop, collaborating and discussing charts and documents in a bright office space.

Collect
useful data

Guide 2 of 5

Choose practical ways
to gather the information
you need without overwhelming
your team or the people you support.

Start the guide

View the planning template

Different information serves different purposes

Types of data you can collect

You may already gather some of this as part of your normal delivery.

User data

Information collected when someone registers or accesses a service, such as age range, location or eligibility.

Engagement data

Attendance, repeat visits, downloads or use of an online resource.

Feedback data

People’s views about an activity or service, gathered through comments, polls or forms.

Outcome data

Information collected over time to show whether knowledge, confidence, behaviour or wellbeing changed.

Impact data

Evidence of longer-term change. This level of measurement is not always necessary for smaller organisations.

Different information serves different purposes

Types of data you can collect

Guide 1

Plan your impact
Define the change you want to create, understand outputs and outcomes, and build a simple
Theory of Change.

Guide 2

Collect useful data
Choose practical ways to gather numbers, feedback, experiences, stories and other
useful evidence.

Guide 3

Understand your findings
Analyse your information,
identify patterns and combine numbers
with people’s experiences.

Guide 4

Use national and local data
Find trusted statistics that
demonstrate local need and provide
context for your organisation’s work.

Guide 5

Write and share your impact report
Turn your evidence into
a clear and engaging report for funders,
trustees, supporters and communities.

A practical starting point

What is good impact practice?

Good impact practice is about understanding the difference your organisation wants to make, collecting useful evidence and using what you learn to improve.

It should support your organisation’s day-to-day decisions, not become a complicated exercise that takes time away from your work.

Understand your purpose
Clarify the change you want to create.
Map the journey
Connect activities to outcomes and impact.
Decide what matters
Choose the most useful things to measure.
Learn and improve
Review your plan as your work develops.

The four stages of good impact practice

Plan: Outline how you will achieve the intended impact.
Do: Track your performance against key objectives.
Check: Interpret and understand the information you collect.
Act: Share the results and identify ways to improve.

Clarify how change happens

What is a Theory of Change?

A Theory of Change is a clear explanation of how your organisation’s work is expected to lead to meaningful change.

Why it matters

A useful Theory of Change sets out what you want to achieve, what you will do, what changes you expect to see and how you will know whether you are making progress.

It can help your organisation to:

stay focused on its purpose and intended impact
show funders and partners why the work matters
make better decisions about time and resources
learn what works and what needs to change

Keep it alive

Your Theory of Change should not be a document that is written once and forgotten.

Review it regularly so it reflects your strategic goals, what you are learning and the changing needs of the communities you support.

A simple overview

Your impact pathway

This flow shows how the resources you use and activities you deliver can lead to outcomes and longer-term impact.

Inputs
1
The resources you use
Activities
2
What you do
Outputs
3
What you deliver
Outcomes
4
What changes
Impact
5
Your bigger goal

Previous Next

Jargon buster

Outputs and outcomes explained

These terms are often confused, but they describe two different parts of your work.

Outputs

Outputs are the direct, countable things your organisation produces. They show activity, but not necessarily the difference that activity makes.

Examples

50 training sessions delivered
120 people attended workshops
300 food parcels distributed

Outcomes

Outcomes are the changes experienced by the people or communities you support. They show the value created by your work.

Examples

people feel more confident
participants gain new skills
families experience improved wellbeing

Build your Theory of Change

Six simple steps

Start with the change you want to see, then work backwards to the activities and evidence that will help you get there.

Define your long-term goal

What is the big change you want to see?

What problem are you trying to address?
What will be different if your organisation succeeds?

Example: Young people in our community have improved mental wellbeing.

Identify the changes along the way

What needs to happen before you reach your long-term goal?

What will change for the people you support?
What knowledge, skills, confidence or behaviours may improve?

Example: Young people feel less isolated and develop useful coping skills.

Plan what you will do

What actions will your organisation take to support those changes?

services and programmes
events, activities and resources
one-to-one or group support

Example: Weekly peer support groups and one-to-one mentoring.

Decide what to measure

Choose simple, meaningful measures that tell you whether progress is being made.

Outputs show what you have delivered.
Outcome measures show what has changed.
Only collect information you are likely to use.

Example: Number of sessions delivered, attendance and changes in reported wellbeing.

Check your assumptions

Think about what needs to be true for your approach to work.

Are there risks or external factors?
What might prevent people from engaging?
Which partners, resources or conditions are important?

Example: Young people need to feel safe and able to attend regularly.

Review and improve

Build regular reviews into your approach so the plan develops with your work.

Are you achieving the outcomes you expected?
What is your information telling you?
What feedback are you hearing?
What needs to change?

Remember: A Theory of Change is a living tool, not a finished document.

Focus your effort

Use an Impact versus Effort matrix

This simple framework can help you prioritise activities when time and resources are limited.

High impact, low effort

Do these first. These are your quick wins and may offer the best use of limited resources.

High impact, high effort

Plan these carefully. They may be worthwhile but need time, capacity and clear ownership.

Low impact, low effort

Consider whether they are useful. They may suit work that supports another priority.

Low impact, high effort

Avoid or rethink. Look for a simpler way to achieve the same goal.

Keep learning

Review and improve your Theory of Change

Your plan becomes more valuable when it is discussed, challenged and updated regularly.

Questions to ask

Are we seeing the changes we expected?
Which activities appear to be working best?
What feedback are people giving us?
Have circumstances or community needs changed?

Use what you learn to

improve services and activities
update strategy and priorities
communicate impact more clearly
decide what to measure next

Before you move on

Plan your impact checklist

You are ready for the next guide when your organisation can answer these questions with confidence.

We know the long-term change we want to contribute towards.

We understand the difference between outputs and outcomes.

We have identified the activities that should lead to change.

We have considered assumptions, risks and external factors.

We have agreed when and how the Theory of Change will be reviewed.

Put your plan into practice

Use the downloadable worksheets to build your Theory of Change, map your impact pathway and prioritise the activities that matter most.

Theory of Change worksheet

Impact versus Effort matrix

Next guide

Collect useful data

Continue to guide 2

A practical place to begin

Build confidence in collecting and using evidence

Collecting data helps voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations understand, demonstrate and communicate the difference they make.

You do not need to become a data expert. Start with the questions that matter to your organisation, use methods that are realistic for your team and build your approach over time.

Understand what works
Learn which activities create meaningful change.
Make better decisions
Focus your time, funding and resources.
Tell a stronger story
Show clearly why your work matters.

Start simple and make it useful

“Collecting data helps voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations understand, demonstrate and communicate the difference they make.

You do not need to become a data expert. Start with the questions that matter to your organisation, use methods that are realistic for your team and build your approach over time.”

Community First Yorkshire impact guidance

Explore the five guides

A simple, repeatable process

Your impact journey

Plan
1
Decide what change you want to create and how you expect it to happen.
Do
2
Deliver your activities and collect proportionate, useful evidence.
Check
3
Understand your information and identify what it tells you.
Act
4
Share your findings, improve your work and plan what happens next.

Previous Next

Not sure where to begin?

We need to clarify what change we want to create.

Start with planning

We know our aims but need to collect evidence.

Explore data collection

We have information but do not know what it means.

Understand your findings

We need statistics for a funding application.

Use national and local data

We are ready to present our results.

Write an impact report

Plain English explanations

Quick jargon buster

Three useful terms that appear throughout the guides.

Outputs

The direct, countable things you deliver, such as sessions, events, places or resources.

Outcomes

The changes experienced by the people or communities you support.

Impact

The wider or longer-term difference your organisation contributes towards.

Need some extra support?

Community First Yorkshire can help with impact planning, governance, funding, volunteering and other aspects of running a voluntary, community or social enterprise organisation.

Make an enquiry

View learning and events