We’re honoured to have been working in partnership with Sheffield City Council and the Voluntary, Community and Faith (VCF) leaders on the evaluation of their Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) project over the last two years, and we’re delighted to share the interim evaluation report here.
Building Thriving Communities is a collaborative project between the Sheffield City Council, Citizens Advice Sheffield, South Yorkshire's Community Foundation and Voluntary Action Sheffield. It began in 2022 with the goal of strengthening the fabric of the city by enhancing social ties and improving access to community infrastructure.
As this interim evaluation report seeks to highlight, the Building Thriving Communities project has already had a real, tangible impact in the community: this includes supporting 347 Welcome Places, training 600 staff and volunteers and creating or safeguarding 46 jobs. Amazingly, over 70,000 Sheffield residents have benefitted in some way from the project’s activities.
The project will continue until March 2025. If you’re keen to find out more, including how to access support, please click here to head to Sheffield City Council’s website.
BCVS – in 2022, SRB was commissioned to assist with the evaluation of the Point of View Project (POV) led by BCVS and delivered in partnership with six other organisations.
This Arts Council England evaluation looked at the holistic and longitudinal impact of the project on the organisations, beneficiaries, the partnership, and the wider sector. With the goal to encourage young people’s participation in volunteering through the arts, this ambitious project had clear outcomes and outputs they needed to monitor and report on. SRB came on board from the start and measured impact throughout the 24 month lifespan of the activities.
BLCF – in 2023, SRB carried out a review of local community needs in Bedford and Luton to feed into their grant-making strategy. The research included a desk-based analysis of local priorities, combined with an extensive community consultation using qualitative and quantitative methods. The results of the research highlighted real need around three key priority social issues: Equality & Strong Communities, Employment & Local Economy, and Mental Health.
BLCF’s report was designed to provide useful information on their region, to stimulate discussion on issues that matter to the local residents, to champion their voices and guide philanthropic giving to assist with future community development.
SRB has worked with South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation since 2018 delivering various internal and external research contracts on behalf of the charity itself, but also their regional partners. We have collectively consulted over 5,000 individuals over the years. SYCF’s preference for impact reporting that is uncomplicated, universally accessible and usable in every day settings, and clear synergies with SRB’s ethos, has made this long-standing collaboration possible.