2.2 Monitoring – what to ask for

Monitoring reports will need to gather all the key information required, but should be proportionate in length; for example, a group receiving £1,000 towards a short-term project should not be expected to complete a 10-page report.

It is recommended the report asks for information on the following as a minimum:

Funds brought in to deliver the project alongside the community benefit support awarded.
Which costs were paid for with the award (however, see below).
Activities delivered with the award (outputs).
Whether those differed from the recipient’s plans as contained in their funding proposal, and if so, why.
Who benefited and how many of them.
Whether they were new beneficiaries to the project, or repeat beneficiaries.
How they benefited – the differences or changes brought about for those beneficiaries through their participation in the supported project (known as outcomes).
Any learning about how to improve project planning and delivery (what would the recipient do differently next time?).

Some information and advice for recipients on planning for monitoring is given below.

It is important that recipients are suitably prepared to report back on their funded project(s). In order to do so effectively, they must begin thinking about how they will measure and evidence success (or otherwise) at the very start of planning their project. Evidence of a clear plan for monitoring should form a key part of their funding proposal, as well as how they will evaluate the findings and take on board any learning from those.

Again, however, a proportionate approach is needed; much of the ongoing community activity that may be supported through a community benefit package is likely to be low level (though nonetheless important) and driven and delivered by hard working, heavily committed volunteers. Moreover, it would be unreasonable to expect a detailed monitoring and evaluation plan for a project that, for example, involved simply purchasing a set of planters for the village high street, whereas it may be reasonable in relation to a proposal to purchase and renovate a building that is to become a new community centre.

In order to measure and report on impact, it can be helpful to be clear on the meaning of the following:

Outputs: these are the activities that will be delivered with the funding awarded. For example, the delivery of a training course or the installation of a new multi-use games area. Outputs describe what is being delivered, how much / often, and to whom.
Outcomes: are the difference(s) or change(s) brought about by the funded activity. For example, the acquisition of new skills and knowledge or increased participation in sports activities.
Impacts: these are the longer-term outcomes or changes brought about. For example, people securing a new job as a result of their new skills and knowledge or reporting increased physical and mental health and new social connections. Impacts may or may not be a direct result of the funded project; other factors may contribute to such changes in people’s lives or the area. This is known as the problem of ‘attribution’.
Indicators: these are measures that can show whether the project is achieving the anticipated outcomes / impacts or not. They should cover more than outputs alone, otherwise it could appear that the group is doing lots of work (e.g. number of training session run, number of people completing the training course), but not actually achieving the kind of outcomes desired.

Evaluation Support Scotland offers more information on, and training in, measuring and reporting

Those involved in governing and administering the community benefits package will likely want recipients to provide a record of what the award was spent on. However, both providing and auditing evidence in the form of recipients, timesheets, etc. can take up a significant amount of time for all involved and, in light of the limited resources funders and community groups tend to have, the value of such an exercise needs to be considered. Adding up receipts for small amounts of money is unlikely to be the best use of anyone’s time versus an assessment of the overall impact of the funded activity and focus on what the recipient has learned. Often (but not always) there may be a high degree of local knowledge of recipients, and subsequently an added level of accountability that further justifies this approach.

However, this will not be the case for every award, for example where the recipients or the beneficiaries are individuals and confidentiality and data protection obligations therefore apply. Or where progress is simply less visible due to the nature of the project or, where communities are too dispersed or fractured for people to have a good enough sense of the progress being made.

The key to financial monitoring of the support is therefore to achieve a balanced and proportionate approach. Instead of requesting receipts for every item of expenditure, recipients could simply be required to list the main categories of expenditure (e.g. stationery, travel, staff salaries). This can be backed up by requesting their annual accounts (which should show the expenditure) and ensuring that the decision making group (or any administrator on their behalf) is able to audit the organisation’s records within a certain period following the completion on the funded project, should that be deemed necessary. However, it is suggested that receipts for larger items of expenditure, such as on capital items or high value professional services, be required to be submitted with monitoring reports. Or it may be that those governing the community benefits do not wish for larger amounts of funding to be paid out until invoices for the items to be purchased have been submitted by the recipient.

Once completed monitoring reports are returned, they can be shared around the decision making group, and periodically with the wider community (see section 3 below on reporting).

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2.2 Monitoring – what to ask for

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