Impact management
We work with you to plan, design and deliver positive impact through your activities and to identify impact opportunities.
Impact management
Marie Curie has a clear vision for change: for those affected by dying, death and bereavement should get the best possible experience and be able to reflect on what is most important to them. As the organisation developed this they asked us to examine the needs and desired outcomes of its beneficiaries, explore the lived experience of a terminally ill person and highlight any barriers that might limit impact, and identify gaps in provision.
Sonnet built up an in-depth understanding of needs and how they might be met which led to the development of a Theory of Change and outcomes framework. Given the size of the organisation, we also undertook an analysis of delivery systems in each of the four nations to identify any gaps in provision. Our work resulted in a new framework of outcomes across some major themes – wellbeing (physical, mental, and relational), voice and agency, identity and financial security.
This informed the development of Marie Curie’s strategy, and gave an overall framework for future impact measurement. The new six-heading wellbeing framework coloured their future thinking, and adding a situational analysis and a range of opportunities for delivering wider benefits to people supported by them added options and new perspectives.
Contact Emily Hutchison to learn more
Impact measurement frameworks
We help to identify what matters, creating a framework that will measure, report and manage the impact you have.
Impact measurement frameworks
Safe Families works with Local Authorities to befriend, and bring hope and practical help, to families, children and care leavers feeling isolated or in crisis. They wanted to know which aspects of their approach to supporting families bring about lasting benefit to them and deliver savings for wider stakeholders (including public agencies who fund care and support).
Our work included three elements: (i) building and evidencing a Theory of Change to show the outcomes achieved by Safe Families; (ii) conducting stakeholder analysis and evaluation of the impact achieved; and (iii) developing a view of impact drivers and recommendations for further development to enhance Safe Families’ impact. To achieve this we used mixed methods of research, including a literature review, semi-structured focused interviews, workshops and review of monitoring data.
Through our research we found that the success of Safe Families’ approach is rooted in the care, attention and empathy that they employ in their interactions. It’s something that is difficult, if not impossible for public agencies to achieve. Exploring the different levels and formats of support delivered, we learned that they were able to achieve de-escalation or no escalation in the need for children’s services for a significant proportion of their beneficiaries. The outcomes delivered substantial savings to the public purse. Safe Families described our work as “like gold dust.” They used it to engage more widely with commissioning Local Authorities, to recruit volunteers, and to inform training and delivery development. It also created the foundation for their ongoing measurement of impact.
Contact Emily Hutchison to learn more
Exploring the landscape
We help you to explore the need and opportunity in your chosen field, and deepen your understanding.
Exploring the landscape
Choice Support is a National Charity supporting autistic people and people living with learning disabilities and mental health needs. In 2019 it merged with mcch. Together they faced tightening funding and escalating needs of those they helped. They needed a different look at the challenge to be able to see a solution and re-imagine delivery.
Sonnet first led a workshop and interview series focusing on needs and outcomes – and the changes that would meet them. This was based on ‘Evaluation of Ambition’ exercise workshops with staff across the breadth of Choice Support’s areas of provision. These explored residents’ needs and situations, testing what mattered most, balancing care needs with human and relational ones.
Sonnet led a second round of workshops, interviews and analysis exploring how delivery could be reimagined in three ways: (i) by reframing residents as members of a mutually supporting community and seeing their needs in this context; (ii) by adapting staffing and delivery models; and (iii) with a range of other detailed opportunities for remodelling. The latter led to an ‘Ideas & Opportunities Playbook’, which consisted of initial planning and formulation for 52 individual opportunities – and a ‘how to’ guide for them.
Choice Support found the re-framing of the overall landscape liberating. It made the overall structural changes, and some of the detailed ones. They reported positive improvements as a result through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.
Contact Emily Hutchison to learn more
Theory of Change
How you deliver that impact – we help you to understand it, to test it and talk about it with confidence.
Theory of Change
Changing Lives wanted to demonstrate the value and benefit of employing trauma-informed approaches, and identify strategies to increase their value in society. As part of a wider project, Sonnet worked to articulate the Theory of Change model that underpins how Changing lives works.
Changing Lives had already identified the model of Being, Becoming, Belonging as the principles by which they were operating. Their focus areas of delivery each had their impact-based approaches, but they struggled to articulate how these aligned to their overall principles and structure.
Through a thorough exploration and a situation analysis of the everyday experiences of those that Changing Lives supports, we were able to set out a target state for them, titled ‘a sustainable, positive future of belonging.’ The comparison of these two allowed us then to observe and understand what it is that Changing Lives does to bring people closer to that target state, and record this in a detailed Theory of Change.
It linked Changing Lives’ activities, their characteristic approaches, the responses necessary from the people concerned to enable them to benefit and the eventual outcomes as a result.
Recognising the different audiences for this, Sonnet developed an internal version recognising the Being Becoming Belonging structure and enabling it to span the four areas of support delivery. It also developed a measurement dashboard for management, and a columnar version of the Theory of Change for external commissioners and other stakeholders looking for a more traditional presentation.
Contact Emily Hutchison to learn more
Articulating your value
We help you to clarify the effect you are having and express that in a clear and engaging way.
Articulating your value
NHS England and Improvement, in the context of the NHS long-term plan, recognised that, as Primary Care becomes increasingly important in supporting people in maintaining health across the UK, nurses in general practice are important. Indeed, representing around a third of professionals within general practice, they are key to its success. Yet it remained an area of practice substantially undocumented with no consistent understanding of their role and value.
Sonnet was commissioned to explore and articulate the role of these nurses and how they generate value, all in the context of the NHS Long-Term Plan. In a four-stage mixed methods review, we (i) built our understanding with a Rapid Evidence Review; (ii) held story-telling action research workshops to explore the nuances of what nurses do and their impact; (iii) tested our findings with groups of nurses from three other areas, and in stakeholder interviews; drew out conclusions, testing these with other nurses in interviews, and with a panel of experts.
Our research identified value delivered in four arenas: to patients, practices, communities and the wider NHS. We found eight core value drivers – aspects of the way the nurses work that are distinctive of the role – and identified their wider role as ‘super-connectors’ within the healthcare system. When mapping out patient journeys with and without a General Practice Nurse (GPN), we showed how their interventions result in significant savings for the NHS. The report included diagrams and infographics that brought the findings to life. Further research has now been commissioned to delve further into the role of GPNs and to understand how they can best be enabled in new primary care models.
Contact Emily Hutchison to learn more
Building ESG action and reporting
We enable you to explore what ESG means for you and develop an ESG framework that aligns with your impact ambition.
Building ESG action and reporting
Hyde Housing Group, a large housing association with whom Sonnet has had a long standing relationship. We have worked with them since 2018, our most notable piece of work being the development of the Value of a Social Tenancy (VoST) – an impact measurement model and framework that has since been adopted by a number of other housing associations across the country. Hyde report on the results of this model as part of their impact reporting, a key component of their annual report. As an extension of this and to further their commitment on social reporting, Hyde approached us to develop an ESG measurement framework for their organisation.
For the ‘S’ (social) component, we used the VoST framework to assess Hyde’s social impact on their tenants but expanded this to also cover their impact on employees and suppliers through their approach to tendering. The ‘G’ part looked at how tenants and employees have a say and whether these views impact overall decision making. The ‘E’ portion examined emissions and approaches to waste and use of resources across housing and offices.
These three strands were brought together into a dashboard for clear, concise reporting and a simple diagram to show progress across outcomes in each of the three areas of impact. Hyde was then able to formalise their ESG reporting, effectively communicating their impact to their customers, potential investors and government.
Contact Jim Clifford to learn more
Evaluating impact
Enabling you to place a value on the social and economic impact created by your activities or project, essential for influencing policy decisions and stakeholders.
Evaluating impact
GAMSTOP is a free online service which enables people in the UK who want to take a break from online gambling to register for self-exclusion from gambling websites. In 2020, connection to the service had been mandatory for all operators for two years. GAMSTOP had developed a theory of change, and wanted to conduct research into its effectiveness and to test its understanding of the users’ needs and what aspects of GAMSTOP’s offering were helping.
Sonnet designed and delivered a mixed-method research project including consumer interviews and surveys, and reported on findings to academically rigorous standards. It started with a stratification survey of the 140,000 users to draw out a typology, and to understand demographics of the group. The stories and situations of those types of user were explored in focus interviews and analysis of these revealed both the context in which value was delivered, and how it worked. These were then tested with a wider survey of users.
Our findings enabled GAMSTOP to understand why consumers use the site, to assess a broad range of outcomes achieved by the scheme. We recommended a range of actions that could be taken to enhance the consumer experience of using the service, its effectiveness and the outcomes achieved. We also proposed enhancements to their theory of change and its presentation of long-term outcomes.
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Evaluating success of pilot interventions
Creating an evaluation approach (and acting as learning partner if desired) to ensure the right lessons are learnt from pilots and going programmes.
Evaluating success of pilot interventions
Twenty11 is a different type of housing organisation, specifically set up to respond to modern day challenges and the desire to provide tenants with more than just a home. Designed and developed in response to key issues for members of its community it brings highly flexible rents that respond to life’s ups and downs, support from its Community Potential Specialists in residents’ personal aspirations, and encouragement in gaining work and volunteering, and being part of a real community.
Sonnet and CRESR from Sheffield Hallam University worked with Twenty 11 through its three year pilot and development stages, as evaluators and as learning partners. This used mixed methods from literature and policy context review, through workshops and interviews with residents and wider stakeholders, to a rolling questionnaire-based review, with regular learning reviews with Twenty11 management.
Together we demonstrated that its flexible rent mechanisms do work and delivering real affordability for residents. It flexed and repositioned during the COVID lockdown periods to support them, enabling them to reset and still meet aspirations. They engaged with the Community Potential Specialists who brought a different dynamic to preventive support. The learning, which spanned regulatory and policy positioning, was instrumental in the Board deciding not just to continue with, but to refine and expand the portfolio. Sonnet and CRESR are supporting this ongoing work.
Contact Jim Clifford to learn more
