If like me, you read lots of funding applications, reports
and strategy documents you will start to notice trends in the words used. Over
the past year or so I have noticed that:
confidence has
become resilience
user involvement
is now co-design or co-production
outcomes has
shifted to impact
There will be reasons for these changes. For example, when
it comes to the shift from confidence to resilience, perhaps in times of
austerity it is more important to bounce back from difficulties than just
believe in ourselves? I shall leave it to the linguists and social scientists
to analyse what these trends in language mean in terms of changes in society.
What I do know is that when charities start using these
terms in bids, it is important to know exactly why you are using them and what
they mean to you. Don’t say ‘we are working to increase people’s resilience’ just
because it is the latest buzzword. It could undermine your case if you can’t
say what you mean when asked, and if this is not something that you measure
when monitoring. If you mean ‘confidence’ or ‘self-esteem’ or ‘coping skills’
then continue to say this even if you think using the popular ‘resilience’
looks better.
It is also important to know what funders mean when they use
different words – and indeed that funders also can define their terms. ‘Outcomes’
and ‘impact’ seem to be being used interchangeably at the moment but they are
different. For example, the Big Lottery Fund states: “we define impact as any effects arising from an intervention. This
includes immediate short-term outcomes as well as broader and longer-term
effects.” Whereas the Charity Evaluation Service
defines impact as “impact is the broader or longer-term effects of a project or
organisation's outputs, outcomes and activities.” So when asked to
demonstrate your ‘impact’, do remember to ask what is meant before you answer.
Every word counts in a funding bid. Make sure you choose
yours carefully.
Emma Beeston Consultancy advises funders and
philanthropists on giving strategies and processes; selecting causes and
charities; assessments and impact monitoring. Services for charities include
external perception reviews; bid reviews; training for fundraisers and
non-fundraisers involved in bids. www.emmabeeston.co.uk ;
emma@emmabeeston.co.uk; emmabeeston01
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