Pro Bono Economics (PBE) advised domestic abuse support charity Haven on how to collect and use data to better demonstrate the impact of their work. 

Haven is the only organisation in Sheffield existing solely to support children affected by domestic abuse. They provide Children and Young People (CYP) with support and care through the provision of services, education and research. 

PBE set out to support Haven by developing improved data practice in order to better identify and report their impact. As part of the initial project stage, Haven provided a note outlining each of their different programmes, the activities undertaken within these and the specific outcomes targeted for the CYP participating. They also noted the key outcomes they have committed to achieving to their funders. 

Volunteers from the Department of Health and Social Care developed a logical framework linking Haven’s activities to both the charity’s wider objectives and to the key outcomes they committed to achieving for their funders. We then suggested ways that existing data collections can be used to demonstrate Haven’s success in helping clients achieve these outcomes. PBE volunteers developed a tool to map questions asked for those who received support from Haven to outcomes, the tool allowing Haven to weight the relative importance of different metrics.  

Additionally, Annex A of the data advice report suggests options for Haven regarding how further information could be collected to better capture and quantify the positive impact effects of its support programmes. 

Thank you to Caroline Lee, Alison Hardaker and Shane Vallance for their work on this project. 

18 June 2020