The Lightbulb Trust’s Impact Journey: It all started with a theory of change
In early 2022, I teamed up with the Lightbulb Trust to create their theory of change (if you’re not sure what this means then check out this short video). This essential groundwork aimed to crystallise the organisation’s core mission and impact objectives.
After a few discussions about the problem the Lightbulb Trust aims to solve, their overarching vision and impact ambitions, we crafted an initial draft. Thanks to Supafrank who brilliantly transformed our theory of change concept into a visually engaging design, you can check it out here.
Underpinning our theory of change is a key understanding: while many societal challenges are multifaceted, the Lightbulb Trust’s primary focus centres on expanding access to diverse learning opportunities and support systems. Unequal access to education leads to an achievement gap and reinforcing social, economic and health inequalities. The Lightbulb Trust wants to see more opportunities for everyone to learn and reach their potential.
Following the theory of change, we explored how it could guide the organisation, support decision-making and assist partners with grant reporting.
Our work has since expanded to support our partners in improving their impact practices. This included:
- Informative Webinars: We’ve hosted webinars on important impact topics, including the Impact Cycle, theory of change and data collection approaches and tools. The webinars are all designed to create opportunities for partners to share experiences and learn from each other.
- Drop in calls: Partners have been offered the opportunity for a 30 min call to discuss a specific issue or challenge they’re facing.
- Tailored support: We offered one-on-one support for partners who need some in-depth technical assistance to help them develop their organisation’s impact practice. They had 1 day of support that they could use flexibly across a 3 month period. The support has looked different for each organisation, depending on where they’re at. For some it involved creating individual theories of change, and streamlining data collection, and for others it focussed more on analysing data and how to use it to demonstrate impact and support decision-making.
What’s next?
Last year we received feedback from organisations suggesting that standard impact measurement approaches don’t work for them, especially smaller, community-based groups. It’s commonly grass-roots organisations that are dealing with complex and evolving needs and offering a diverse range of coexisting services to respond to this. As a result of this feedback, together we are launching a “creative methods pilot” programme in January, with a small cohort of organisations. I love using creative tools as a way to engage people in evaluation activities and am really excited to see what partners want to try out and what we learn. Not only can creative methods be a lot of fun, but they’re a great way to engage different groups of people, deal with sensitive topics and also help to shift some of the power dynamics.
Working with the Lightbulb Trust and their partners has been a pleasure. As a funder they put a lot of emphasis on consulting with partners about what support they need, making sure resources are used wisely and adapting based on feedback.
The partner organisations I’ve worked with are pragmatic, creative problem-solvers who meet people where they are. They’re passionate about creating opportunities and meaningful change in their communities.
Together, we’re committed to improving education and learning opportunities, refining support to partners, and embracing creative methods to leave a lasting impact.
Jami Dixon, Impact and Evaluation Consultant
The Lightbulb Trust’s Impact Journey: It all started with a theory of change
In early 2022, I teamed up with the Lightbulb Trust to create their theory of change (if you’re not sure what this means then check out this short video). This essential groundwork aimed to crystallise the organisation’s core mission and impact objectives.
After a few discussions about the problem the Lightbulb Trust aims to solve, their overarching vision and impact ambitions, we crafted an initial draft. Thanks to Supafrank who brilliantly transformed our theory of change concept into a visually engaging design, you can check it out here.
Underpinning our theory of change is a key understanding: while many societal challenges are multifaceted, the Lightbulb Trust’s primary focus centres on expanding access to diverse learning opportunities and support systems. Unequal access to education leads to an achievement gap and reinforcing social, economic and health inequalities. The Lightbulb Trust wants to see more opportunities for everyone to learn and reach their potential.
Following the theory of change, we explored how it could guide the organisation, support decision-making and assist partners with grant reporting.
Our work has since expanded to support our partners in improving their impact practices. This included:
- Informative Webinars: We’ve hosted webinars on important impact topics, including the Impact Cycle, theory of change and data collection approaches and tools. The webinars are all designed to create opportunities for partners to share experiences and learn from each other.
- Drop in calls: Partners have been offered the opportunity for a 30 min call to discuss a specific issue or challenge they’re facing.
- Tailored support: We offered one-on-one support for partners who need some in-depth technical assistance to help them develop their organisation’s impact practice. They had 1 day of support that they could use flexibly across a 3 month period. The support has looked different for each organisation, depending on where they’re at. For some it involved creating individual theories of change, and streamlining data collection, and for others it focussed more on analysing data and how to use it to demonstrate impact and support decision-making.
What’s next?
Last year we received feedback from organisations suggesting that standard impact measurement approaches don’t work for them, especially smaller, community-based groups. It’s commonly grass-roots organisations that are dealing with complex and evolving needs and offering a diverse range of coexisting services to respond to this. As a result of this feedback, together we are launching a “creative methods pilot” programme in January, with a small cohort of organisations. I love using creative tools as a way to engage people in evaluation activities and am really excited to see what partners want to try out and what we learn. Not only can creative methods be a lot of fun, but they’re a great way to engage different groups of people, deal with sensitive topics and also help to shift some of the power dynamics.
Working with the Lightbulb Trust and their partners has been a pleasure. As a funder they put a lot of emphasis on consulting with partners about what support they need, making sure resources are used wisely and adapting based on feedback.
The partner organisations I’ve worked with are pragmatic, creative problem-solvers who meet people where they are. They’re passionate about creating opportunities and meaningful change in their communities.
Together, we’re committed to improving education and learning opportunities, refining support to partners, and embracing creative methods to leave a lasting impact.
Jami Dixon, Impact and Evaluation Consultant
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