Survey Design & Use for UK Charities: A Key Tool for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Impact

In today’s fast-paced world of charity work, it is critical for UK-based organisations to demonstrate their impact effectively. Whether you’re a local community group or a national charity, clear evidence of the difference you’re making can be pivotal in securing future funding, partnerships, and public trust. One of the most effective ways to gather this evidence is through surveys.

Surveys serve as a fundamental tool for monitoring and evaluation (M&E), providing charities with the insights needed to track progress, assess outcomes, and showcase their achievements.

The Importance of Surveys in Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation processes help charities ensure they are meeting their objectives, improving their programmes, and demonstrating results to key stakeholders. Surveys are often a cost-effective and direct method of collecting valuable feedback from beneficiaries, volunteers, donors, and partners. They can provide the quantitative and qualitative data that is essential for both baseline assessments and ongoing evaluations.

Baseline data, collected at the beginning of a project, sets a starting point against which future progress is measured. This data allows charities to understand the initial conditions or needs of their target audience, making it easier to demonstrate the change or impact resulting from their interventions. Without baseline data, it can be difficult to make meaningful comparisons and demonstrate the value of your work.

For instance, a charity focused on mental health support, like Mind, might conduct a survey to assess the well-being of its service users before participating in their programmes. After a period of support, a follow-up survey can measure the changes in well-being, providing concrete evidence of the charity's impact.

Surveys to Inform Impact Reports

When it comes to developing impact reports, surveys provide a wealth of information that can demonstrate the outcomes of your activities in a credible, data-driven manner. Impact reports often need to appeal to funders, trustees, and the wider public, and the inclusion of survey data helps add weight to the narrative you present.

For example, Shelter, a UK housing charity, might use surveys to gauge the experiences of individuals before and after receiving housing advice. This data can then be used to create case studies, success stories, or aggregate findings that show how many people were able to secure housing or avoid homelessness thanks to the charity’s intervention.

Key Elements of a Well-Designed Survey

Designing a survey requires careful planning to ensure that it captures the right data and engages respondents effectively. Poorly designed surveys can lead to skewed results or disengagement from participants, leading to unreliable data.

Here are some best practices for creating effective surveys:

1. Clear Objectives: What do you want to know? Define the purpose of the survey. Are you looking to assess satisfaction, measure knowledge, or understand changes in behaviour?
2. Short and Simple Questions: Avoid complex language. Use questions that are easy to understand and relevant to the respondent’s experience.
3. Balance Between Open and Closed Questions: Closed questions (e.g., yes/no or multiple choice) are easier to analyse, while open questions can provide richer qualitative insights.
4. Pilot the Survey: Test the survey on a small group to ensure the questions are understood and relevant before rolling it out.
5. Incentives and Timing: Encourage participation through incentives where possible and ensure the timing is appropriate for your target audience.

Sample Survey Questions

To help illustrate what a well-rounded survey might look like, here are some sample questions that could be used by UK charities across different sectors:

For a health charity:

• On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your mental well-being before joining our programme?
• Since accessing our services, have you noticed any improvement in your daily mental health (yes/no)? If yes, please explain.
• What specific areas of support have been most beneficial to you?

For an education-focused charity:

• What was your level of confidence in the subject matter before attending our workshops?
• How many hours of study per week do you now engage in, compared to before the programme?
• Please rate the quality of the learning materials provided (excellent, good, fair, poor).

For a homelessness charity:

• What was your housing situation prior to contacting our services (e.g., at risk of homelessness, homeless, housed but insecure)?
• Did our intervention help you secure safe housing (yes/no)?
• How has your quality of life improved since receiving our support?

These sample questions highlight how surveys can be tailored to suit different types of charitable work, ensuring relevant data is captured to support impact reporting.

Real-World Examples of Survey Use in UK Charities

Several UK charities have successfully used surveys to strengthen their monitoring and evaluation efforts. For instance:

• The Trussell Trust Food Bank , which supports a nationwide network of food banks, regularly surveys its beneficiaries to assess changes in food insecurity over time. By comparing the number of families using their services with data collected through surveys on food poverty, they can demonstrate the scale and impact of their work in addressing hunger across the UK.
• Age UK uses surveys to evaluate its outreach programmes aimed at reducing social isolation among older people. By asking beneficiaries about their levels of loneliness before and after participating in group activities, Age UK can measure the effectiveness of its interventions and make data-driven decisions on how to improve future services.

Conclusion

For UK charities, surveys are an essential tool not just for gathering feedback, but for creating a robust evidence base that demonstrates the value of their work. Whether it’s tracking baseline data to measure impact or providing data for detailed reports, surveys allow charities to quantify their outcomes, understand their beneficiaries better, and communicate their success stories more effectively.

By incorporating well-designed surveys into your monitoring and evaluation processes, your charity can ensure that it is continuously learning, improving, and proving the difference it makes to society.

Author: Kofi A. Dwinfour, chair of board of trustees, Music Relief Foundation (MRF)

Passionate about social impact and committed to strengthening the UK charity sector through strategic initiatives and community engagement.

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