Social care, welfare and religion

Quaker Social Action

Easing money worries

The Made of Money? project arose out of the charity’s previous financial work with adults, when it became clear that individuals were getting as much from simply discussing their financial worries as from practical advice. It was also evident that many of their feelings and attitudes were rooted in their upbringing and that their stress and depression was having an impact on their own children. “We got onto thinking about what it is about money problems that stresses people out so much, and often it goes back to childhood,” explains fundraising and communications manager Sarah Hind. “A lot of people feel shame, they feel it is a problem with them that they are having these problems.”

Following a long period of research which backed up these conclusions, the charity decided to set up a three year project to trial methods of delivering emotional-financial literacy, enabling families on low incomes to talk, listen and learn about money. In a society in which status and self-worth are measured in spending power, they believed this could be invaluable.

With a core of activities established during the pilot stage in late 2005, the project went on to fully justify the decision in 2006 to extend it beyond the original three year limit. Up to January 2008 Made of Money? has worked with 135 families and a total of 316 dependents. In a study of families worked with between April 2007 and January 2008, 35 per cent reported an increase in their ability to communicate effectively, and 58 per said they were more pleased with their family interactions. “The impact on the people we worked with has been quite immediate,” adds Hind. “The chance to realise you’re not alone in that situation is really valuable. One girl told us their teachers at school had said to her how much less stressed she looked, which is amazing to hear.”

Sarah Hind
Fundraising & communications manager
21 Old Ford Road
London
E2 9PF
020 8983 9380
www.quakersocialaction.com

Reg no. 130544

London Housing Foundation  

Measuring soft outcomes in the homelessness sector

“In my previous job,” says the Foundation’s executive director Kevin Ireland, “I was involved in trying to raise money for some very effective work from a particularly challenging person. Ultimately we couldn’t get the money because we couldn’t prove the benefit of what we were doing.” It was this experience which inspired him to set up the Impact through Outcomes programme.

When the programme began in 2001, there was little understanding of outcomes in the homelessness sector beyond a few hard outcomes such as access to housing or employment. There were no methods for measuring intermediate or soft outcomes, such as decreases in alcohol consumption or improvement in self-care. Indeed there was a view among homelessness agencies that it was simply not possible to measure client progress in a meaningful way. As a result, it was impossible for homelessness organisations, funders and commissioners to identify which services and interventions worked and for whom.

The first phase of the programme focused on increasing understanding of outcomes among individuals and inspiring adoption of an outcomes approach.

The focus then turned to supporting homelessness agencies, to develop tools and embed the measurement of outcomes. This led to the development of the outcomes star, which has become the leading outcome measurement tool in the homelessness sector, being downloaded over 7,000 times in 2007 and recognised by the Audit Commission and several central government departments.

The programme was also instrumental in the development of a national outcomes framework for the government’s Supporting People (SP) programme, which gives agencies considerable flexibility when delivering SP services while providing meaningful outcome information to local and national government.

Kevin Ireland
Executive director
Elmfield House
5 Stockwell Mews
London
SW9 9GX
020 7733 9340
www.lhf.org.uk
Reg no. 107276

pact

Improving catering for prison visitors

One of pact’s core aims is to encourage the maintenance of familial relationships during the period of incarceration as this is proven to be the most important element in the prevention of re-offending. pact saw the opportunity to improve the quality of visits by allowing families to share the ritual of sitting down to eat. Consultations confirmed that refreshment provision was generally inadequate, often being met by unreliable vending machines, so pact decided to launch an alternative, named Pact Lunch.

In light of evidence indicating a connection between diet and behaviour, along with the knowledge that the budget available to feed a prisoner is around £1.68 per day, pact decided to make sure the services encouraged healthy eating. It also decided it could use the scheme to tackle its own need for a sustainable, predictable revenue to support core costs.

Alex Wakefield, who had experience of managing leisure facilities and catering facilities, was recruited to head up the operation and over the course of 2006 and 2007 facilities were opened in seven prison visit halls.

During December 2007, Pact Lunch catering sites received12,930 visitors. Despite early losses, at the end of the third quarter of the current financial year, Pact’s catering operations showed a surplus of £24,069 and gross margins of 38 per cent. In a qualitative survey, 84 per cent of visitors said the refreshments on offer were suitable, compared to 60 per cent across all visitor halls.

“We know that tens of thousands of families now come in to prison to visit their loved ones each month,” says director Andy Keen-Downs, “and their experience is much improved, but we’ve also developed a sustainable source of income to support the charity as a whole. We’ve not had to go off and sell tea towels or whatever, we’re funding ourselves in an innovative, social enterprise way.”

Andy Keen-Downs
Director
Suite C5
City Cloisters
196 Old St, London
EC1V 9FR
020 7490 3139
www.prisonadvice.org.uk
Reg no. 88081

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