The Inverclyde Shed
Evaluation of The Inverclyde Shed’s impact
“Our work with Community Enterprise has proved to be an invaluable learning tool for our organisation,
setting a clear baseline of where things work and areas where we can improve.”
- The Inverclyde Shed
The challenge
The Inverclyde Shed is a volunteer-led grassroots organisation that provides opportunities for people to come together, get involved, learn, develop and share their skills and experiences.
They operate a community workshop in Greenock, alongside community growing spaces across Inverclyde in Port Glasgow, Greenock and Gourock. Their aim is to reduce social isolation by providing activities where people can build genuine friendships, improve their physical and mental wellbeing, develop their skills and knowledge, and share these with others.
The Shed wanted to quantify and understand the impact they were having on their members, both to review and improve their operations and to accurately and effectively communicate this impact to funders.
How we helped
Through Accelerate, we supported Inverclyde Shed to measure and articulate their impact by developing a survey questionnaire.
As Inverclyde Shed were members of the Scottish Men’s Shed Association, we used Age Scotland’s indicators to develop the questionnaire, creating alignment with the approach the Men’s Shed Association had previously used for its own research.
Working closely with Inverclyde Shed, we developed, implemented and monitored an online survey to gather data from their members. We then analysed the findings and prepared a report to evaluate the results and clearly demonstrate the impact of the Shed’s activities.
The result
Comprehensive evaluation of impact to support the projects development
5-year project funding secured
Increased social benefits and opportunity for the local community
Thanks to the support from Accelerate, Inverclyde Shed were able to clearly identify their successes, as well as the areas where they could focus and develop further.
The project gained a clearer understanding of the impact of its activities and identified opportunities for the future.
Inverclyde Shed subsequently used the evaluation as a baseline in a funding application, which helped them successfully secure a five-year funding award for their project.
Feeling inspired?
If you are part of a community group who is not yet trading
and would like free support to become more sustainable
and enterprising, check out our Accelerate programme.