In late 2021 I reconnected with the team at Coalition for Efficiency - a small charity that helps other small charities, social enterprises and community organisations to measure, manage and maximise their impact.

I’d worked with CfE closely whilst at Volunteering Matters on the Measuring the Good programme - a funder plus model that matches skilled volunteers with grant recipients to develop and enhance their capacity to track and capture their social impact.

So as a new freelancer, I decided to take a closer look at what volunteering on these kinds of programmes looks like. Some of my new work is in impact measurement, particularly where it relates to marketing and business development objectives (how charities use their robust impact to better-tell their story, or develop their teams to become more fluent in impact).

I saw becoming a Measuring the Good volunteer with CfE as a great opportunity not only to give something back but to sharpen my own skills; CfE have some well-established tools to help walk even those new to impact through a step-by-step process to create their own Theory of Change or impact framework.

To date it’s been amazing; I’m supporting an incredible small charity based in Leeds, working with a really wide range of vulnerable communities. They’re so busy they barely have time to catch their breath, let alone think about their impact. But with the time they have managed to carve out I hope to be able to show them how strong their impact story can be, and give them some tools to be able to keep it going after my time with them is up.

CfE has also proved to be a great peer group. I’ve met some wonderful individuals already and taken a lot from our network sessions. I even got to lead one of our learning webinars looking at different approaches to measuring the value of volunteering - a bit of a pet subject of mine. I’ve included some slides from that session below to give you an idea.

So a quick takeaway - if you’re new to freelancing I’d highly recommend some focused, skilled volunteering as part of your mix. It’ll help you improve what you’re already good at, build your peer network and - oh yes - do some good while you’re at it. Win win win!