Evaluation of the National Outcomes Dissemination Programme 2003 - 2006

Abstract

‘Outcomes’ has become an increasingly widely-used term in third sector policy and management discussions. In particular, it has been argued that thinking in terms of outcomes – an outcomes approach – provides a clear basis for project and organisational planning in voluntary and community organisations (VCOs). It is also suggested that outcomes can provide a common language bridging the notoriously separate worlds of public policy, administration and accountability on the one hand, and of urgent needs, social commitment and community action, on the other. Against this background, the National Outcomes Dissemination Programme (NODP) was developed and run by Charities Evaluation Services (CES) with funding from the Big Lottery Fund. As its name implies, it was designed to explain and spread outcomes thinking and practice to VCOs – and to do so nationwide.