With our feet firmly planted in 2023, we know that you are going to be well on your way to planning your evaluation strategy for the upcoming financial year (from April 2023).  You will be aware that Counting What Counts will be delivering a revamped version of the Impact & Insight Toolkit from this point and might be wondering about the transition process from the current Toolkit project (2019-2023) to the new Toolkit project (2023-2026).

 

The current Toolkit project, supporting those receiving Arts Council England (ACE) funding from 2019-2023, will be referred to as Toolkit 1.

The new Toolkit project, supporting those receiving Arts Council England (ACE) funding from 2023-2026, will be referred to as Toolkit 2.

 

Some of you will be completely new to the Impact & Insight Toolkit, joining the project for the commencement of Toolkit 2; others of you will have been involved for this current funding period, using Toolkit 1, and considering what happens next.

This blogpost will set out what and when is happening, with a view to supporting you in establishing your plans for the coming months.  It includes a timeline, detailing the different stages in the transition, for both Toolkit 1 and Toolkit 2.

 

Disclaimer: All dates referred to in the timeline and blogpost are subject to change.

Referenced in the timeline above are:

• Introductory live briefings
• Insights Reports
• Annual Summary Reports
• Data download
• Registration process
  • The registration process involves: completing an online Expression of Interest (EOI) form; receiving user agreements specific to Toolkit 2; signing and returning the user agreements.

Regarding the EOI, it will not be closing anytime soon!  Therefore, you do not need to have completed the EOI by the launch date.  It is simply that the Toolkit isn’t ‘open for business’ until the launch date.  If you are an NPO, you could wait until May to complete your EOI, if that works better for you.  You do not need to have completed it by April 3rd.

Furthermore, you will notice that there are three different launch dates for Toolkit 2.  The Impact & Insight Toolkit utilises an online evaluation platform, Culture Counts.  The ‘launches’ referred to in the timeline are the point at which we will commence distributing login details to Culture Counts for different users.

These three launch dates are:

• 2023-26 NPOs – April 3rd
• Other ACE funded organisations – July 3rd
• Other organisations eligible for ACE funding[1] – September 4th

There are a couple of reasons for this:

• As a small team that is dedicated to ensuring positive experiences for all users of the Toolkit, dividing access into three stages means that we can continue to deliver a great experience for users, rather than compromise on this essential aspect of our business.
• The Toolkit has been primarily developed to enable organisations to evidence their Ambition and Quality, an Investment Principle for NPOs; therefore, the registration opens for those organisations first.  However, we are really keen to support further arts and cultural organisations, which is why we will be offering access once NPOs have had the opportunity to register.

 

This blogpost’s aim was to explain to current Toolkit users and potential Toolkit users the process by which we will be providing access to the new and improved Impact & Insight Toolkit, alongside the gradual termination of the current Toolkit project.

We are looking forward to working with you all!

If you have any further questions, please do get in contact.

 

 

[1] Please see the linked 2023-26 Investment Programme: Guidance for Applicants PDF to determine whether your organisation would be eligible for funding (pp. 13-15)

 

 

Featured image credit: Photo by Hadija Saidi on Unsplash