One year from the launch of the 2017 Guardian Charity Appeal, through which over £500,000 was donated to NACCOM and its members, here is an update for members on the reporting process which is now underway.

All members who received a grant in the summer of 2018 are required to submit a progress report after six months (i.e. Jan 2019 / Feb 2019) and an end of grant report after twelve months (i.e. summer 2019). The latter will be combined with our annual survey, but the six-month report is additional.

What do we want to know about your use of the grant?

The main thing that we want to capture, both at the six and twelve-month stage of reporting, is the impact of the funding. That is, how has it made a difference to your work, who has benefited and how have they benefited?

We’ll be collecting this information primarily in a quantitative (statistical) way, asking for a breakdown of the current number of people accommodated and those you have accommodated over the last 6 months. To help you out, we’ll also share the data we’ve got on the numbers of people you accommodated as identified in the 2018 annual survey.

Please note we’re interested to know about the number of people accommodated across all your services (for instance, hosting schemes, housing projects and night shelters), not just those accommodated through the service that you got funding towards (if applicable). We will separately ask you if you know how many more people have been supported as a result of funding for the project, but we recognise not all members will be able to provide this level of detail.

These figures will help us identify any increase in capacity across the network. Additionally, there will be space on the form to provide more qualitative (narrative) feedback about the impact of your work. There will also be an opportunity to say if anyone in your organisation would be willing to speak to us about further media or awareness raising work.

Alongside the impact, we want to know about any changes that have occurred since your original application was made, or any changes that had to be made as a result of not getting the full amount. We don’t see such change as a negative thing, but recognise that this is a normal part of managing any kind of project and are keen to learn from your experiences as they can often reflect wider trends across the network.

Finally, we will ask a couple of questions that relate to our advocacy and campaigns work in 2019. We are focusing on refugee homelessness and Section 4 delays, so we’ll be asking you for any additional information around these areas. If you’re not sure how to answer these please contact the office and we’ll help you out.

What will we do with the information provided?

We will use the information you share to map capacity building and other trends around needs of those facing destitution nationally. These will feed into our annual survey in the summer and the 2019 end of grant report. All information made public about the work of projects will be kept anonymous.

We will use the evidence you provide for the advocacy questions to develop our work in these key areas. We will be in touch for further information if you’re able to give it, and will ask your permission to do this on the report.

When will you need to complete the form?

The progress report has now been issued to the primary contact at most member organisations and will need to be completed by the beginning of February 2019. The report will be online using SurveyMonkey and you will be able to save and return to the form if required. If you have any questions please contact Angela ([email protected]).

Want to find out more about last year’s appeal? See here for this recent post and for all the articles from last year, visit our Press Coverage page.

Finally, if you’re keen to see an end to the ‘Hostile Environment’, this year’s Guardian appeal supports Praxis Community Projects, JCWI, Law Centres Network, Runnymede Trust and the Refugee and Migrant Centre. Donate here to support their vital work.