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Case study

Joining forces with The Fore to show the impact of non-profits

As the UK’s only venture philanthropy fund dedicated to small non-profits, The Fore is working to create a society that can solve its own problems. They do this by finding the highest-potential leaders of the best small non-profits and connecting them to the funding, skills and networks they need to transform society from the ground up. 

Since its foundation in 2017, The Fore has distributed more than £10m in funding to over 600 non-profits, facilitating over 11,000 hours of training and 13,000 hours of strategic advice. 

Smaller non-profits often struggle to demonstrate their economic impact. So, in 2024, The Fore teamed up with research non-profit Pro Bono Economics (PBE) to start a study using new government-approved wellbeing impact measures. 

The goal of the project was to automate the collection and analysis of wellbeing data across hundreds of small organisations, making it easy for them to see their collective and individual economic impact. 

Opencast was introduced to the project in summer 2024 through our membership of the Tech for Good Alliance (TfGA), which accelerates the development of UK tech for good by connecting tech businesses with non-profits. 

Working on a pro bono basis, Opencast contributed digital expertise to develop a bespoke data collection tool that now forms the cornerstone of this multi-year social impact measurement project.

  • Bespoke, GDPR-compliant data collection tool

  • Multi-year social impact survey

  • Strong collaborative relationships

  • Demonstrates economic impact of small non-profits

Challenge

Capture impact data from small independent non-profits

Small independent non-profits often find it hard to show their economic impact because of limited resources, challenges in collecting data and the difficulty of measuring social value in financial terms. 

To help with this challenge, in 2024 The Fore partnered with Pro Bono Economics and TfGA. Their goal was to create tools that would allow non-profits to collect and track impact data directly from service users and gain new insights into the collective impact of small non-profits in The Fore’s funding network.

With support from TfGA, The Fore and PBE designed a 10-question survey to capture data, using a methodology defined by the UK government for evaluating changes in wellbeing for the first time.

The partners needed a new tool to collect this data from individuals who had used or planned to use services provided by non-profits funded by The Fore. 

The tool would help consolidate and analyse the data, so non-profits could see their impact instantly and show their worth in future funding applications. And PBE could research economic impact across all participating organisations. 

The Fore needed a custom tool to handle the organisational structure and link individual survey responses over time.

Response

Co-create a solution for collecting impact data

When TfGA connected Opencast with The Fore and PBE, the partners faced major challenges. There was no existing system to support the data collection process, limited in-house resources and an ambitious delivery timeline.

Recognising these challenges, the Opencast team worked closely with The Fore and PBE to find a way forward. Within six-weeks, we combined our skills, knowledge and energy to rapidly co-develop a practical, cost-effective solution that would allow the first surveys to go out to users and for non-profits to start viewing results.

Our process started with a focused one-week discovery and design phase, followed by five weeks of development using a ‘swarming’ approach that allowed the Opencast team and the partners to work through problems and make decisions at speed.

Through business analysis and user research, we quickly mapped out and agreed key priorities – including easy data capture, secure storage and a system that worked within The Fore’s, PBE’s and individual non-profits' constraints.

Using agile decision-making and design thinking, we co-developed and tested three concepts, ensuring the final approach balanced cost-effectiveness, scalability and all stakeholders’ needs.

Since the project involved collecting personal data, our cybersecurity team also ran a full GDPR and security review, which helped The Fore and PBE set up the right protections, including anonymising sensitive data, creating a secure transfer process, and automating backups via API integration.

The final design solution gave The Fore and PBE the tools to stay GDPR compliant – introducing a data retention plan, and incident response procedures, while keeping the user experience simple and seamless.

Impact

An effective and practical solution to understanding non-profit impact

Our collaboration successfully delivered a fully functional, cost-effective and GDPR-compliant initial survey platform using Google tools.

In six weeks, we delivered a functional version of the wellbeing survey tool using Google Sheets, Forms and Drive. We created unique survey URLs and identifiers for users and non-profits, ensuring smooth data matching and tracking over time. We also set up a system for data backup and custom survey question validation.

In addition, we configured user accounts, Google Drive and provided comprehensive training materials, along with a list of future development priorities. We included clear documentation for potential future integrations and ensured the system was compliant with GDPR and relevant policies.

The Opencast team was motivated, energised and humbled by positive reactions to our work from non-profits and stakeholders throughout.  Opencast Business Analyst David Sluyk, who led on the project, said: “The positive feedback received from stakeholders is a testament to the hard work, dedication and collaborative spirit of everyone involved. We’re proud to have delivered a valuable solution that empowers The Fore and PBE in their mission to improve wellbeing, despite the challenges encountered along the way.”

Reflecting on the project, Alistair Forbes, Chief Executive at Tech for Good Alliance said: “The Fore is a highly innovative charitable funder and we were delighted to be able to introduce Opencast to them to create the survey tool that will underpin this important research project. The Opencast team considered the full set of requirements in designing and developing he solution and delivered a tool that meets those requirements and can be managed by the team at The Fore. As we continue to work with The Fore on the further development of the solution we will also look for opportunities to reuse the solution with other organisations, further amplifying the impact and the value created by the Opencast team.”

100+

surveys completed

£10m+

non-profit funding since 2017

600+

non-profits funded since 2017

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