Programme Evaluation 2014-15

Introduction
This is a light-touch evaluation of Faiths4Change (F4C) in delivering its charitable objects during its financial year
1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015:
• To promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and
natural environment, and in particular to bring together faith communities to work towards improving the
environment of disadvantaged communities within the North West of England.
• To advance the education of the public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and
natural environment, particularly within disadvantaged communities in the North West of England.
Its purpose is to complement, not duplicate, the financial information provided in F4C’s Annual Report. It focuses
on F4C’s contracted projects and activities carried out under the organisation’s not-for-profit chargeable
educational support service ‘Sowing the Seeds 4 Environmental Change’. It assesses how and to what degree the
objectives of F4C’s programme have been met; the outputs and outcomes of its work for beneficiaries, partners,
staff, associates, volunteers and trustees; and lessons for the future. New elements in this year’s evaluation include
comparisons with relevant outputs and outcomes secured in 2013-14, and a section outlining the experiences and
responses of its partners, as revealed through a series of structured interviews.
It must be borne in mind, when considering F4C’s projects and other charitable activities, that:
• They have varying timescales, objectives, outputs and outcomes, the arbitrary standardisation of which
would detract from a people-focused assessment of F4C’s mission and work.
• Because many of F4C’s beneficiaries belong to vulnerable communities (e.g., asylum seekers and women in
the criminal justice system), there are legal and logistical difficulties in providing exact numbers and
pinpointing their origins. However, an attempt has been made to compensate for this by working with
F4C staff to derive systematic best estimates.
• Some elements of F4C’s delivery are undertaken on behalf of other organisations who do not require or
permit the collection or use of certain project data.
• F4C is an environmental charity rooted in shared values and beliefs about the well-being of the Earth and
its people as means of achieving just and sustainable communities. These tenets are widely held across
faith communities but also among those whose faith or belief is not based on religion.
Because of these factors, the evaluation highlights the sustainable ‘added value’ that F4C’s activities have
generated as a basis for future programme management and partnership.
Lastly, I want to thank all the members of F4C and its partners who, as part of this work, assisted me in providing
project data and spending time to discuss what their experience of working with the organisation means to them.
Laird Ryan
May 2016
The mosaics on the front and back covers are landmarks on the Heath’s Marian Trail, Thatto Heath, St Helens. This F4Csupported
project was inspired by member of St Austin's RC Church and realised by Parish Power (a sub group of the Archdiocese
of Liverpool’s Justice and Peace Network), Nutgrove Methodist Primary School, Thatto Heath Primary School, St Austins RC
Primary School and St John Vianney RC Primary School. It was funded by Westhill Endowment and LOCAL St Helens.