Dartington Service Design Lab are the lead partner in the #iwill Fund Impact Evaluation and Learning Contract.

The #iwill Fund is a collaboration between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), working with match funders to support young people to access high quality social action. Social action involves activities such as campaigning, fundraising, and volunteering, all of which enable young people to make a positive difference in their communities as well as develop their own skills and knowledge.

The need

The #iwill Fund aims to make involvement in social action a part of life for young people, by recognising the benefit for both young people and their communities.

The impact evaluation is looking to answer:

What is the impact of #iwill Fund projects on young people and their communities?
What is the impact on match funders and delivery partners from the #iwill Fund’s convening and other support?
What is the overall cost effectiveness of the #iwill Fund?

The learning strand is interested in:

How can youth social action be accessible to all young people?
What are the most effective ways for funders and Delivery Organisations to measure the impact of youth social action?
Are the opportunities provided by the #iwill Fund supporting a journey of youth social action for young people?
What is the role of youth voice in ensuring the quality of youth social action?
Read the interim Learning Strand report here.

Our response

Together with our partners at Renaisi-TSIP, Ipsos and YMCA England & Wales (previously partnering with YMCA George Williams College), we are collecting organisational monitoring information, completing case studies, conducting surveys with young people, and carrying out a cost-effectiveness analysis to address these questions. At the centre of all these strands of work is a Young Evaluators Network (YEN) who feed into all elements of the #iwill Fund Impact Evaluation and Learning Contract (IELC).

Our role

Dartington is leading on the delivery of the impact evaluation, drawing on insights from data collected across the wider consortium. Read the interim Impact Evaluation report here.

We are also leading the '#iwill Fund Learning Strand, which builds on a previous #iwill Fund project, the “Learning Hub”. It creates learning spaces for #iwill Fund Match Funders, Youth Social Action (YSA) Delivery Organisations and young people to further explore and refine six previously identified “Quality Principles", underpinning quality YSA in different contexts and settings.

Interim Learning Strand report

Our interim learning strand report provides an update on the first phase in which we specifically looked at four themes that can better the quality of YSA practice – these are: mental health and wellbeing, equity and antiracism, youth-led design and accessibility in YSA.

Download the interim report here.