Matter of Focus

Promotional graphic for a webinar titled "Working in the messy middle: lessons, innovation, and future directions for people navigating evaluation, monitoring and accountability." At the centre is a cartoon figure juggling colourful balls, surrounded by speech bubbles with questions including: Who are we supporting? Do we have the right staff? Are we on track with the strategy? Are we meeting good practice standards? How long are waiting times? Who have we kept out of hospital? Have we delivered good funder outcomes? How many people are we supporting? The session is scheduled for 1–2pm (BST) on 3 July 2025, with the website www.matter-of-focus.com/webinars displayed at the bottom right. The graphic reflects the complexity and pressure of managing evaluation and accountability in practice.

Overloaded by evaluation, monitoring and accountability?

Join Ailsa Cook & Sarah Morton on 3 July, 1–2pm BST, for a free webinar on practical ways to work through the “messy middle”.

Balance demands, build better data, and make sense of change together.

www.matter-of-focus.com/working-in-t...

A split-screen image. The top half shows Dr Sarah Morton from Matter of Focus speaking during a video call. The subtitle overlay captured reads: "it's so difficult to go back." The bottom half is an illustration of a distressed person kneeling next to an open box labelled "EVIDENCE OF IMPACT", with a note inside reading "TODO: collect feedback." A sign on the wall says "REPORT DUE TODAY." The image conveys the stress and challenge of gathering impact evidence retroactively.

How do you know your research is making a difference?

Sarah explores this in the latest episode of the Amplifying Research podcast with Chris Padlow – and why it's crucial to build a habit of asking for feedback.

Listen on the AR website: bit.ly/45wFdN7 or where you get your podcasts.

Promotional graphic announcing exhibition at ARMA 2025. The left side features a scenic photograph of Edinburgh with the Dugald Stewart Monument in the foreground and the city skyline at sunset. A large speech bubble over the image reads: "WE’RE EXHIBITING AT ARMA 2025!" in bold teal text. On the right, the ARMA logo appears with event details: "ARMA 2025 | Edinburgh | 17–19 June". Below, it says: "Don’t miss out! View it here: armaconference.com" with a globe icon. The design uses teal, white, and olive green accents.

A visual framework titled "Plot your pathway to impact..." illustrating six stages along a curved, dotted pathway with numbered headings: What we do – Sticky notes: "Joint research project", "Dissemination activities" Who with – Sticky notes: "Policy makers", "Practitioners" How they feel – Sticky notes: "This research is useful", "I will share this research" What they learn and gain – Sticky notes: "Greater understanding of issues faced", "More knowledge about potential solutions" What they do differently – Sticky notes: "Use research in policy making", "Deliver better support" What difference does this make? – Green sticky note: "People’s lives are better" Each sticky note represents a step in tracking impact, with handwritten-style text and pastel colours. A QR code is placed in the upper-right corner. The graphic is framed by a dark blue border.

Attending #ARMA2025 in sunny (🤞) Edinburgh this week?

How do you know your research is making a difference?

Try your hand at plotting a pathway to impact using our simple framework. And see how our software, OutNav, helps bring it to life—so you can focus on meaningful impact assessment.

A colorful cartoon-style illustration of a collaborative office scene focused on recruiting and teamwork. It features multiple characters engaged in different activities: Two people chatting over coffee with calendar speech bubbles. One person pointing to a task board while another watches. A person at a computer having a video call with another. A character holding a contact book with a question mark speech bubble. A central outline of a person made of dashed lines, symbolizing a vacant or new team member position, with a lightbulb above their head. The image conveys a friendly, inclusive work environment with various communication and planning tools in use.

We're recruiting a senior evaluation consultant – someone with a passion for helping organisations use evidence to drive change, along with strong facilitation and evaluation skills.

FT (32hr week) or PT. Hybrid working–regular time in Edinburgh office.

ℹ️ www.matter-of-focus.com/senior-evalu...

We're recruiting a Senior Evaluation Consultant Applications are open for a senior evaluation consultant role at Matter of Focus based in Edinburgh. Flexible working options available. Closes 12noon, 30 September 2024.

We're hiring! Looking to grow our team with a new senior evaluation post.

We're looking for someone who has a passion for helping organisations use evidence to drive change, along with strong facilitation and evaluation skills.

www.matter-of-focus.com/senior-evalu...

#evaluation #researchjobs

From strategy to impact: - Matter of Focus Developing and refining a theory of change to inform the Scottish Human Rights Commission's new four-year strategy towards building a fairer Scotland where human rights are respected, protected, and f...

What does it really take to turn a national human rights strategy into meaningful change?

This is the question at the heart of our webinar with the Scottish Human Rights Commission today at 1.30pm (BST)
We'll explore taking a theory of change approach.

www.matter-of-focus.com/from-strateg...

Promotional graphic for a live webinar titled "Data for understanding impact: defining the best strategy for your work." The yellow background features a checklist-style message with four items, each accompanied by an icon: ✅ You collect data. ✅ You report on it. 🤔 But does it help you understand what’s working and why? 🙂 We can help with that... Below, the webinar title is bolded, followed by event details in smaller text: "LIVE WEBINAR: With impact expert Dr Sarah Morton – Thursday 12 June, 12.30–1.30pm (BST)" The website link www.matter-of-focus.com/webinars appears at the bottom.

In a data-rich world there's lots we can report on, but if we really want to understand and demonstrate the impact of our work, it can be overwhelming and confusing.

If you're grappling with this, join us for a live webinar on 12 June.

www.matter-of-focus.com/data-for-und...

From strategy to impact: - Matter of Focus Developing and refining a theory of change to inform the Scottish Human Rights Commission's new four-year strategy towards building a fairer Scotland where human rights are respected, protected, and f...

The Scottish Human Rights Commission is using our theory of change approach to understand and track the impact of their work to ensure human rights are respected and upheld for all.

Join us on 13 May to hear more about how they’re embedding this approach.

www.matter-of-focus.com/from-strateg...

An infographic titled "Understanding change at scale is challenging" featuring four illustrated icons with corresponding challenges: Top left: A network of connected dots icon with the text "Complex with many moving parts." Top right: A checklist and pen icon with the text "Need comprehensive measurement system without losing meaning." Bottom left: A camera icon with the text "Traditional evaluation gives only snapshots." Bottom right: A magnifying glass over a question mark icon with the text "Difficult to track overall impact." At the bottom, the website www.matter-of-focus.com/webinars is listed. The icons are primarily yellow, with a clean, white background.

How do you navigate the challenges of tracking impact across complex, multi-layered programmes in the public and voluntary sectors?

Join us for tools, insights and examples from our work.

Wednesday 9 April at 12pm (BST)
Free webinar.
Presentation + Q&A
ℹ️ www.matter-of-focus.com/making-sense...

Graphic titled "YOU'VE ASKED..." on a yellow background with decorative dotted lines. Three questions are listed with speech bubble icons containing question marks: How do we measure the impact of complex, multi-strand initiatives—especially across geographies and partners? What’s the best way to aggregate data—qualitative and quantitative—across diverse services while keeping it meaningful? How do we track and communicate long-term or less visible outcomes like systemic or community-level change?

Another yellow background graphic titled "YOU'VE ASKED..." with three additional questions shown beside speech bubble icons: What tools, frameworks or practical methods are others using that actually work at scale? How can we evaluate shared outcomes across multiple theories of change? And how do we do all this in partnership—across organisations, sectors, and contexts? Let me know if you'd like these combined into a description for a webpage or flyer!

Yellow background promotional graphic for a Matter of Focus webinar titled "Making sense of change at scale: understanding and tracking the impact of large-scale programmes". The event is scheduled for Wednesday 9 April, 12–1pm (BST). The text explains that the webinar will share tools, examples, and insights from work with public and voluntary initiatives across the UK and beyond. A map pin icon appears in the top left. At the bottom is a website link: www.matter-of-focus.com/webinars.

We asked what questions people would like answered at our webinar next week on understanding and tracking the impact of large-scale programmes.

We've had dozens of thoughtful, insightful questions. If any resonnate with you, please sign up to join us:

ℹ️ www.matter-of-focus.com/making-sense...

A circular infographic from the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) showing a six-part framework for understanding change. Each segment is represented by a colorful hexagon with an icon and label: Yellow hexagon: "What we do" (document icon) Green hexagon: "Who with" (group of people icon) Blue hexagon: "How they feel" (heart with people icon) Light blue hexagon: "What they learn and gain" (light bulb icon) Purple hexagon: "What they do differently" (puzzle pieces icon) Pink hexagon: "What difference this makes" (target icon) Arrows connect each hexagon in a clockwise cycle around the SHRC logo in the center. The background is dark blue. Image credit: Scottish Human Rights Commission

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has published their new theory of change framework which sets out how they plan, monitor & measure the impact of their work.
➡️ ow.ly/4FvL50VrwN9

Join us on 13 May to learn more about our work together to develop this.
ℹ️ www.matter-of-focus.com/from-strateg...

Making sense of change at scale: - Matter of Focus Join us on 9 April for a practical and insightful webinar on tracking change at scale in complex public and voluntary sector programmes.

Making sense of change at scale.

Join Ailsa Cook and Sarah Morton, Co-Directors of Matter of Focus as they share a clear and proven approach to understanding impact across complex programmes.

📅9 April |⏰ 12–1pm | 💻 Live on Teams

www.matter-of-focus.com/making-sense...

A quote graphic featuring a testimonial from Dr. Ailsa Cook about the ENLIGHT conference. The quote, enclosed in a yellow speech mark frame, reads: “[There’s been] a strong start to the conference with a clear call for agile and adaptive approaches to policy development and implementation delivered in partnership between universities and wider society.” Below the quote is Dr. Ailsa Cook’s name and title, "Co-Director, Matter of Focus," followed by a link to her LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ailsa-cook/). The hashtag #ImpactENLIGHT appears in the top right corner. The background is white with purple and yellow accents.

A promotional poster for the ENLIGHT Impact Conference, taking place in Groningen on 27–28 March 2025. The image features a colorful illustration with a cityscape on the left, including wind turbines and buildings, and two people riding bicycles. On the right, a stylized map of Europe shows two people connecting circular nodes with lines, symbolizing collaboration and networking. The logo for ENLIGHT appears at the top left, and a European Union co-funding logo is at the bottom right. The event title "ENLIGHT IMPACT CONFERENCE" is displayed prominently at the bottom in white text on a purple banner.

Our co-director Ailsa Cook is delighted to be at this year's #impactENLIGHT conference @unigroningen.bsky.social hosting a planning for impact workshop.

The Enlight programme is an alliance between 10 European universities who share a mission to deliver societal impact.

A group photo of ten people from Sight Scotland standing in front of a purple sticky wall covered colourful sticky notes, smiling at the camera. Below the photo, the title reads "Outcome mapping with Sight Scotland." Underneath is a visual framework showing six purple circles connected by a dotted line, each labelled with steps to understand change: What we do Who with How they feel What they learn and gain What they do differently What difference does this make? The website link www.matter-of-focus.com/using-our-headings is displayed at the bottom.

@sightscotland.bsky.social is a national charity for the blind and visually impaired, offering a range of support services including residential care, education, community support, and rehabilitation.

It's a pleasure to be working with them to help map and track outcomes across their organisation.

A promotional graphic for a Matter of Focus webinar titled "Making sense of change at scale: understanding and tracking the impact of large-scale programmes." The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, 9 April, from 12–1 pm (BST). "LIVE WEBINAR" is highlighted in yellow. The graphic invites participants to gain practical insights, real-world examples, and innovations to help overcome challenges in understanding change at scale, develop tailored approaches for tracking initiatives, create flexible templates for organizing evidence, analyse data from project to programmme level, assess progress, and adapt methods for different initiatives. Colorful lightbulb icons accompany each point. At the bottom, the Matter of Focus logo and website link (www.matter-of-focus.com/webinars) are displayed.

If you're working in a public or voluntary sector org. and are responsible for a large-scale programme involving multiple projects, you'll know how hard it is to understand and track its overall impact.

We’re tackling this challenge on 9 April. All welcome!
www.matter-of-focus.com/making-sense...

Just shy of 300 people signed up to explore making their reports more outcome- and impact-focused with us today. Would you like to join us?

Register by 12.30pm (GMT) to attend live (and take advantage of a Q&A!) and/or to get the recording.

Reg. link: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
More info ↓

"Infographic titled '6 Tips for Robust Reporting to demonstrate the difference your work makes.' Features six colorful sections with icons: 1) Think carefully about who your report is for and write for them (green, group icon). 2) Describe your activities succinctly – the reader needs to know 'what next?' (purple, speech bubble icon). 3) Discuss challenges and opportunities faced during delivery to provide context (blue, warning icon). 4) Answer key questions about engagement, reactions, learning, actions, and impact (pink, question mark icon). 5) Provide evidence to substantiate claims (yellow, magnifying glass icon). 6) Use pictures, quotes, and visualizations to tell the story (red, eye icon). Website link: www.matter-of-focus.com.

Got a funders report on your to-do list?

Make your reports count: practical tips for outcome and impact-focused reporting

Our next free webinar, on 28 January:
Details and registration at: www.matter-of-focus.com/make-your-re...

The @brisunipress.bsky.social January sale is a great opportunity to get a bargain-price copy of our book!
How Do You Know If You Are Making a Difference? A Practical Handbook For Public Service Organisations.

Infographic titled 'Compelling Impact Reports' with five colorful sections, each including text and an icon: 1) Focus on outcomes and impacts (green, hands icon), 2) Link activities to outcomes and impacts (purple, link icon), 3) Are transparent (blue, speech bubble icon), 4) Talk about the wider context (pink, gear icon), and 5) Illustrate findings (yellow, book icon). The footer displays 'www.matter-of-focus.com.

Are you telling a compelling story of the difference your work makes?

If your reports focus mainly on your activities and outputs, join us on 28 January for some practical tips to help you make your reports outcome- and impact-focused.

www.matter-of-focus.com/make-your-re...

Promotional image for UK Evaluation Society 2025 conference 'Data in Focus: driving evaluation excellence.' A background photo shows an audience at a conference. The event logo is displayed with colorful text and shapes. A circular photo features keynote speakers Dr Ailsa Cook and Dr Sarah Morton. Event details: '19 May Online, 21 & 22 May Glasgow.

📣 Delighted to announce our co-directors Dr Sarah Morton and Dr Ailsa Cook as a keynote speaker double act for the UK Evaluation Society's 2025 conference next May!

Early bird hybrid online/in-person (Glasgow) tickets available now.
#Evaluation #ImpactAssessment
yve.eventsair.com/evaluation20...

Make your reports count: practical tips for outcome and impact-focused reporting - Matter of Focus Join us for ideas and practical steps to help you move beyond reporting on what you do and who you reach to start demonstrating the real difference your work makes.

Ensure your reports resonate and drive support for your work.

Join impact expert @sasmort.bsky.social for our free webinar on 28 January. Sarah will share a framework and practical tips for outcome and impact-focused reporting.

Free, live webinar with Q&A.
www.matter-of-focus.com/make-your-re...

Make your reports count: practical tips for outcome and impact-focused reporting - Matter of Focus Join us for ideas and practical steps to help you move beyond reporting on what you do and who you reach to start demonstrating the real difference your work makes.

Do your reports tell the full story of the difference your work makes?

If you're struggling to move beyond reporting on what you did and how many people you reached to tell a strong story of impact, join @sasmort.bsky.social for our webinar in the new year.

www.matter-of-focus.com/make-your-re...

Quality assurance matters: - Matter of Focus How Penumbra Mental Health has implemented and embedded a meaningful and practical approach to monitoring and assessing quality across their services for people.

How do you make quality assurance processes more meaningful and manageable?

Tomorrow we explore how pioneering charity Penumbra Mental Health has developed its use of our outcome and impact tracking software OutNav to assess quality across 75 services.

www.matter-of-focus.com/quality-assu...

Taking a trauma-informed approach to quality and impact: - Matter of Focus Explore how Future Pathways employs the Matter of Focus approach to understand and track impact and guide their quality and improvement work.

Future Pathways supports people who were abused or neglected as children in the Scottish care system, aiming to help them live well.

Today's webinar focuses on their work to integrate quality measurement with outcomes-focused self-evaluation.
All welcome.
www.matter-of-focus.com/taking-a-tra...

What makes peer support unique? YouTube video by Scottish Recovery Network

We asked people from across Scotland what makes peer support unique? This short animation highlights what they said.

youtu.be/OH1YRcf3UAA?...
(2 min watch)

#PeerSupportScot #TheFutureIsPeer #MentalHealth #Recovery #LivedExperience

Taking a trauma-informed approach to quality and impact: - Matter of Focus Explore how Future Pathways employs the Matter of Focus approach and software to understand and track impact and guide their quality and improvement work.

Join us on 13 Nov. to explore how Future Pathways, a Scottish Government-funded service supporting survivors of childhood abuse in care has developed an integrated and trauma-informed approach to impact evaluation, quality measurement and service improvement.

www.matter-of-focus.com/taking-a-tra...

Improving access to mental health and wellbeing support for children, young people and young adults: - Matter of Focus Findings and recommendations from the evaluation of Midlothian Early Action Partnership, an ambitious National Lottery-funded 5-year Early Action System Change Programme.

Effecting change so that children and young people can receive the best support possible with their mental health and wellbeing.

Key learning from evaluating a 5-year National Lottery-funded Early Action System Change Programme.

#WorldMentalHealthDay

www.matter-of-focus.com/improving-ac...

What’s good enough? Effective and efficient evaluation in challenging times - Matter of Focus Understanding the difference your work is making has never been more important. In the context of continued cuts, funders and decision-makers are looking for rapid and convincing evidence that the pro...

When it comes to evaluation, what's good enough?

If you're a programme leader, project manager, decision-maker or change-maker in the #ThirdSector or #PublicSector who wants to make the best difference you can and understand your impact, join us on Tuesday.

www.matter-of-focus.com/whats-good-e...

Understanding and evidencing the difference your work is making has never been more important, yet resources are tighter than ever.

If you're looking for a proportionate approach to evaluation, join Matter of Focus co-director Ailsa Cook online on 8 Oct. www.matter-of-focus.com/whats-good-e...

We're recruiting a Senior Evaluation Consultant Applications are open for a senior evaluation consultant role at Matter of Focus based in Edinburgh. Flexible working options available. Closes 12noon, 30 September 2024.

Looking for a new role?

We're looking for someone interested in helping organisations use evidence to understand and drive change, who has strong facilitation and evaluation/research skills and client/project management experience.

Closes 12pm 30 September.
www.matter-of-focus.com/senior-evalu...