DCMS appoints NPC to lead evaluation and learning for Building Connections Fund

Following the Prime Minister’s endorsement of the Jo Cox Commission recommendations on Loneliness in January 2018, the Building Connections Fund has been set up to support projects that are able to prevent or reduce loneliness. This is part of Government’s wider package to tackle loneliness, including the first loneliness strategy for England and recommendations on standard measures of loneliness.

The Fund will provide grants to 126 voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations working with different groups across the age range and across England over the next 2 years, beginning in January 2019. Grant holders will be supported with evaluation through online guidance, workshops, and tailored assistance.

In partnership with the Centre for Youth Impact, the What Works Centre for Wellbeing, Brunel University London, and Bryson Purdon Social Research, NPC will:

• Support grant holders with their evaluation practice
• Undertake focused evaluation on a sub-group of grant holders, to inform the wider sector as well as the evaluation of the Fund
• Support grant-holders and the wider sector to learn from the data collected and, as a result, improve their service provision

Anne Kazimirski, Head of Measurement and Evaluation at NPC said: ‘This is a really exciting opportunity. Focusing on learning and impact alongside programme delivery will create an evidence base that will benefit the sector well beyond the Building Connections Fund. It will build the capacity of organisations in this space to understand their impact and improve their services.’

The project will generate learning that will be used across the sector and beyond the lifetime of the project. NPC and its partners will share learning through events, publications and blogs.

Notes to editors

1. For more information please contact Rebecca Goodbourn, Head of Communications, at goodbourn@thinkNPC.org or 020 7620 4862, or Tom Collinge, Media and Communications Manager at NPC, at tom.collinge@thinkNPC.org or 020 7620 4882.
2. NPC (New Philanthropy Capital) is a charity think tank and consultancy which occupies a unique position at the nexus between charities and funders, helping them achieve the greatest impact. It is driven by the values and mission of the charity sector, to which it brings the rigour, clarity and analysis needed to better achieve the outcomes we all seek. It also shares the motivations and passion of funders, to which it brings over 15 years of expertise, experience and track record of success. thinkNPC.org.