User involvement

To mark our 20th birthday, we spoke with Hannah Paterson and Yasmin Ibison to ask: What place for participation in grant-making?

To mark our 20th birthday, we spoke with the Young Trustees Movement to ask: How should philanthropy learn from young people?

To mark our 20th birthday, we spoke with Rethink Mental Illness to ask: What should the future look like for involving people and communities in the work of charities?

To mark our 20th birthday, we spoke with Angela Salt to ask: Can a volunteering boom ever last?

To mark our 20th birthday, we spoke with Jonathan Breckon to ask: Where next for the impact and what works agenda?

‘Involvement’ is a broad term. Many charities involve people with lived experience in many different ways. What's important is that the involvement affects how decisions are made.

Organisations can struggle to move from light touch consultations to involving people with lived experience in decision-making. In order to truly reflect the voices of people with lived experience, you must give them genuine influence over decisions.

Paying survey participants is standard practice in commercial market research. In the charity sector it is less prevalent. Why is this and how do vouchers or cash rewards affect response rates and survey representativeness?

Co-design happens when a charity and its stakeholders work together to design or rethink a service. But how can we encourage user participation at a time of lockdowns and social distancing?

With social distancing mandatory for the foreseeable future, you’re probably wondering how on earth you can still involve users meaningfully in decision making, be it consultation, co-design or co-production. There are many challenges, but now is not the time to step back.

How do you build trusting and honest relationships when asking sensitive survey questions? Through working with the grant-holders of the Building Connections Fund, we've been exploring how to promote open conversations.