You probably already have a good idea about why you want funding. You may be aware of problems or unmet needs from your own experience, through research or through being involved with an organisation or group. The first step in taking an outcomes approach is to write a brief summary of the main need (or problem or issue) that your project wants to address. What needs to change?
Be as realistic and specific as possible. There may be many needs, so stick to the main one that you want to work on. You may not be entirely sure or clear at this stage, but working through this guide will help you to get a clearer idea, and you can always revise your summary as time goes on. On the other hand, you may be very sure about what the need is. Even so, it is very important to have a clear statement about this. This helps to ensure that other people involved in your project share an understanding, but also so that funders understand what you are trying to do.
Examples of overall need
The following are expressed in terms of what needs to change:
- families with autistic children are isolated and struggling to cope
- lots of litter around the estate
- many local young people are involved in anti-social behaviour
- lack of skilled committee members in small community organisations.
1.1 Evidence of need
How do you know the need exists? You will have to provide some evidence. This can come from a combination of sources, such as:
- asking people with experience of the need
- your own experience, or what you have seen
- research into the scale of the need
- local statistics about the population in the area or levels of deprivation (such as from the census or other more recent surveys) or other statistics.
You will almost certainly have to spend some time researching need. In general, the time you spend will be in proportion to the size of your project. In this guide we focus on small, community-based projects. For larger organisations and projects, we are likely to want to know more about local, regional or national strategies and how your project fits with them and the evidence that they have gathered. More information about sources is available in the Investigating and writing about need factsheet on the website and in programme guidance.
Example: Evidence of needs experienced by families with autistic children
There are 48 families with autistic children recorded in the area your project covers. You have chosen eight of the parents at random and have asked them about their experiences. Of the eight, six (75 per cent) said that they were struggling to cope and felt isolated. This suggests that about 36 families in the area have those needs. The parents also said that the main reasons were lack of contact with other families with autistic children and lack of places to go with their children.
Note on consultation:
People who come forward to offer their views may not be representative of the majority. If you invite people to attend a consultation event, distribute a questionnaire and ask people to return it, or ask people you know for their views, there is a strong chance that this can happen. Other people may have relevant views but may not have the opportunity to respond. So you should make sure you hear from people who can represent the whole range of beneficiaries. There are various ways that you can do this:Using questionnaires and surveys, factsheet on our website will give you some more ideas and sources.
1.2 Understanding the reasons for the need
There may be a number of possible causes for the need you intend to address. Again, it is important to state which needs you will address and which you will not. It is also worth having clear reasons why.
The table on the below gives some examples of problems, reasons and possible solutions.
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| Overall problem | Understanding of the reason for the problem | Possible solution (project) |
| Too much litter on the estate | Litter bins are too few and too small | More, biggerlitter bins |
| | People are throwing away too much rubbish | Recycling project within the community |
| Young people involved in anti-social behaviour | They have nowhere to go and nothing to do | Set up a youth club or run activities |
| | Their parents are unable to cope with them | Parenting support project |
| Lack of skilled management committee (MC) members in small community organisations | Community organisations do not know what skills are needed and how more skills might benefit them | Skills audit |
| | Existing MC members do not have skills in required areas | Training for MC members |
| | Difficulty recruiting skilled MC members | Recruitment drive |
Exercise:
Get together with other people involved with your project. Write down the need that you have identified, and get everyone to come up with
possible answers to the following question:
- What is the need? What is the evidence for it? What is causing it?
Then decide as a group what the main reason(s) is/are. This is likely to be the need that your project plans to address.
Now look at the other reasons. Why are they not relevant or as important? Are there other reasons why you do not plan to address them? Perhaps someone else is dealing with them, and your project will complement what they are doing.
This should help you and others to get a clearer idea about the purpose of your project and what it will and will not do.
Find out if any other projects or services are addressing similar needs or working with the same beneficiaries in your area. You will need this information if funders or others ask how your project will fill gaps or add to existing projects. Thinking about and talking to other projects may also help you to find evidence about what is needed and which approaches are likely to work. In particular, similar projects to yours that are already working elsewhere can give you a lot of good advice.
Examples:
- We considered possible reasons for the litter problem (list reasons) and decided to set up a community recycling project on the grounds that the main reason was that people were throwing away too much rubbish.
- There are a number of reasons for young people's anti-social behaviour. (List the reasons.) There is already a local project working with parents, so we have chosen to set up a youth club.
Examples of evidence of how you know your approach is needed and will be used by your beneficiaries could include:
- experience of other similar projects
- the findings of research
- findings from a consultation exercise that asks people who have the need what they think would help.
BIG will ask you in your application about:
- the need that your project is trying to meet, and evidence that you have about the need
- the types of people who will benefit from your project and evidence you have about their need, as well as the level of that need you may have to show that you are targeting the people who are most in need
- why you think your project is the best approach to meeting the need.
Once you understand the need you want to address, you can work on being clear about the difference that you want to make, and then how you are going to do it.
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