A new report by Frontier Economics for the Community Wealth Fund Alliance starts to map out how the Community Wealth Fund could be robustly evaluated. We commissioned the work because it was clear from the government’s consultation paper on distribution of the English portion of dormant assets that in order to be eligible for support causes would need to be capable of robust evaluation demonstrating that funding was achieving defined outcomes.
Frontier Economics conclude in the report that:
The consensus amongst the experts we consulted as part of this work is that it is possible to develop a robust evaluation for the Community Wealth Fund that demonstrates its impact on a series of outcome measures that are clearly linked to economic growth (rather than economic growth itself).
So for example, the Community Wealth Fund would help to create the human and social capital that would enable and support local economic growth, increasing individual skill levels and developing community capacity.
Next steps include development of a more detailed theory of change and data mapping.
Click here to read the full report.
This research builds on previous research by Frontier Economics for Local Trust assessing the economic basis for investment in community-led social infrastructure in ‘left behind’ areas.