The Building Connections Fund Part One: Evaluation of the Building Connections Fund prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
This document describes an evaluation of the Building Connections Fund (BCF) in England, which aimed to alleviate loneliness, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, by providing grants to 126 organizations. The evaluation, conducted by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), used a developmental approach due to data collection challenges. It found that the BCF reached a wide demographic, with significant benefits for children, younger adults, and females who reported improvements in loneliness, confidence, resilience, and well-being. Trust in staff and volunteers was crucial in reducing loneliness. The evaluation faced issues with survey consent and aligning funder and partner priorities, resulting in recommendations for dedicated evaluation funding and future research to address data gaps. Activities funded by the BCF were found to enhance mental well-being, social skills, and confidence, with trust and safety being key to success. The document also offers guidance on data collection and ethical considerations for organizations. **This summary was written by an AI model and therefore should not be considered a definitive summary of the report. If you are aware of inaccuracies, please email evaluation.registry@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.**
Description
- Lead department
-
Closed organisation: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
- Evaluation stage
- A complete evaluation report
- Other departments
- No other departments listed
- Evaluation types
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Impact evaluation
Process evaluation
- Impact methods
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Generic research method
- Process methods
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Other
Surveys and polling
- Grant information
- This intervention is not distributing funding via a grant
- Government Major Project information
- This intervention is not a major project
- Policies
- No policies provided
Event Dates
- Event Name
- Publication of final results
- Event date
- September 2021
Evaluation Costs
- Cost
- Not provided
Evaluation sharing
- Link(s) to published report(s)
- Yes
- Links to evaluation plans
- No link provided
- Links to published evaluations
- Findings
- Not provided
- Permission to share confirmed
- Yes