Workshop 2 & 3 - Understanding your local economy – Post event page

Taking place on Thursday 6 November in Chesterfield, this free workshop combined workshops two and three in the ERDF Reach & Impact Project prospectus, “Introduction to understanding your local economy” and “Understanding your local economy and measuring your economic contribution”.

This workshop was aimed at suitable for trustee and management committee members, chief executives, managers, funding advisors and development workers who were new to or are in the process of developing and delivering projects in the community with a community focus.


Introduction to understanding your local economy

Community organisations can make important and positive changes to their local community economy that enables economic growth and development to happen. To make informed decisions VCS organisations need a thorough understanding of their community’s local economy.

This workshop focused on helping delegates to identify, develop and evidence the demand for a project that meets the economic needs of the community. The session helped them to assess the economic needs of their local community, identified where they could find statistical data to support the need for the project and the steps needed to develop and scope the project.

By attending the workshop delegates were able to:

  • Understand how their local economy works and learn how money flows into and out of the community;
  • Consider ways in which community-based actions can be used towards developing a more sustainable local economy; and
  • Be able to recognise sustainable local economic development through the use of economic measurement tools and techniques.

Understanding your local economy and measuring your economic contribution

This workshop followed on from ‘Introduction to understanding your local economy’ and looked at how delegates could set up a framework that would help them measure their economic contribution and impact.

In the current economic climate, more than ever before, commissioners and funders want to see value for money – as do the trustees of charities, directors and investors. Organisations are often asked to demonstrate their value even when that means trying to put a financial value on things that were previously considered immeasurable in financial terms. The task is to demonstrate why investing in a particular project or organisation will provide added value through the outcomes they achieve and the changes they bring about.

The session focused on the utilisation of recognised tools and techniques for the measurement of economic impact within an organisation e.g. LM3, Social Return on Investment (SROI) and other relevant tools. It looked at simple ways for smaller organisations to provide their economic impact and considered some economic indicators and financial proxies that are being used in current practice.

The session provided a step-by-step introduction to defining how delegates could measure the social and economic impact of an organisation. It offered insight into applying a simple process to develop a social/economic impact framework for an organisation.

By attending the workshop delegates were able to:

  • Understand the importance and relevance of measuring economic impact;
  • Learn how to develop a framework/system to measure the economic/social impact of your project/organisation; and
  • Explore various tools that can help to measure economic and social impact.

Presentations and resources

The presentations from the workshops can be downloaded below:

Useful resources relating to the workshop can be accessed below:

To request a copy of the SROI spreadsheet from the workshop email clairechapman@one-em.org.uk.

To join our D2N2 mailing list email clairechapman@one-em.org.uk.