From self-reporting to stronger evidence

Many small and medium charities rely heavily on self-reported data

That is understandable.

Most organisations do not have in-house researchers, dedicated analysts or large
evaluation budgets. They gather the information they can, usually through service
records, attendance figures, surveys, feedback forms and case notes, and then use
that material to report on activity and impact.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that. In fact, for many charities, it is the only
realistic starting point. But self-reporting does have its limits.

Self-reporting can only take you so far

At a certain point, trustees, funders and commissioners start asking sensible
questions. How reliable is this interpretation? Are we seeing the full picture? Are
there patterns, gaps or inconsistencies that internal teams may naturally miss? How
strong is the evidence behind the headline claims?

That is one reason independent analysis matters.

Independent reporting add credibility

It does not replace the lived knowledge of charity leaders and frontline teams. But it
can add a different kind of credibility, rigour and objectivity – especially when an
organisation wants to strengthen its case for support, sharpen its strategic thinking,
or move beyond basic reporting.

Equipping charities with academic insight

That is why 9 Mountains has partnered with Royal Holloway, University of London, to
offer a range of data insight and evaluation-related support for charities. The purpose
of the partnership is simple: to make high-quality academic input more practical and
accessible for charities that want stronger evidence, but do not need – or cannot
afford – a large bespoke research commission. For some charities, that may lead to
broader work over time. For others, the right starting point is something much more
contained.

Our current entry-level offer is the Royal Holloway Data Insight Report – a fixed-fee
piece of work for charities with suitable existing data. At £1,500, it is designed to be
an affordable first step for organisations that want to draw clearer insight from what
they already hold. The process is relatively light-touch, and in many cases the

starting point is simply one anonymised spreadsheet, provided the data is
reasonably consistent and complete.

What charities gain from independent data insight

The aim is to help charities:

• understand what their data is really saying
• identify patterns, trends, strengths and gaps
• strengthen how they present evidence to trustees, funders and commissioners
• move from internal self-reporting towards something more independent and robust

This matters because many organisations are already sitting on useful information
without extracting its full value. Often, the issue is a lack of time, analytical capacity
or external perspective. A charity may know, for example, how many people
attended a programme, how often they came, and what they said afterwards. But it
may still struggle to answer bigger questions such as:

• which groups appear to benefit most
• where drop-off is happening
• whether outcomes differ by cohort or type of intervention
• what that means for service design, fundraising or future commissioning
  conversations

Turning data into decisions

Those are the kinds of questions that independent data insight can help explore
more credibly.

For smaller charities in particular, this can be valuable because it helps bridge an
awkward middle ground. They may have moved beyond anecdotal reporting, but still
be some way off full-scale external evaluation. A well-scoped piece of academic
input can help them take the next step without overcommitting time or budget.

It can also help address one of the weaknesses in the sector: when the same people
who deliver the work are also the only people interpreting the results, even strong
organisations can find it harder to demonstrate independence. This is less a failing
on the charity’s part than a reflection of how many organisations are structured.

Could your data go further?

The benefit of the Royal Holloway partnership is that it offers a practical route to
more independent thinking, while keeping the process proportionate. So, rather than
seeing charity data as either “good enough already” or “in need of a major
evaluation”, there is a useful middle option: structured academic insight that helps
organisations make better use of what they already know. For charities with review-
ready data, the Royal Holloway Data Insight Report is one way to do exactly that.

If you would like to explore whether your current dataset might be suitable, get in
touch and we can send over the short readiness checklist.