About Us
Expert research and evaluation for impactful organisations
We help charities, funders, NHS organisations and other purpose-led organisations understand what is working, why it matters and how it can be improved.
Our team combines rigorous research and evaluation expertise with extensive experience of working within the voluntary and public sectors. We provide independent evidence and practical insight that organisations can use to demonstrate impact, improve services, inform strategy and support wider change.
Highly experienced charity evaluation and research specialists
Our team brings together more than 80 years of combined experience.
Extensive track record
Over 70 external evaluation projects delivered in the last decade.
Comprehensive sectoral experience
We work with Charities, not for profits, NHS, grant funders and foundations.
How Impactful Evaluation developed
Impactful Evaluation is the dedicated research and evaluation identity of Charity Fundraising Ltd, an established UK voluntary sector consultancy founded in 2000. Our evaluation work grew naturally from our early work supporting charities with fundraising. We saw that organisations increasingly needed more than help securing funding: they needed robust ways to understand, measure and communicate the difference their work was making.
Over time, impact measurement and evaluation became an increasingly significant part of our work. We developed dedicated evaluation methodologies, expanded our portfolio of independent research and evaluation projects, and recruited experienced research and evaluation specialists to strengthen the team.
Today, Impactful Evaluation brings this work together under a dedicated identity focused solely on research, evaluation, impact measurement and learning. Charity Fundraising Ltd remains the legal entity behind Impactful Evaluation.
The Team
Our evaluation team brings together more than 80 years of combined experience, spanning research, evaluation, impact measurement and the wider voluntary and public sectors. Our collective expertise includes mixed-methods evaluation, quantitative analysis, qualitative and participatory research, outcome measurement, systems thinking and economic evaluation. Working as a team means individual projects can draw on different specialist skills where they add value.
For detailed team profiles, please see our Evaluation Consultants page.
Paul Parker
Director
Paul is Director of Impactful Evaluation and Charity Fundraising Ltd, bringing more than 25 years’ experience of working with charities and VCSE organisations across the UK. He leads major evaluation and impact projects, combining strategic oversight with hands-on delivery, and brings particular strengths in quantitative analysis, systems thinking and economic evaluation.
Steph Prentis
Head of Consultancy
Steph brings more than 20 years’ experience of working with charities and public sector organisations across health and wellbeing, heritage, environment and community development, with particular expertise in evaluation, impact and organisational development. She has worked with us since 2012, managing our consultancy team for the past six years.
Lynn Simmonds
Evaluation & Fundraising Consultant
Lynn is an evaluation specialist with more than 20 years’ experience across the voluntary sector, spanning evaluation, grant-making, programme development and fundraising. She brings particular expertise in qualitative and participatory research, Theory of Change and impact measurement, with extensive experience across arts and culture, heritage, disability and community programmes.
Hannah Belcher Bennett
Evaluation Consultant
Hannah is an experienced researcher and evaluator with more than 13 years’ experience across the charity, academic and public sectors. She specialises in mixed-methods evaluation, with particular expertise in mental health, disability and inclusion, combining strong quantitative and statistical skills with user-led, participatory approaches to research.
Rachel Poynor
Evaluation Consultant
Rachel is an experienced evaluator with more than 12 years’ experience working across the voluntary sector in evaluation, project management, service development and fundraising roles. She specialises in qualitative and quantitative research, with particular expertise in designing research tools, developing outcomes frameworks and engaging people with lived experience.
Our Approach
How we work with our clients
We value each client we work with and work hard to ensure we understand your needs, build a strong partnership and deliver outputs that exceed your expectations.
We take time to understand your context
Every organisation, programme and community is different. We start by understanding your work, your stakeholders and the decisions you need evidence to support, so our approach is relevant and proportionate.
We work collaboratively and sensitively
Good evaluation depends on trust. We work alongside staff, partners and service users in a way that is inclusive, respectful and practical, making sure the process feels useful rather than extractive or burdensome.
We focus on learning, not just reporting
Our work is designed to produce evidence that helps you improve, adapt and communicate your impact. We aim to make findings clear, balanced and actionable, so they support better services, stronger funding cases and more confident decision-making.
Clients
Testimonials
See what our clients say about us…
Thank you so much for all your work on both the reports. The last couple of years working with you (sometimes from afar!) have been wonderful and it’s been a pleasure getting to know you both. You’ve been able to gather all the insights from the Programme and all the people you spoke with to create a report that reads so well – it is thorough but remains interesting throughout. You’ve captured the stories and quotes brilliantly and the whole report really does show the powerful impact this Programme has had but also gives us some learnings that we’ll definitely be considering in our work. We are really pleased to read this and will begin sharing this with our partners in the Programme, the sector, and more publicly on social media, from next week. We hope we can work together again in the future, and we’ll be keeping an eye on your socials too for all your updates! Thanks again
I would just like to say a massive thank you for producing this report, you have been so patient and have been so flexible and prompt to take on our recommendations. Thank you for really capturing the model and the impact of The Hive service. It was a pleasure working with you.
“Considering the grants were allocated to various organisations which have distinct ambitions and focuses, there was no doubt evaluating the outcome of the programme was complex. However, Paul and Steph have been able to draw out structure, key themes and a strong assessment of both the individual and systemic impacts achieved. We have thoroughly appreciated their support and enjoyed working with them.”
“Thank you again for all your work on the small grants evaluation report we have had really positive feedback on both the report and also your presentation at the launch event which was incredibly well received. My sense is the report will be being shared far and wide.”