By understanding how commissioners use results information and what drives their satisfaction with it, charities can improve their funding applications and their reporting. By understanding the challenges charities face in this area and what other commissioners ask for and use, commissioners can make appropriate demands for results information and improve their own use of it. A grasp of the concerns expressed by charities and commissioners can help support providers improve their services for both groups.
'To be honest, we expected charities to tell us that they were anything but satisfied with commissioners. But they are pretty happy. The biggest problem seems to be that a lot of them think the reporting they have to do is out of proportion to the funding they receive. Perhaps it’s unsurprising that commissioners take a different view.'
Gustaf Lofgren, report author
To disseminate the findings from this research, NPC held a free briefing event (‘Third sector organisations and commissioners on reporting’) in London on 31 March 2010. Third sector organisations, support providers, and commissioners were invited, though relatively few commissioners were able to attend. Tim Wilson, Director of the National Performance Programme, introduced the research programme, and Gustaf Lofgren, Senior Consultant at NPC, presented findings. Participants were invited to comment and ask questions, and following this there was a general discussion of how reporting relationships can be improved.