The Researchery
Providing the evidence base for a more informed, effective and impactful charity sector
ABOUT
The Researchery is a ‘small but mighty’ independent research consultancy operating in the UK. We offer evaluation and research services for charities, grant-makers and philanthropists, in fact anyone involved with or interested in civil society and the charity sector. Founder and lead consultant is Dr Catherine Walker. Specialising in the funding environment of the UK voluntary sector, The Researchery is available for all your research needs - impact evaluations, theories of change, quantitative and qualitative surveys, focus groups, analysis of your or third party data, research data visualisation, report writing and presentation. For policy-focussed research, strategic analysis, impact assessment, sector profiling, membership surveys, analysis of the funding environment, assessment of the effectiveness of methods of giving, or any other project:
Just call the Doctor at The Researchery.
CLIENTS
Our latest projects:
NEW: The UK LGBTQI International Giving Report (2023)
The first UK LGBTQI International Giving Report published by GiveOut and The Baring Foundation shows that only £13.4m from the UK is directed towards the global LGBTQI movement, or 3p in every £100 given to charities in the UK. The report explores giving by UK Government, foundations, corporates and individual philanthropists to LGBTQI issues primarily in the Global South and East.
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NEW: UK Donor Advised Fund (DAF) Report 2023
The eighth annual UK DAF report from the National Philanthropic Trust shows that grants from donor-advised funds to other charities were £554.7 million in 2022, an increase of 21 per cent over the prior year. Contributions into DAFs were £868.5 million, a 37 per cent increase; while charitable assets held in DAFs total £2.5 billion — an increase of 12 per cent over the prior year. The survey covers 11 charities registered at the Charity Commission of England and Wales that sponsor donor-advised funds, and shows results from 2018-2022.
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NEW: Impact evaluation of the Women & Girls Match Fund (2023)
In the face of unequal gender disadvantage due to the Covid pandemic, Tampon Tax funding aimed to improve the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged women and girls. The Researchery carried out an independent impact evaluation of the Women & Girls’ Match Fund, commissioned by Big Give for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The report explores a Theory of Change, outputs, outcomes and impact of the WGMF with input from WG charities and external partners, providing valuable learning for both Big Give and DCMS.
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NEW: Foundation Giving Trends 2022
Top 300 Foundation Grant-Makers (2023)
Three years on from the murder of George Floyd, Foundation Giving Trends 2022 includes a deep dive on foundations’ responses to the Covid-19 pandemic with a particular spotlight on how foundations tackled the disproportionate impact on communities experiencing inequity, and especially racial inequity. The latest edition also covers the usual trends in grant-making, income and assets of the Top 300 UK-registered charitable foundations.
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NEW: Evaluation of a cash grants trial for Trussell Trust and Leeds City Council (2022)
With the cost of living crisis biting hard, The Researchery worked with Vantage Point Research to assess whether giving people in crisis a cash grant would support them more effectively than food parcels from a food bank. The pilot was run by Leeds City Council and the Trussell Trust. The evaluation, which featured longitudinal interviews with food bank users, focus groups with food bank staff, a web survey and data analysis, found that the cash grant scheme was highly effective and recommended its roll out on a permanent basis.
NEW: The Individual Impact Investing Commission (2022)
The Researchery partnered with Beacon Collaborative, Big Society Capital and Charity21 to facilitate the Individual Impact Investing Commission (IIIC). The Commission brought together 11 leading impact investors, professional advisors, fund managers, advocates and experts in the private wealth sector to consider how to encourage more wealthy individuals and families to use their private assets to support UK impact-led enterprises through impact investing.
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Testimonials
“The Big Give co-commissioned The Researchery to undertake the UK’s first piece of research on match funding. Despite it being a fairly complex piece of work mixing qualitative and quantitative data and working with several other stakeholders, Cat managed the whole project excellently, from scoping all the way to final design, and we were delighted with the output. She delivered on time and to budget. We have since used The Researchery for other research projects and we would whole-heatedly recommend to anyone looking to undertake social research.”