Impact evaluation for UK charities
Want to demonstrate your impact?
You already hold the evidence: years of case notes, survey returns and session logs. We turn it into a value-for-money case a funder can trust, checked and signed by our team of experts.
Pay what you can. The first twenty charities name their own price.
An impact specialist replies, usually the same working day.
Free. Half an hour by phone or video, booked straight into the diary.
Read the transcript
Years of case notes. Survey returns. Session logs nobody has time to read. You already hold the evidence.
Putting a value on it is harder. And a value is what funders want. About seven pence in every grant pound is set aside for evaluation. It buys a week of a specialist, or one round of fieldwork. Not both.
The numbers do not add up.
Evidence and evaluation should not be a luxury. Countersign. An evaluation practice for charities.
You bring the question, and what you already hold. AI does the heavy lifting. An expert works through every assumption with you. Then our experts sign it. A value-for-money case a funder can trust.
Speak to an expert. The first call is free. Countersign dot org dot UK.
Figures in the trailer: about 7p in every grant pound set aside for evaluation, £700 a day for a specialist at the top of the published band, and up to £4,000 for one focus group, all from The Evaluator (March 2026). £4,200 is 7 per cent of a £60,000 grant. The appraisal on screen is a worked example, labelled illustrative. All of them are on the sources page.
The numbers do not add up
A grant sets aside 6 to 8 per cent for evaluation, by UK convention. On £60,000, that is about £4,200. A specialist costs £500 to £700 a day. One focus group costs £1,500 to £4,000. So the budget buys a week of a specialist or one round of fieldwork. Not both. That is not enough to demonstrate your impact. We want to change that.
Budget convention, day rates and focus group costs: The Evaluator, "How much does evaluation cost in the UK?" (March 2026).
Most charities cannot fill the gap from inside either. The Charity Commission register holds employee numbers for just 13,103 of 171,188 registered charities, almost all above the £500,000 income line. Below it, the regulator's own data cannot say whether a charity has any staff, let alone an impact function. Our analysis of the Charity Commission register, March 2026 extract.
Bring your numbers, and we build your evidence. Case notes, survey returns, session logs: you already hold more than you think. We turn it into a costed case a funder can read, and our experts sign it.
Whatever you need to evidence
You need a funder to believe you. We can help you present the evidence you already have to secure the funding you need to go further.
- Cost benefit analysisWhat your programme is worth, set out the way HM Treasury's Green Book does it, so a funder's economist can check it.
- Impact reportYour year and your data, written so a board reads it to the end.
- Survey design and analysisWhat to ask, and what the answers you already hold are telling you.
- Theory of changeHow your work leads to the outcomes you claim, on one page a funder can follow.
- Outcomes frameworkWhat to measure, how to measure it, and what to stop collecting.
- The new reporting rulesSORP narrative and key performance indicators, with an audit trail behind every figure.
Every piece goes the same way
-
You bring the question
And what you already hold: case notes, survey returns, session logs. You probably have more evidence than you think.
-
We assemble it, then go through it with you
AI does the heavy lifting on the data. Then an impact specialist works through every assumption with you, in a working session, not a report posted back.
-
Our experts sign it, and it is yours
The workbook, the method note and the assumptions register are yours to keep and reuse in the next bid.
The free cost benefit tool
See what your programme is worth, with HM Treasury's tests applied one at a time. It runs in your browser, with no account and no cost. It is not open yet. Leave your email and we will tell you the day it opens.
Questions
Can we try it ourselves first?
Soon. We are building a free cost benefit tool that drafts a value-for-money case in your browser, with no account. Leave your email and we will tell you when it opens. Until then, the first call is free.
What if we do not need a signature?
Then we say so, and you have spent nothing. Not every question needs one.
What does pay what you can mean?
Whatever you can pay is the price. No means test and no questions. Money should never be the reason a charity has no evidence.
We already use a consultant. Is this for us?
Keep them. The workbook, the method note and the assumptions register are yours to keep, so your consultant can build on them.
Are we too small for this?
No. The work is pay what you can, so size is not the barrier. Tell us what you need to evidence and we will say plainly whether we can help.
Who sees our data?
Your enquiry is read by the impact specialist who answers it. If you go on to work with us, the people named on your work see what they need for it, and nobody else. What you send is held by the service that carries it (Netlify for the forms on this site, Calendly for a booking, Google for email) and by us, while the enquiry is open and for twelve months after. We send no marketing email. If you join the list for the free tool, we email you once, when it opens. We do not pass your details on. The privacy notice has the detail.
Talk to an impact specialist
Message us on WhatsApp, or book half an hour straight into the diary. Tell us what you need to evidence and when it is due. Not a chatbot, not a salesperson.
Half an hour, free, by phone or video. Tell us what you need to evidence and when it is due. Not a chatbot, not a salesperson.
Prefer email? hello@countersign.org.uk
What happens next
- We reply within the working day. A person reads what you sent and writes back, whether you booked or emailed.
- Half an hour on what you need to evidence. What is due, when, and what you already hold.
- A short note, then you decide. What would make it signable, and whether you need us at all. No chasing. If you go ahead, we agree a price you can pay and a date.