We are very pleased to extend our Midweek Masterclass programme by welcoming some great guests on to give you some of their insight and expertise.

We will be adding in each guest’s details and class information here as we confirm them.

Wednesday, May 7th 2025, Joanne Irvine

Social designer, facilitator, evaluator, migration and sustainable development expert, and, to top it all off, chair of Volunteer Glasgow!

Read the full blog post from Joanne, a brief summary follows.

Evaluating What Matters: Exploring how to capture and showcase social value beyond the pound

As the people, charities and organisations from the third and public sectors in the UK fighting for equality and social inclusion, we are increasingly feeling the pressure to speak the language of funders and government: return on investment, value for money and percentage contributions to GDP. That’s because we depend on getting the funding we need to be able to do what we do best: help people.

However, even if we are putting the emphasis on economic capital and measuring our success in GBP, who will be left to tell the human stories? This is important as when we humans talk about money, it makes us less pro-social. This means that the policy-makers who decide how and where to spend money are less likely to be focusing on social needs when discussing how much it’s going to cost. What if we could see past the pound and stop measuring what is easy and start better understanding and valuing our well-being and all the amazing work that goes into supporting it?

This session will explore how participatory design and leaning into values like joy, connection, and confidence can help evaluate and capture a richer and more holistic social value of projects and services that promote well-being and social inclusion. It will do so using learning from research carried out by Joanne Irvine on the social impact of a Glasgow Life volunteer programme. The session will be participatory and invite participants to reflect on the role of the third and public sectors in promoting more qualitative approaches to measuring social impact.