Quality for Outcomes - Funding to Impact: Smarter Evidence, Lighter Reporting

Funding to Impact: Smarter Evidence, Lighter Reporting

A live online workshop for staff who design, manage or evaluate research funding programs.

Organisations that fund research often collect data but still struggle to explain the difference their investments are making. This practical workshop will help you focus data collection on what matters, reduce unnecessary reporting burden and build a clearer picture of impact.

Session 1: Wednesday 4 November 9:30am to 12:30pm (AEDT)
Session 2: Wednesday 11 November 9:30am to 12:30pm (AEDT)

Got a question? Contact us

Are you collecting lots of data without a clear picture of the difference your research funding is making?

Organisations that fund or invest in research are under increasing pressure to demonstrate how their funding contributes to policy, practice, health, social, economic or system change.

Many organisations already have strategies, impact frameworks, grant-management systems, reporting processes and substantial amounts of data.

But they can still find it difficult to answer important questions:

What difference is our funding making?
What can we realistically demonstrate when research impact is long-term and indirect?
What information do we actually need to collect from grantees?
What information do we need to collect from other sources?
Are our reporting requirements producing useful insight?

The problem is often not a lack of data.

It is that the data that is collected is not connected with the pathway that connects funding activity to desired impacts.

The result?

Grantees are asked to provide information that may not be used. Funding staff spend time collecting and managing data without getting the insight they need. Reports describe grants, activities and outputs but struggle to explain why the investment matters.

Collect less. Learn more. Show impact clearly.

Funding to Impact: Smarter Evidence, Lighter Reporting is a live online 'working workshop' for people involved in designing, managing, or evaluating research funding programs.

Across two interactive sessions, you will examine:

what your funding program is trying to achieve
what progress can realistically be demonstrated
what data and metrics are needed
what data and metrics you are currently collecting from grantees and other sources
whether the value of that information justifies the burden of collecting it
make informed decisions about what data and metrics to keep, improve, add or stop collecting
how data and metrics can support a clearer and more credible impact narrative.

This is not a webinar where you listen to presentations for six hours. It is a structured working workshop. You will apply what you are learning to a real funding program and leave with draft work, practical tools and a clear process you can continue using within your organisation.

Great facilitation of group discussions. You provided individual advice and guidance to all participants, enabling them to apply their learnings to their work and workplace. Mel and Bo are great facilitators, who are skilled at meeting people where they're at and explaining concepts using simple, easy to understand language and methods. I will definitely attend future workshops that build on this foundational knowledge if they are offered in the future.

Workshop participant

Date and time

Session 1: Wednesday 4 November 9:30am to 12:30pm (AEDT)
Session 2: Wednesday 11 November 9:30am to 12:30pm (AEDT)

Cost

Individual registration: AUD $495
Two participants from the same organisation: AUD $800
No GST is payable

Delivery

Live online
Two, three-hour interactive sessions
Maximum 20 participants

Included in registration

both live online workshop sessions;
structured workshop activities applied to one of your funding programs;
Funding to Impact workbook;
Evidence Alignment Map;
Reporting Burden – Value Review;
Keep, Improve, Add or Stop decision tool;
Certificate of Completion.

Important registration information

Please check that you can attend both sessions before registering. The second session builds on work completed during and after the first session.

If you are unable to attend, you may nominate another appropriate person from your organisation to take your place.

Got a question? Contact us

Who is the workshop for?

This workshop is designed for staff working in organisations that fund or invest in research, including:

national or state research funding organisations
government departments and agencies
philanthropic foundations with research portfolios
organisations that fund internal research programs.

It may be particularly useful for people working in:

research funding program design or management
grants administration
research strategy
evaluation, impact or learning
data and reporting
executive, board or donor reporting.

You do not need to be an evaluation or impact measurement specialist. However, you should have direct knowledge of at least one research funding program, including its purpose, intended impacts and current reporting requirements.

What practical skills will I develop?

By the end of the workshop, you will be better able to:

distinguish activities and outputs from short-term and longer-term impacts
identify realistic early signs that a funding program is moving in the right direction
select data and metrics that align with the program’s impact pathway
assess whether current data and metrics that are collected generate sufficient value
identify data and metrics that are useful, missing, duplicated or underused
make informed decisions about what data and metrics to keep, improve, add or stop collecting
develop a practical pathway for improving evidence and reporting within your existing systems.

What will I leave with?

You will leave with a set of draft resources for one of your funding programs, including:

a draft impact pathway
a draft Evidence Alignment Map
a structured review of current data, metrics and reporting requirements
initial Keep, Improve, Add or Stop decisions
a draft Reporting Burden–Value Review.

You will also receive a structured workbook, practical templates and reusable tools that can be applied to other funding programs.

How is the workshop structured?

The workshop will be delivered as two live, interactive three-hour online sessions, held one week apart.

Session 1: What are we realistically trying to demonstrate?

In the first session, you will:

map the impact pathway for the program
distinguish activities, outputs form short-term and longer term impacts
identify realistic early signs of progress
consider what sits within the program’s sphere of influence
begin developing an Evidence Alignment Map.

Between the sessions

You will undertake a short, structured review of the data, metrics and reporting questions currently used for your chosen funding program.

This allows you to complete the activities in session 2.

Session 2: What should we keep, improve, add or stop?

In the second session, you will:

map existing data and reporting requirements against the impact pathway
identify gaps, duplication and information that is not being used
assess reporting burden against the value of the insight produced
identify what should be kept, improved, added or stopped
develop a draft minimum viable evidence set
prepare a practical action plan for continuing the work within your organisation

Who facilitates the workshop?

Funding to Impact: Smarter Evidence, Lighter Reporting is facilitated by Dr Melinda Craike and Dr Bo Klepac Rolih, co-founders of Quality for Outcomes.

Together, we bring more than four decades of experience across the research funding system, as applicants, assessors, and funder advisors and impact evaluation specialists.

We have worked both inside and alongside government, not-for-profit and higher education settings. We have designed and facilitated more than 100 workshops and training programs.

We know that research impact can take years to emerge. We know that change is rarely produced by one grant or organisation acting alone. We also know that collecting more data does not necessarily make impact easier to understand or explain.

That is why our workshops are structured, applied and grounded in real programs.

Need your Manager's approval?

Copy and adapt the email below to explain how the workshop could benefit your organisation.

Subject line: Request to attend Funding to Impact workshop

Hi [Manager’s name],

I’m seeking approval to attend Funding to Impact: Smarter Evidence, Lighter Reporting, a live online workshop for staff staff involved in designing, managing, or reporting on research funding programs.

The workshop is directly relevant to my work on [funding program or area]. It focuses on identifying what data and metrics we need to collect to show progress and impact of our funding, improving the usefulness of data that is collected, and reducing reporting requirements that do not add insight.

During the workshop, I will apply the learning to one of our funding programs and develop:

a draft impact pathway and Evidence Alignment Map
a structured review of current data, metrics and reporting requirements
initial recommendations about what information to keep, improve, add or stop collecting
a practical action plan for improving evidence and reporting within our existing systems.

I will receive a structured workbook, practical templates and reusable tools that can be applied to other funding programs.

The workshop will be delivered online across two sessions:

Wednesday 4 November 2026, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Wednesday 11 November 2026, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

The individual registration fee is AUD $495, with no GST payable. If the minimum number of participants is not reached and the workshop does not proceed, the registration fee will be fully refunded.

I would appreciate approval to attend and for the organisation to cover the registration fee.

You can find further information here.

Thank you for considering my request.

Regards

[your name]

Will I need to share confidential organisational information?

No.

You will use one of your own funding programs as the basis for the workshop, but you will not be required to upload or circulate internal documents.

Your application work will be completed in your own workbook. You can decide what you are comfortable sharing during discussions and breakout activities.

Participants will be asked to respect the confidentiality of workshop discussions. Peer learning will focus on common challenges, approaches and decision-making principles rather than confidential organisational information.

Should more than one person from my organisation attend?

Where possible, we encourage two people from the same organisation to participate.

For example:

a funding program lead and an evaluation or impact specialist
a grants manager and a data or reporting specialist

Improving data collection and reporting usually requires decisions across different organisational functions. Participating with a colleague can help you develop shared language, compare perspectives and continue the work after the workshop.

A discounted two-person organisation registration is available.

Minimum participant requirement

This workshop requires a minimum of eight participants to proceed. We will confirm whether the workshop is proceeding no later than 4 October, 2026

If the minimum number is not reached:

the workshop will not proceed;
all registered participants will be notified promptly; and
every participant will receive a full refund of their registration fee.

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