Reports & Publications

Tech for Good: Explore provided funding and support for UK not-for-profits to explore the potential of a digital approach to improving service delivery, with a focus on user research. IVAR worked with funded partners, Comic Relief and Paul Hamlyn Foundation to understand the value and contribution of this funding and present their findings in this report. Read the evaluation here(opens in new window)

Shift the Power is an intermediary funding programme run by Comic Relief. It aims to shift the power in grant-making to communities and get more funding to small grassroots organisations and communities across the UK, and to trial a trust-based and ‘relational’ approach to devolved grant-making.

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Through ‘Across Borders’, Comic Relief is funding 19 civil society organisations and partnerships that are working to develop routes to safety for refugees. Just one year into the programme, this insights report celebrates their progress and incredible resilience in an ever-challenging and hostile context. It also highlights examples of learning and adaptation during COVID-19.(opens in new window)

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The external evaluation report of the Common Ground Initiative phase II programme. This evaluation demonstrates the lasting and significant impact of the Common Ground Initiative phase II (CGI II), co-funded by Comic Relief and FCDO from 2014-19. The programme built on Comic Relief’s commitment to UK diaspora organisations, where the majority of trustees are of African heritage and ‘small’ organisations whose annual turnover is under £1 million.

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This report explores the impact of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) programme in supporting some of the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach women, their babies, and their families to access quality maternal and new-born care at the household and community level in Ethiopia and Uganda. The programme was jointly funded by Comic Relief and National Lottery Community Fund.

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Tech vs Abuse supported eleven funded partners to develop digital solutions co-designed with users, alongside digital agencies providing specialist technical support, to improve the safety of people affected by abuse. This evaluation explored key features of the programme’s design and processes, achievement of intended outcomes and wider impact. Read the evaluation(opens in new window)

When Covid-19 restrictions disrupted data collection for our Tech vs Abuse learning partner (Renaisi), they shifted research focus to understand the impact of Covid-19 on funded partners and the effectiveness of Comic Relief’s support. The paper describes differing experiences as to how funded partner involvement with Tech vs Abuse strengthened their Covid-19 response. Read the learning paper(opens in new window)

IVAR was commissioned by Comic Relief and Paul Hamlyn Foundation to evaluate the first iteration of our new Tech for Good programming in 2019, assessing progress made and informing future programming. They explored contributions of the programme to individual funded partners’ digital development, as well as influence of the funding on organisational culture and digital readiness.

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This external evaluation used the Most Significant Change methodology to assess the outcomes of the international element of the ‘Youth and HIV: Think Afresh’ Programme, a partnership with the M·A·C VIVA GLAM foundation to fund innovative approaches to fight HIV/AIDS, and raise awareness of its continuing impact.

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Comic Relief’s Power Up initiative supports a diverse cohort of Funded Partners in the UK, sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia to build power for women and girls on a range of issues identified as paramount in their contexts.

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The ‘Thriving Not Just Surviving’ programme has supported 23 organisations and partnerships in the UK to test and refine approaches to engaging and supporting boys and young men experiencing mental health problems. This report explores ‘what works’ with these groups, making recommendations to the mental health sector and funders alike.

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This insights brief highlights the learning from our UK funded partners working on early childhood development. The experiences of funded partners have been clustered into meeting basic needs and identifying new ones; using technology for online support and partnerships and collaboration.

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With funding from the Tampon Tax fund, in partnership with DCMS, Comic Relief has supported 7 women-led service providers in the UK to help increase knowledge and awareness of older women’s experiences of violence, and strengthen services. The limited research available indicates that violence against older women is prevalent but invisible, yet few UK services recognise and respond to the gendered factors behind elder abuse. This report, drafted by Dr H. Bows, illustrates the findings of one year of work.

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These learning guides capture the experiences of London Together funded partners in how they engage target audiences through a Sport for Change approach to tackle social isolation.

Reaching Target Audiences: learning guide(opens in new window)

Approaches to Sport & Social Integration: learning guide (opens in new window)

An evaluation of Comic Relief’s ‘Care Home Challenge 2’ programme, designed to support cultural change in the care home sector by improving the quality of life and wellbeing of people living and working in care homes through meaningful activities.

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This brief provides insights into supporting the process of ongoing, effective learning. It draws from the collective learning process used in the I Define Me initiative, bringing together nine projects across the UK, Colombia and South Africa working with gang-affected young women and girls to share experiences, solidarity and learning across three years.

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The I Define Me programme worked with gang-affected young women and girls in the UK, Colombia and South Africa. Drawing on ongoing peer learning and sharing across the nine projects, this practitioner’s toolkit and the accompanying brief provides resources, advice and learning about how to work effectively in this area.

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Together with Corra Foundation, Community Foundation Northern Ireland, Groundwork UK and Wales Council for Voluntary Action, Comic Relief is exploring how and when to involve people with lived experience in the grant-making process. This report highlights some key reflections that may be useful to other funders.

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This evaluation looks at the role of partnerships in Comic Relief’s Levelling the Field UK programme, where each project was delivered by a partnership of two or more organisations. It looks at the different partnership modalities used, how these evolved, and the benefits and challenges of each. Four in-depth case studies of different partnership modalities accompany the report.

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Red Shed is a specialist fund within Comic Relief focusing on testing new and innovative ways of investing in social change through alternative forms of funding. This report surveyed and interviewed Comic Relief funded partners, targeting smaller charities to discover their attitudes and experiences related to social investment.

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Using case studies from UK and international funders, this review explores the different cultures, focuses and functions of learning for funders. It then looks at how this affects funded partners’ own agendas and capacities to learn effectively, and the role of funders in supporting others’ learning.

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This report reviews Comic Relief’s Core Strength programme (2017-2019) that provided core and flexible funding to small-medium sized UK charities, along with a range of funder+ support and a more relational style of grant management. It looks at the experiences and outcomes for funded partners and provides lessons for funders.

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A report by the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition commissioned and funded by Comic Relief. It reviews the evidence base about the mental health needs of young people with learning disabilities (including policy and practice), provides an overview of the emerging themes, and gives recommendations for local and national decision-makers.

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This research was commissioned by a multi-funder partnership in which Comic Relief is instrumental. It looks at the first programme to fund Tech Vs Abuse projects and the ways in which digital tech might be used to tackle Domestic Abuse.

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This interim report looks at the Tech For Good programme jointly funded by Comic Relief and Paul Hamlyn Foundation. This programme funds and supports UK not-for-profit organisations to develop new digital products and services.

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This report reviews current provision, commissioning approaches and delivery models for the Violence against Women and Girls services (VAWG) in England and Wales and recommends areas for improvement and collaboration.

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This report by Global Fund for Community Foundation summarises and presents the current landscape of strategies and approaches that put local people and local institutions in charge of their own development. It highlights six donor practices that constrain locally-led development, and proposes solutions.

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This report draws on existing literature and a range of interviews with key donors and activists, providing an overview of the role and importance of women’s and feminist movements. It also looks at existing models and tools for learning in this area, and the role funders can play in supporting and strengthening feminist movements.

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