It is essential that we remain focused on delivering public benefit through our National Lottery funding. Over the 10 years of the National Lottery Strategy, we will rigorously monitor delivery and the impact of our funding. This will help make sure it works as hard as possible for the public and the sector. Building on work as part of BFI2022, the BFI will adopt four principles to ensure robust monitoring and evaluation:
- All programmes will set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and deliverables. They will be subject to regular review of monitoring data based on these KPIs. These will be tracked on a quarterly basis, with an annual review of progress against deliverables. National Lottery-funded programmes will be interrogated against the principles, objectives and outcomes set out in this document. They will also be assessed against the BFI’s National Lottery policy and financial directions.
- Programme Evaluation Plans (PEPs) will detail the timing and scope of evaluation work. These will be set according to the needs of each programme. PEPs will be informed by the purpose and structure of the programme, KPIs, and relevant objectives and outcomes from the strategy. Each PEP will include a logic model detailing the intended inputs, activities, outputs, and impacts of the programme against which evaluations can be assessed.
- Programmes will primarily commission externally-conducted evaluation. This helps ensure the good governance of public funds. We will, however, allow some internal work can be conducted for ad hoc and short-term data needs. National Lottery-funded programmes will require beneficiaries to participate in evaluation activity as a condition of their funding. This will be coordinated by the BFI.
- The BFI will invest in a culture of evaluation. We will upskill staff across the organisation through training and ongoing support. This will help them learn how to effectively measure progress, and make sure funds and programmes are delivering the best possible returns. We will also support funded beneficiaries to engage with the process and findings for maximum impact.
Taking a systematic approach to measuring our progress will help keep us on track to deliver our objectives over the course of the strategy. It will help us make sure we are supporting film and moving image culture across the UK to the best of our ability.