Five Impact and Evaluation Predictions for Charities in 2025

As we step into 2025, the UK charity sector faces growing demands to measure, demonstrate, and learn from impact data. Based on emerging trends and our conversations with charity leaders, here are our predictions for how impact and evaluation will evolve in the coming year.

1. Increasing Prevalence of Data Dashboards

In 2025, we expect to see an increasing reliance on Impact Dashboards for charities to track, analyse, and communicate their impact effectively.

Dashboards combine real-time data from multiple sources, allowing results to be segmented by different timescales, interventions and user groups so charities can learn about what works, when and for whom. This empowers teams to make data-driven decisions and course-correct when needed.

2. More Ethical and Inclusive Evaluation

Ethical data practices will be a top priority, especially when working with vulnerable groups. Trauma-informed evaluation recognises the potential for harm when working with individuals who have experienced trauma. It minimises the risk of re-traumatisation by prioritising creating a safe, supportive environment throughout the evaluation process, ensuring that participants feel respected, empowered, and in control.

Involving service participants in the design of evaluation tools will ensure these tools are relevant and meaningful.

Involving beneficiaries in analysing and discussing evaluation results empowers served communities as active contributors to change and ensures that insights are grounded in participants’ experiences; this helps to validate findings, uncover new perspectives, and identify gaps that may have been overlooked.

3. Funders Expect Charities to Learn from Data

Gone are the days when impact reports were only about proving success. Funders now want to see evidence of learning. They want to see how charities use data to refine their strategies, improve their services, and amplify their impact.

We predict equal importance on charities PROVING and IMPROVING their impact in 2025.

4. AI Data Analysis and Predictive Analytics

The use of AI for data analysis is already on the rise, but we think the next step change will be predictive analytics. AI-powered tools and predictive models could help charities anticipate beneficiary needs, identify people most at risk or participant groups that are most likely to drop out, and prepare accordingly. While not yet mainstream, this trend could reshape how charities plan and deliver their services.

5. Collaboration on Collective Impact

Charities working on similar issues may increasingly pool data and resources to demonstrate their collective impact. This approach not only satisfies funders but also helps charities learn from each other, have a more reliable data set from more participants and drive sector-wide improvements.

Looking ahead

The landscape of impact and evaluation is evolving rapidly. Charities that embrace these trends will not only meet funder expectations but also strengthen their ability to create meaningful, lasting change.

Which of these trends resonates with you? Are there others you see on the horizon? Let’s continue the conversation about how we can shape the future of impact measurement together.