Funders make important choices every day: who to fund, how to fund them and what support to offer alongside the grant.

But how do you know whether those choices are working, or what might have happened otherwise?

At Charizone, we think evaluation should be about more than demonstrating impact. It should help funders test their assumptions, build confidence in their approach and make better funding decisions.

That was at the heart of our latest independent evaluation with The Fore.

Putting the model to the test

Since 2012, The Fore has identified and supported small charities and social enterprises through unrestricted funding and wraparound support.

We looked at some fundamental questions about its model:

• Is The Fore identifying organisations with strong potential?
• Do the organisations it funds go on to achieve stronger outcomes?
• Does engaging with wraparound support make a difference?

Rather than relying only on reporting from funded organisations, we used existing charity, financial and funding data to follow organisations over time and, where appropriate, compare them with similar organisations that were not funded.

The goal wasn’t to find one number that could “prove impact”. It was to build independent evidence that The Fore could use to understand and strengthen its approach.

What the evidence shows

The results tell a compelling story.

Across the portfolio, organisations funded by The Fore recorded median annual income growth of 19.6%, compared with 4.4% among similar organisations in the matched control group — equivalent to 4.5 times the growth rate.

Portfolio organisations also showed greater survivability, with 95% remaining registered compared with 87% of the matched control group.

Portfolio organisations engaging with wraparound support also showed stronger annual income growth and greater survivability than those receiving funding only.

In addition, organisations progressing further through The Fore’s selection process showed progressively stronger subsequent growth, consistent with the process identifying high-potential organisations to support.

Together, the findings provide evidence that The Fore identifies organisations with strong potential and that its funding and support are associated with stronger longer-term outcomes.

Evidence for learning and better decisions

For us, this is where evaluation becomes really useful.

It isn’t simply about getting to a yes or no answer on whether something “worked”. Good evidence can help funders test their assumptions, understand where their approach appears strongest and make future funding decisions with greater confidence.

And funders already hold much of the data needed to start asking these questions.

We want to make this kind of independent, data-led evaluation more accessible to funders, helping them make better use of the data they already have to understand their approach, learn what works and make more informed decisions.

About the report

Evaluating The Fore’s model: The Fore’s approach to identifying and growing high-potential organisations is an independent evaluation conducted by Charizone, covering The Fore’s approach from 2012 to 2026.

👉 Download the full report