Diagnostic tools and additional guidance

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Access to Resilience opened to applications on 10 April 2024.

This programme is supported with money from Dormant Assets NI so is not funded through National Lottery sources. Dormant Assets NI is an expansion of the Dormant Accounts Fund NI.

This programme aims to address the gaps identified through our Dormant Assets investment to date.

Who can apply

Through this programme, we will fund support organisations – sometimes known as network, umbrella, membership or community anchor organisations.

We want these organisations to improve access to the help they provide to small, underrepresented community groups in Northern Ireland. By underrepresented community groups, we mean groups that focus on representing the needs of:

• older people
• disabled people
• women
• ethnically minoritised people
• faith-based communities
• LGBTQ+ people
• rural communities

Diagnostic tools and information that you’ll need to apply

All organisations thinking of applying must watch the programme briefing session. All potential applicants should read the programme guidance carefully to ensure they are eligible to apply and that the work they would like to support is eligible under Access to Resilience.

As this programme will fund support organisations to improve access to the help they provide to others, organisations thinking of applying should also be aware of the barriers and challenges that the groups they intend to support face when it comes to building their capacity and improving their sustainability and resilience for the future.

Because of this, we expect all Access to Resilience grant holders to use diagnostic tools or other methods to assess the skills and capacity of the groups that they will be working with. It will help them to make sure that the support they offer is focused on addressing specific skills gaps and to identify what improvement activities the groups they support need to build their resilience and capacity.

This approach will also help organisations who successfully receive funding through Access to Resilience to demonstrate the impact their work has on the community groups they intend to support.

Below is some information that will be of interest to organisations considering applying to Access to Resilience:

What is a diagnostic tool?

A diagnostic tool is a process where a group asks itself a series of questions which helps to guide them through their current processes and activities, assess strengths, areas for improvement and outline areas of weakness or to highlight where there are opportunities for growth.

These tools are usually designed for organisations to work through themselves; however, we expect grant holders to provide support and guidance on the use of the tools for the groups they will be supporting.

You may already use diagnostic tools or other methods to support you with your work. If so, please tell us what they are.

If you are not familiar with this approach, we have provided some options which you may find useful. 

Self-diagnostic Tools for VCSE Organisations

You could consider using the following diagnostic tools with the groups that you will be supporting.

VCSE Strength checker

This tool generates a report which highlights the organisation’s strengths, and areas to develop to build core effectiveness.  It does this by analysing answers to questions about an organisation to provide strength insights.

These strength insights are reported under the following headings:

Sustainability, Marketing and opportunities, Strategy and planning, Track record and capability, Quality and impact.

The tool has been designed to get below the surface of individual answers to produce a deeper and more holistic review of the things that matter and can help to prioritise the next steps in the organisation’s development. 

The Confidence Framework

The Confidence Framework is designed to help service delivery organisations identify areas of strength and areas for improvement. The focus is on both the service that is delivered and on the organisation itself. It addresses service design, service delivery, ability to monitor impact, ability to determine benefit and the prospects for sustainability.

There are two versions of the framework – a Rapid Review which takes approximately 15 minutes to complete, while the Comprehensive Review takes 1-3 hours. The result of completing either Review will be a ‘heat map’ that illustrates the ‘warm’ areas of strength and the ‘cooler’ areas that may require some development to ensure the organisation is delivering the very best impact that it can. For best results, it is recommended that both are completed.

Other self-diagnostic tools:

These free-to-use tools are more specialised and look at areas like core capacity, data, governance and digital maturity. These tools would prove useful if you wanted to consider looking into these specific areas.

Data diagnostic – NPC (thinknpc.org)

The data diagnostic asks ten quick questions about what your programme or service is, who it targets, and whether any research exists to support your approach. If you’re already collecting data, the questionnaire will act as a ‘health check’. If you’re collecting data for the first time, it will help you get started.

Governance Health Check – DIY Committee Guide  

The aim of this health check questionnaire is to help committees/boards to review their governance arrangements, check that they have appropriate systems in place and identify areas where they could improve. It can also help committees/boards of any size to demonstrate their good governance practices to their stakeholders, beneficiaries and funders.

Data maturity self-assessment tool — Data Orchard

This free tool is for small organisations to see where they are on their journey to data maturity. It takes about 20 minutes to complete and provides a report, helping to identify areas for improvement and benchmark against others in the sector.

The digital maturity matrix | NCVO

This tool is a way of assessing current strengths and weaknesses in relation to digital maturity and helping you see what you need to do next. The matrix helps to judge how you’re doing in eight different areas: Leadership and strategy, Expertise and capacity, Technology, Service design, Content, Communications and campaigns, Data and insight, Security and data protection.

Further Information

Ahead of applying for the programme, please read through the information on the programme webpage.

You can also contact our team if you have any queries by emailing us at enquiries.ni@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk or by calling 028 9055 1455.