How Outcomes Star supports successful fundraising
How fundraisers have successfully used the Star to evidence need, demonstrate progress, and secure funding.
Last year, 450 people contacted Outcomes Star for information, and 250 sought support with measuring their impact to strengthen funding bids. Fundraisers told us they use Outcomes Star data to demonstrate:
Demographic breakdown (age, gender, ethnicity, vulnerability groups)
Length of time clients are engaged with their service
Percentage of clients showing positive movement
Percentage of clients maintaining progress (no regression)
Comparisons across projects, locations, and organisation-wide trends
Here are six ways the Outcomes Star supports fundraisers:
1. Helps you identify what funding you need and why
Outcomes Star data highlights areas where needs are highest and where additional resources are required. It also shows distance travelled as well as areas where progress is limited. This helps you identify gaps in provision and articulate why funding is needed.
Why this matters: Funders want clarity about the rationale behind your application. Using Outcomes Star demonstrates that your bid is specific, evidence‑based, and grounded in learning rather than generic wording.
Example: A supported accommodation service noticed through Journey of Change data that residents who reached independence often struggled to move on and lost motivation after years of attempting to secure housing. Using this evidence, the service successfully applied for funding for a tenancy support project linking residents with private landlords, enabling smoother transitions and reducing setbacks.
2. Strengthens funding applications
Funders value applications that link activities to outcomes, use credible frameworks, show both setbacks and successes, and demonstrate understanding of the people served.
Outcomes Star data can evidence need, show progress throughout delivery, and highlight differences in experience among diverse groups.
Why this matters: Funders want clarity about the rationale behind your application. Using Outcomes Star demonstrates that your bid is specific, evidence‑based, and grounded in learning rather than generic wording.
Example: A domestic abuse service used Outcomes Star baseline data to illustrate high levels of risk and instability at the start of support, then showed measurable improvements in safety and wellbeing over time.
3. Provides credible evidence of change
Outcomes Star measures outcomes at multiple points, using clearly defined scales and descriptors. It shows distance travelled across different areas of life, making improvement visible, honest, and easy to explain.
Why this matters: This helps funders understand progress even when long‑term outcomes take time. It avoids overclaiming and shows a realistic and transparent picture.
Example: A housing support service used Star data to show that 68% of clients improved by at least two stages in Managing Tenancy and Emotional Wellbeing over six months – clear evidence of meaningful change.
4. Supports proportional, ethical evaluation
Outcomes Star is designed for frontline use within relational and strengths‑based approaches. It integrates naturally into day‑to‑day support work and avoids burdening staff or clients with extra data collection.
Funders value this because data is gathered ethically through collaborative conversations, and evaluation is embedded rather than added on.
5. Enables clear, funder-ready reporting
Outcomes Star data can be aggregated across projects, broken down by outcome area, used to show trends over time, and exported directly from Star Online.
Fundraisers can use this data to produce confident, concise outcome statements and clear answers to key funder questions such as ‘What changed?’
Example: ‘Over the grant period, eight outcome areas improved, with the greatest gains in confidence, safety and ability to manage daily life.’
6. Builds confidence and understanding of your work
Using a recognised framework like Outcomes Star creates a shared language around impact across teams and with funders. It improves communication between fundraisers and frontline staff and encourages collaborative bid‑writing.
This helps reduce funder perceptions of risk, strengthens relationships, and supports multi‑year funding.
Each year, around 1,100 services and 290,000 service users use Star Online, forming a community of practitioners who have integrated meaningful measurement into their work and can clearly demonstrate their impact.
Let's talk about stronger funding applications
Whether you’re developing funding bids, reporting to funders or planning future services, Outcomes Star can help you generate the evidence you need to make a stronger case for funding.
Interested in exploring how Outcomes Star could support your fundraising? We’d love to talk.