Impact Report 2023-2025
The Evidence for Impact: How DiNN Programmes Turn Learning into Outcomes
A strong programme leaves people encouraged and equipped to act. See the data behind DiNN's outcomes, tracking how confidence, partnerships, and funding shift for participants in the months after they complete a programme.
Introduction
A good programme should leave people encouraged. A strong programme should leave them equipped to act. At Do it Now Now, we measure both, not just whether participants valued the experience, but whether their confidence, skills, partnerships, funding prospects, and organisational capacity changed after taking part. We measure real change by asking the same core questions before and after they complete their journey with us. This evidence-based approach validates our Theory of Change and proves that our model works.
To date, we have collected pre‑ and post‑programme survey data across nine programmes, involving over 200 participants at Levels 1–5. The most complete and compelling before‑and‑after dataset comes from our signature programme with City Bridge Foundation: Innovate Now (Rounds 1–3). The results below draw primarily from that cohort, 64 Black‑led charities and social enterprises, and are supported by consistent findings across other programmes. This gives us a clear picture of distance travelled: what changed between the moment participants entered a programme and the months after they completed it.
Confidence and Business Creation
One of the most consistent findings is a dramatic increase in entrepreneurial confidence. Among participants in our Level 1–3 programmes, average confidence scores have soared.
Fig 1: Confidence and Business Creation: From Idea to Action
This newfound confidence translates directly into action. For participants who were in the “planning stage” before joining:
42% had officially registered a new business within six months of completing the programme, moving from intention to action.
Of those, 78% reported their business was actively selling products or services, operational, not just paper.
What Drives These Outcomes? Our Learning Programme
These results don’t happen by accident. They are the product of a structured, participant‑centred learning programme delivered across all our levels. The common thread is that participants are not left to translate learning alone. Each programme combines shared learning, tailored support, peer accountability, and practical application. Core components include:
Workshops on business viability, financial management, systems and processes – building the practical skills to turn ideas into sustainable operations.
Critical Friend one‑to‑one sessions, tailored mentoring that bridges the gap between workshop learning and real‑world application.
Peer learning and networking, reducing isolation and creating collaboration opportunities.
Pitching and public speaking sessions, building the confidence to present ideas to funders, partners, and institutions.
Partnerships, Funding, and Sustainability: Building Assets for the Future
For participants in our Level 3–5 programmes, such as our flagship programme, Innovate Now with City Bridge Foundation, we track the hard assets of organisational sustainability, partnerships and funding.
Building Institutional Partnerships
The ability to form partnerships with established institutions (e.g., local authorities, NHS trusts, corporate partners) is a key indicator of growing influence. Our dedicated “Expanding Networks and Fostering Influence” workshop and networking sessions directly support this.
Within six months of completing a programme, 63% of participants had formed new partnerships with established institutions, moving from isolation to collaboration.
Of those, 85% rated DiNN’s support as having a “significant” or “very significant” impact on their ability to form those partnerships.
Securing Critical Funding
Accessing funding is a persistent barrier. Our Financial Management and Building Financial Sustainability workshops equip participants with the tools to diversify income and prepare for investment.
39% secured new grant funding within six months, a direct financial outcome.
21% secured social investment, the hardest capital to access, a major milestone for growth‑stage organisations.
Spotlight on Innovate Now with City Bridge Foundation
Across three cohorts of 64 Black‑led charities and social enterprises, the impact was tangible. Organisations didn't just grow, they became more resilient and connected:
83% reported increased community impact
62% expanded their teams
91% formed new partnerships
These figures represent the majority of every cohort, not outliers, but the rule.
Qualitative Feedback: The Voices of Our Community
The numbers are powerful, but the stories behind them are what truly matter. When asked about the programme’s impact, participants told us:
“The training gave me the confidence to stop over‑thinking and actually launch.”
– Level 1 participant (Starting Up Starting Out)
“Our critical friend didn't just advise, she helped us map out a clear fundraising timeline. We secured our first six‑figure grant three months after the programme ended.”
– Level 4 participant (Make it Big)
“I used to be afraid of approaching large institutions. The networking sessions demystified the process; we now have two formal partnerships with NHS trusts.”
– Level 3 participant (Innovate Now)
How we use the data to improve and what it means for our impact
Validating our Theory of Change
The pre‑ and post‑programme data confirm the causal logic of our Theory of Change:
Access to learning (workshops, critical friends, peer support): Increased confidence and practical skills.
Increased confidence and skills: More business registrations, better financial management, and more partnerships.
Stronger organisational capacity: More funding, greater influence, and ultimately more impact in communities.
Without the survey data, these links would remain assumptions. With the data, they become evidence.
Using findings to improve our programmes
We not only use the survey results to report impact but also to improve our programmes. For example:
Validating the existing design: The pre‑programme survey confirmed our initial assumption that financial management is a critical gap for Level 3 participants. This validated our decision to include dedicated finance workshops in the Innovate Now programme, a design informed by prior feedback and similar assumptions from past cohorts.
Adding new content: Low pre‑programme scores in “financial management” among Level 2 participants led us to add dedicated finance workshops to Build Hustle Grow, a new addition for that programme.
Responding to requests: Participant requests for more “live pitch practice” have been incorporated into the final demo days of Starting Up, Starting Out, and Make it Big.
Demystifying partnerships: Feedback about the difficulty of approaching large institutions led to new networking sessions that explicitly demystify partnership processes, now a standard part of Innovate Now.
What the data means for our stakeholders
For participants: The surveys show that if you engage with a DiNN programme, you are likely to leave with more confidence, a clearer plan, and concrete outcomes – whether that is registering a business, forming a partnership, or securing funding.
For funders and partners: The data provides independent, evidence‑based assurance that investment in DiNN translates into real, measurable change, not just warm feelings.
For DiNN: The surveys are a tool for continuous improvement. They tell us what is working and where we need to do better.
We continue to administer post‑programme surveys at regular intervals (every six months) to track longer‑term outcomes across our programmes, such as business survival beyond three years and the attainment of sustained leadership positions.
The evidence is clear: Do it Now Now programmes consistently move participants from intention to action, from isolation to collaboration, and from fragility to resilience. That matters because confidence on its own is not the goal. The goal is confidence that becomes registration, partnership, funding, employment, influence, and deeper community impact.
Read More of the Impact Report 2023-2025
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Community at a Glance
In 2025, our community grew to 2,450 members across the UK, with Black and Global Majority-led organisations at the heart of everything we do. From £2.65 million in grants disbursed to leadership confidence nearly doubling, see the data behind our growing impact.
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Theory of Change
Our Theory of Change starts with a simple belief: when Black and Global Majority changemakers get the right support at the right stage, they build organisations that transform communities. Discover the five-level system behind DiNN's programmes, and the data proving it works.
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How Do it Now Now Keeps Lived Experience at the Centre
Our legitimacy doesn't come from good intentions alone. Meet the Community Advisory Board members, entrepreneurs, therapists, strategists, and alumni, who shape how Do it Now Now governs, decides, and stays accountable to the communities we serve.
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How We Design Learning That Moves Founders From Intention To Action
Discover ASAP: our four-stage framework moving Black and Global Majority founders from Awareness through to Personalisation, helping intention become action.
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Online Community and Alumni Support: Beyond the Programme
The end of a programme doesn't have to be a cliff edge. From lifetime access to training libraries to alumni dinners and peer-led workshops, discover how Do it Now Now keeps its community connected, learning, and growing long after the final session.
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From Seed to Scale: What Five Founder Journeys Teach Us About Building Sustainable Social Enterprises
From a solo sip-and-paint business to a parkour gym facing an existential lease crisis, see how DiNN's Level-Based Programmes meet social entrepreneurs where they are, and help them build what lasts.
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From Fragility to Resilience: What Our Health Checks Reveal
Every organisation we work with completes a developmental Health Check, first at baseline, then months later. Across 64 organisations in our Innovate Now programme, scores rose with significant gains in governance, finance, and community impact.
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The Evidence for Impact: How DiNN Programmes Turn Learning into Outcomes
A strong programme leaves people encouraged and equipped to act. See the data behind DiNN's outcomes, tracking how confidence, partnerships, and funding shift for participants in the months after they complete a programme.
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Why The Journey Does Not End When a Programme Finishes
Support rarely arrives as one clean intervention. It's a Health Check here, a grant there, a mentoring session somewhere else. Meet Carib Eats, MEM Academy, and Youth League UK, three founders whose journeys show what happens when support becomes a connected pathway instead.
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Partnering to Build Better Pathways to Black and Global Majority-Led Change
Funders like City Bridge Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and Esmee Fairbairn Foundation partner with DiNN because reaching Black and Global Majority-led organisations well takes more than money, it takes lived experience, care, and evidence-based design.
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How We Are Solving the Gaps That Stop Black and Global Majority-Led Organisations from Growing
Black and Global Majority-led organisations aren't short on talent or community trust. What's missing is infrastructure: the funding pathways, investment readiness, and civic support that turn good work into lasting impact. Here's where those gaps are, and how DiNN is built to close them.
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List of Grantees
From grassroots youth groups to climate initiatives, arts collectives to health-focused CICs, see the full list of Black and Global Majority-led organisations we've supported since 2023, a snapshot of the ecosystem we're helping to build.
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