[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
TWINE \/tw\u028c\u026an\/<\/strong><\/p>\n noun<\/em> strong thread or string consisting of two or more strands of hemp or cotton twisted together.<\/p>\n verb<\/em> wind or cause to wind around something.<\/p>\n In 2015, Power to Change was set up as an independent trust to support community businesses in England. A year later, it created an in-house Research Institute to gather evidence that community businesses make places better. As there was very little existing data on community businesses and how they run, the team used a mix of methodologies to gather data at a hyperlocal level. They decided to develop a digital platform, TWINE<\/a>. It would help community businesses collect and analyse their data, which Power to Change could then use to advocate on behalf of the community business sector.<\/p>\n “Our ambition was to create a data platform that was easy to use and of visible benefit to communities. And in exchange, we would get really high quality data that allows us to understand the whole community business sector.”<\/em><\/p>\n Richard Harries, former Director of the Research Institute, Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n Over several years of development and iteration responding to community business needs, TWINE was developed into three community tech products:<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ next_background_color=”#ffffff” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#E6E6E6″ min_height=”403.1px” custom_margin=”-50px||||false|false” bottom_divider_style=”slant” bottom_divider_height=”50px” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ use_custom_gutter=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||6px|||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||2px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/side_line_dark_blue_sml2.png” title_text=”side_line_dark_blue_sml2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” positioning=”absolute” vertical_offset=”16px” horizontal_offset=”-160px” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” link_text_color=”#0378B5″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” link_text_color=”#0378B5″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” link_text_color=”#0378B5″ custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ module_id=”surveys” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n With thanks to current and former Power to Change staff, the Institute for Community Studies and Digital Commons Coop for their insight and honesty: Fergus Arkley, Richard Harries, Stephen Miller, Jake Moffat, Kate Swade, Edward Walden, Sonja Wiencke. This report was written by Charlotte Cassedanne, and funded by Power to Change.<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2016, Power to Change\u2019s Research Institute presented their idea to the board – a digital app that could help community businesses record their data, and that would aggregate it for Power to Change to use in policy influencing. The board agreed and the TWINE team got straight into development.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get down to neighbourhood level, it’s very contextual. Interventions depend on the history of the place, and it depends on people there. It\u2019s not like policy initiatives like crime reduction that get implemented across the country. You’ve got to be much more nuanced and sophisticated. So what we were trying to do is build up as much evidence as we can about what’s going on and what matters to local communities. And then present it back to policymakers in a format they can understand.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Richard Harries, Director of the Institute of Community Studies (taking on Twine Benchmark) and former Director of the Research Institute at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/twine_dashboard_.jpg” title_text=”twine_dashboard_” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Early on, community businesses told Power to Change that they did not have enough time or capacity to ask their volunteers and visitors for feedback. To make it easier for them, validated surveys, such as the Net Promoter Score, were created on TWINE so that community businesses could send these to their beneficiaries directly by SMS. Texts were chosen at the time because research showed that these surveys have the highest response rate of any survey method. Aggregated survey results then lived in TWINE and were accessible by Power to Change. \u201cIt was a short survey which would maximise response rates. The reason we chose SMS was that everyone had a mobile phone that could do text messaging, rather than a smartphone.\u201d<\/em> said Richard Harries. Although the idea was good, it had some crucial flaws:<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a tool to make the admin work easier, but we also wanted to teach organisations how to do monitoring and evaluation properly. But what community businesses needed was making reporting easier to conduct. In practice, a lot of them wanted to have their own version of these SMS surveys because other funders required them to ask very specific questions of their beneficiaries. And we were saying, \u201cNo, we can’t do that\u201d because we wanted them to ask validated questions and create a common baseline, which was a very difficult balance to strike.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sonja Wiencke, founder of EvalTech and former Data Analyst and Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe data gathering idea was great. The customisation was great. The idea of cascading a lot of control and impact measurement skill set to community businesses was great. But the flaw was that we didn\u2019t want to push costs onto some of the most vulnerable members of society in community businesses.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Edward Walden, DEI Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n The SMS surveys were eventually abandoned but the team reused lots of the back-end development to create their future products.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#1E2D5A” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#FFFFFF” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Rather than wait years for aggregated data to be sourced from individual community businesses, Power to Change commissioned MyCake, a financial benchmark agency, to analyse publicly available financial data to create a benchmark dataset. This was used to create a series of \u2018success guides\u2019 to running a community business, which includes: [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_5,1_5,1_5,1_5,1_5″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/cafes.png” title_text=”cafes” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]The community business success guide to cafes<\/a>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/retail.png” title_text=”retail” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]The community business success guide to retail<\/a> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/room-hire-1.png” title_text=”room hire” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]The community business success guide to room hire<\/a> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/service.png” title_text=”service” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]The success guide to delivering services from a community space<\/a>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/contracted.png” title_text=”contracted” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]The community business success guide to contracted and commissioned services<\/a> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_id=”twine” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Alongside the SMS surveys, the TWINE Volunteer mobile and desktop app was created to capture data about volunteers and reduce administrative burden of those running a community business. Volunteers (or managers) can enter how many hours they’ve spent on different categories of activity. This gives the business an overall picture of how much effort is being spent on which activities, so they can adjust resources. Data can also be used as supportive evidence, for example for grant applications. The TWINE Visitor product was designed a bit later during a hackathon with two junior coders, who then joined the TWINE team full time. The app can be installed on a tablet so visitors can sign in as they enter the community business. This helps the organisation track the number of attendees per class\/activity\/event, which can give them insight about which ones are the most popular, and run activities more effectively. However, the team encountered several challenges with both products:<\/p>\n \u201c<\/em>A lot of community businesses didn\u2019t have volunteer management systems in place so when they sought TWINE, they sought solutions to a dozen different problems that TWINE was never designed to address. They were engaging with it in earnest as a digital transformation tool.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Edward Walden<\/b>, DEI Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI think [responding to user feedback constantly] prevented me from actually stepping back and asking, hang on, we’ve been very busy trying to do things right. But are we doing the right thing?\u201d<\/p>\n Sonja Wiencke, founder of EvalTech and former Data Analyst and Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIn a lot of ways, community businesses are not as different from each other as they think they are. They’re always short staffed, measuring impact takes up time they don\u2019t have, and they\u2019re usually grant-funded somehow. But we should have done more research on what common information funders are asking for so TWINE could\u2019ve helped capture that information. Gathering data for funders is a common paint point so we could have addressed that first.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sonja Wiencke, founder of EvalTech and former Data Analyst and Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI remember helping a community business launch the TWINE Visitor app at a luncheon. But then it turned out they already had a system for people to book ahead, and they were all regular attendees. So it didn\u2019t make sense for people to sign-in again on the app. It made me realise, we need to find out more about how they run their business, and what other systems they already have in place.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sonja Wiencke, founder of EvalTech and former Data Analyst and Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe did try to be very personal with our support. And we tried as much as possible to find occasions in the lives of these community businesses where the TWINE apps would come in handy. That worked fairly well.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sonja Wiencke, founder of EvalTech and former Data Analyst and Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe power imbalance meant that the conversations we were having were not the ones that you want to be having when you’re developing a digital product. We needed unbiased responses from people telling us \u201cnice idea, but what we actually need is X\u201d.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sonja Wiencke, founder of EvalTech and former Data Analyst and Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/dashboard.png” title_text=”dashboard” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_image=”off” max_height=”600px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#1E2D5A” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_id=”board” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#FFFFFF” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_id=”recentre” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n By Spring 2018, Although the apps were free, useful and Power to Change put in place a TWINE support team to help community businesses adopt the tools into their organisational workflows, subscriber numbers were still low, and running costs were high. Rather than an asset on the balance sheet, it was a liability. The Power to Change board had supported TWINE\u2019s development but were now approaching it with a more commercial mindset.<\/p>\n \u201cOne mistake we made was to treat TWINE like a finished product and turn it into an asset on the company’s accounts. This was a huge mistake because, it was in process, it had no intrinsic value. In theory, if it was successful, we had a cash flow forecast for it, it would generate income that would be of value to the organisation. But we shouldn’t have treated it as a tentative asset for accounting purposes. As soon as we did that, the board became very interested in its financial performance, which, in those early years, made no sense because we were constantly changing the specification and testing it with community businesses.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Richard Harries, Director of the Institute of Community Studies (taking on Twine Benchmark) and former Director of the Research Institute at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n Under the management of a new Head of Impact, the team regrouped and changed tack. SMS surveys were halted which decreased costs considerably. And a new developer team took an agile approach to:<\/p>\n A few things they learnt along the way included:<\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>The person who has the capacity and the ability, or is positioned well within the community business to implement it, was almost never the same person who had the oversight of the impact measurement and had the ability to actually use the data that it produced in a meaningful way. And so that kind of disjointed nature meant that there were lots of positive responses to TWINE, but exactly how it got implemented was always a lot more difficult.<\/span><\/i>\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Edward Walden, DEI Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n This points to two issues in community organisations – firstly, the siloed approach to impact measurement; and secondly, the disconnect between the people leading the strategy and those leading the delivery of the organisation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe app could tell them how many volunteers they\u2019ve had a year and how many thousands of volunteering hours. But the question is, what can they do with that proven impact? Can they get more funding? Can they leverage it with their local council to show their impact in a way that gets them to be treated more favourably or to get more respect from their local community, clinical commissioning groups or NHS Trusts?<\/span><\/i>\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Jake Moffatt, Product Incubation Manager at Bain & Company, former Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>We spoke to local councils to find out what they want to know, and then work out how our tool can successfully help community businesses gather that in a frictionless and low effort way, to streamline getting funding more easily, or tracking data more easily, or reducing the overall capacity and time burden on producing the data that was often arbitrary or strange or proprietary<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Edward Walden, DEI Manager at Power to Change<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>When I started, very, very few community businesses knew about TWINE and Power to Change didn’t really have much of a voice in the community tech space. The majority of the reaction was, \u201cOh, I didn’t know that existed, but it sounds like a good idea.\u201d We could have spent more time working with people who were interested and thought it was a good idea and seeing how many of them would pilot the software, how many of them would do case studies to understand where they were struggling or where the software needed to change for them.<\/span><\/i>\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Jake Moffatt, Product Incubation Manager at Bain & Company, former Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/twine_assessment_.jpg” title_text=”twine_assessment_” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_image=”off” height=”600px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#1E2D5A” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_id=”devtech” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#FFFFFF” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_id=”pivot” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n With so much time spent listening to users and developing features, Power to Change was more than ready to adapt the TWINE products to respond to Covid-restrictions in Spring 2019. They tweaked the Visitor app so that people could log their contact details, way before the government\u2019s Track & Trace software was up and running. And they created a new digital product to help community businesses better understand their financial health. TWINE Benchmark<\/strong> The team decided to make the financial accounts database they had, aggregated by MyCake a few years earlier, public. They quickly created TWINE Benchmark, so that community businesses could assess their financial health in comparison to other similar-sized organisations in similar sectors and regions. Power to Change also used the database to figure out what amount of emergency Covid-support grant they needed to provide to different organisations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’d already invested in building this database of financial accounts and immediately thought about an alternative use for it. And we had the product development expertise in-house to quickly build this externally facing dashboard so that organisations can better understand what the potential impact of lockdown restrictions was going to be on them. We were used to being agile with TWINE which helped us respond in crisis.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Stephen Miller, Director of Impact and Learning at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n Prioritising digital transformation<\/strong> Another consequence of lockdowns was the need for community businesses to run their services online. Many had never made the leap to digital, and the digital skills gap that the TWINE team had previously come across, was now blatantly obvious to the rest of Power to Change and the wider social change sector. While a lot of emergency support was put in place to teach organisations how to create online shops, run community events and support services remotely, a longer-term impact for Power to Change was that digital skills became part of their ongoing capacity building programme, Powering Up.<\/p>\n \u201cPre-Covid, TWINE was not really integrated into Power Change\u2019s work although the team was spotting a lack of digital maturity capabilities amongst community businesses, but it was a really low priority for the organisation. But when all the lockdown restrictions hit, the need to improve digital skills and capabilities became more urgent. That really accelerated Power to Change\u2019s investment in digital transformation, and it\u2019s now a key theme we\u2019re focusing on in our new strategy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Stephen Miller, Director of Impact and Learning at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/twine_V1_.jpg” title_text=”twine_V1_” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_id=”helpcom” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n As TWINE moves over to Digital Commons and the Institute for Community Studies, its products will enter a new phase of use and development, in a very different world from when it started. There are many more tech products out there, but day-to-day most of us interact with giant tech companies such as Google, Salesforce and Amazon. With data comes power, and digital tools like TWINE can help more communities have ownership and power over their data.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that data is a common good, and that there’s a real disparity in the world at the moment where people with money and power have access to data and the tools to analyse that data in ways that help them get more money and power. And people without a lot of money or resources or power often either can’t access the data, don’t know that it exists, or when they can access it, it’s in quite a technical or a specialist format. We see TWINE as a way for community businesses to better understand their data and particularly the data around volunteers and visitors.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Kate Swade, Digital Commons Coop<\/strong><\/p>\n It can be tricky for community workers to prioritise data capture, tech development and data analysis in their day-to-day jobs. There are huge pressures to deliver, so supporting the social change sector to understand the strategic power and value of data is a challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cThe alternative to the standard models, and what we tried to do with the TWINE products, is to suggest changes to the way people operate so that they can still use it and get the value. For example, registering people with TWINE has more value than registering them in a spreadsheet because it\u2019s creating an evidence base for the organisation. This data could help them shape their diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. It could prove that the methods and programmes that they’ve run six months before have had a tangible effect on who is reaching their services. However, tech installation and tech adoption are awkward problems, even for businesses that have the resources to handle them. And tech is not everyone’s favourite job. If you have a leaky roof at your community centre, then you need to fix it before spending an hour on a new digital platform. Getting your 20 volunteers, five of whom you only see once every two weeks to do tech training may not be the most important thing.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Jake Moffatt, Product Incubation Manager at Bain & Company, former Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_id=”techled” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n There is however, a growing movement of leaders within the community sector who do recognise the value of data and tech being community-led. And they could hold the key to the success of community tech. While funders can continue to financially support the development of digital products, the development needs to be led by people who have a vested interest in its success.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the same way that open source software is designed and built and maintained by the people that use it, successful community tech is shaped and led and managed by those in the sector. They are the sales team, the integration and operations team, the word of mouth, and do a little bit of the troubleshooting as well because they have that skill.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Jake Moffatt, Product Incubation Manager at Bain & Company, former Product Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTWINE was created partly because big tech platforms are about scalability and replication which doesn\u2019t fit with small organisations like community businesses. They\u2019re driven by their values such as owning their data, having the code available in the commons, respecting the integrity of users by not collecting personal information, and keeping tools free or as low-cost as possible.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n Fergus Arkley, Digital Innovation Manager at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n Digital transformation is one of the main challenges Power to Change\u2019s current strategy is trying to support. As well as integrating digital upskilling into their capacity building programme, Powering Up, they\u2019ve also launched a community tech funding programme to support existing, innovative community tech organisations. As for TWINE, both Digital Commons Coop<\/a> and the Institute for Community Studies<\/a> are keen to explore its interoperability and build on its existing data sets.<\/p>\n \u201cPower to Change\u2019s development of TWINE products is a much longer legacy in community tech. Now that the Benchmark tool has been spun out to the Institute for Community Studies to manage it, the data can be updated to build other dashboards. And as the other two apps, Volunteer and Visitor, are now held by Digital Commons, the code becomes available to the third sector. We’ve done the heavy lifting and invested in developing this software and code for other people to then remix and repurpose and reuse.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Stephen Miller, Director of Impact and Learning at Power to Change<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/twine-together.com\/” url_new_window=”on” button_text=”TWINE Together” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Untangling TWINE: Lessons from a funder developing digital tools<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":62207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340],"tags":[338,433],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.powertochange.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Once upon a TWINE\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Chapters<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The start-up<\/h3>\n
\n
The pivots<\/h3>\n
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The future<\/h3>\n
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The start-up<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Surveys by text message<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Creating success guides using community business data<\/b><\/h3>\n
TWINE Volunteer and TWINE Visitor<\/b><\/h3>\n
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\n
\n
\n
\n
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Tips on engaging your board with a digital product<\/h3>\n
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The pivots<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Re-centering TWINE around community needs<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n
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Tips on developing community tech<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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In unprecedented times<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The future<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Helping communities understand the value of data<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Tech led by communities<\/strong><\/h3>\n