Spirit of the Rainbow Heron

Evaluation

A summary of all the funded projects and other activities of the Rainbow Heron Small Grants Fund is contained in The Evaluation Summary Document.

Factors which have contributed to the operation and impact of the Rainbow Heron Small Grants Fund:

• The money came from Dora’s employment pension fund insurance scheme and was free for us to spend as we chose. You can find out more about Dora on her Celebration Website
• We set no real restrictions or boundaries to what we were willing to fund, as long as the activity addressed young people, creativity and mental health
• Dora’s close friends were involved in the early stages and activities, helping to establish the ethos of the fund’s work and to develop ideas we think Dora would have liked
• We have been receptive to requests and ideas from a variety of sources, individuals and organisations
• We have sought out individuals and organisations to carry out ideas we have developed ourselves
• We have provided ongoing low key support and encouragement as each project developed
• We asked each grantee to provide feedback on their experience, using a simple evaluation format. This is captured in The Evaluation Summary Document.
• The fund gave us the flexibility to support the original pilot project, Rainbow Heron Late Night Cafe, as it developed over 3 years, providing a model which has been of interest to larger, established organisations in the social and health sectors