Anthropy is, at its heart, a leadership gathering. As the founder, John O’Brien MBE has written, the challenge facing Britain is not necessarily a collapse of leadership but PERHAPS a narrowing of it, a drift towards performance and optimisation rather than stewardship. Leadership becomes less about visibility and more about responsibility: thinking beyond remit and acting for the wider whole.

That framing feels particularly relevant to evaluation.  For us, evaluation is not only a measurement discipline. It is a disciplined way of learning.

Behind that, of course research rigour matters in good framing and design, proportionate theory-based methodologies and considerate analysis skills. But perhaps its biggest benefit is answering these key questions:

  • What problem are we trying to change? What matters most to people and places?
  • How is delivery actually working in practice?
  • What change is happening, and what is our contribution?
  • For whom does it work, where and why?  Who is missing out?
  • What value is created and saved?
  • How should we act differently as a result?

When these questions of evidence are asked, evaluation becomes a key leadership skill shaping judgment rather than sitting alongside it.

Certainly, none of us listens as much as we should – to friends, to family, to ourselves. And having worked alongside the Samaritans and their mental health training recently, I was reminded that the one skill consistently valued is ‘active’ listening, reinforcing what we know instinctively, the need to be curious and reflect before responding.

The same is true for organisations. Listening to people improves programmes. Listening to evidence improves systems.  And the emphasis couldn’t come at a more important time.

The social challenges we face are huge – health and wealth inequalities are broadening and economic inactivity is back to its highest levels. Trust in our institutions is low, and expectations are rising.  Yet, as we’ll hear at Anthropy, there is much to be optimistic about.  New accounting standards for charities and funders (SORP2026) ask organisations to explain the difference they make and what they learn, not simply what they deliver. And social value is (thankfully) moving back in that direction too. Government policy is increasingly emphasising social value creation, the impact economy, Pride in Place and evaluating outcomes against contribution.  Funders are working more collaboratively than ever, especially in place-based delivery, raising different questions about collective and individual contribution, and about changes to places as well as the people living there.

That is why evidence-based listening is the focus of our Anthropy session in 2026: how evaluation and learning can drive social change (and perhaps the role it can play in decision-making). With the National Lottery Community Fund, the Premier League, The Rayne Foundation, MITIE and Youth Leads helping shape the conversation, we will explore how evidence shapes investment priorities, partnerships and delivery and how communities of practice can create longer-term, deeper change. It will not be a panel, but a place to be challenged.

Facing the challenges we do today, the difficulty is rarely the absence of information but instead the clarity of analysis and willingness to hear and act on it. After all, evidence matters most when it changes what happens next.

Listening to communities, partners and evidence is, in my view, where responsible decisions begin.

Bean is delighted to be a member of Anthropy, and the Bean team will be attending in March to join the conversation and to be active listeners ourselves.  I hope this session offers a contribution to that!