Number Champions
Shortlist – Improving Impact: Charities with 0-3 paid staff
About the Charity
Number Champions supports children in state primary schools who struggle with numeracy. Difficulty with maths starts in early school years and it disproportionately affects children from disadvantaged communities.
The charity partners with 30 schools across 14 London boroughs, with over 100 volunteers supporting 300 children. Trained volunteers run one-to-one sessions with children in Years 2 and 3 (aged 6 to 8) who are behind in maths. Volunteers use games and other creative activities to encourage children and help them develop confidence and skills in maths. Success in this one area can improve a child’s engagement in education as a whole, and thus make it more likely that they will achieve their potential.
The charity also has current or former teachers to support its volunteers in schools and an experienced safeguarding lead, all of whom provide their services pro bono.
Charity number: 1180340 | www.NumberChampions.org.uk
Education | England – London | 0-3 paid staff
What the Board Achieved
Number Champions embarked on a transformative journey of organisational growth, operational excellence, and sustained impact on children’s mathematical proficiency. The board was motivated to embark on this ambitious journey when the results of meticulous research indicated a pressing need for volunteer-driven maths support among children in primary school. The board designed a model mirroring the successful one-to-one support approaches of well-known literacy charities. By July 2019, during the pilot phase, 60% of supported children demonstrated marked improvement in maths skills, prompting the board to develop a strategy for further expansion.
However, the pilot also allowed the board to identify areas of improvement critical to the charity’s future success. The intervention programmes needed refinement and standardisation, with quality control processes in place. The charity would need a robust marketing plan to help it connect with more schools and local volunteers. Finally, it required a funding strategy to help it expand its reach and support more children across the UK, including providing funds for staff and resources for volunteers. Trustees developed a strategy to help it attract the level of funding required to take the next steps in the charity’s goal for expansion. The charity was able to recruit first a part-time senior employee to help deliver its strategy and then a second part-time junior employee to help manage day-to-day administrative functions; the board invested in professional development and training initiatives to help the team fulfil its responsibilities, including a course for the senior staff member to improve her skills in evaluation and impact monitoring.
Informed by iterative reviews and stakeholder feedback, the board initiated strategic enhancements across multiple domains. Process optimisation, volunteer standardisation, and quality control mechanisms were utilised to bolster operational efficiency and achieve excellent outcomes. To sustain impact, the board prioritised ongoing evaluation, skill enhancement, and succession planning. Rigorous governance structures, encompassing financial oversight, risk management, and educational outcomes monitoring, underpin sustained impact. Succession planning initiatives, coupled with staff empowerment and volunteer engagement strategies, safeguard organisational continuity and effectiveness.
Beginning with 18 children in 2018, the charity now supports more than 300 children across the UK, as a result of the board’s leadership in steadily pushing forward with its expansion and fundraising strategy, and remaining committed to improvement. Recognising early on that there was a need for subject matter expertise, the board strategically recruited a trustee and volunteers with primary education experience. This facilitated the refinement of the charity’s intervention model and strengthened operational processes. Examples of recommendations that resulted in positive change include having the charity conduct volunteer DBS checks (rather than partner schools), utilising technology such as Google Forms (rather than email) to collect and collate data, training initiatives to help volunteers identify skills gaps among the children they were supporting, and conducting exit interviews with departing volunteers.
Collaboration with its staff team and volunteers as well as partnerships with external experts and academic institutions enriched the charity’s evaluation methodologies, ensuring robust evidence collection for continuous improvement. Today, Number Champions is partnered with Queen Mary University London, where a PhD student is researching the charity and analysing its impact. This also has the goal of making further recommendations for improvement.
Quantitative and qualitative assessments underscored the tangible impact of the interventions Number Champions offered. Teacher evaluations in July 2023 revealed significant improvements in children’s mathematical confidence, engagement, and skills. Testimonials from educators highlighted the transformative effect on children’s attitudes towards maths, showcasing the programme’s efficacy. Additionally, a Net Promoter Score of 8.2 signalled high satisfaction and advocacy among stakeholders.
The board has a three-year plan in place for sustained growth, aiming to reach 600 students a year and expand the team to 2.5 FTE staff. Operational responsibilities are being transferred to the growing staff team, while the board has recruited additional trustees to fill skills gaps, such as appointing a Treasurer to provide better financial oversight, and has a recruitment strategy in place to fill forthcoming vacancies from founding trustees (including the chair) with individuals who have the skills and experience to implement the medium-term growth strategy.
What the Board Achieved
Number Champions’ unwavering commitment to empowering children with numerical proficiency underscores its enduring impact on educational outcomes. Guided by robust governance practices and a culture of continuous improvement, the organisation remains steadfast in its mission to nurture mathematical confidence and competence among young learners. Judges found the qualitative and quantitative evidence in the entry compelling – the numbers told the story effectively, demonstrating both the quality of impact monitoring that was put in place and the impressive impact that the charity has achieved over a relatively short time. Trustees have leveraged their own skills, and carefully recruited the expertise they lacked. The board is also thinking sensibly about succession planning and has put a strategy in place to facilitate continued growth and improvement at the board level and across the organisation while safeguarding the original purpose and passion behind the founders’ original mission.
