Common Outcomes Case Study – the KPMG Foundation

Background:

The movement towards common outcomes for all babies, children and young people has evolved from a small group of interested parties in the early years sector, in which the KPMG Foundation has been an active participant since 2020. More recently this work has developed into a ‘collaborative’, supported by a small number of funding partners, with over 100 interested stakeholders.

The KPMG Foundation is a grant making charity (a Corporate Foundation) supported by the professional services firm KPMG in the UK. It has a flexible funding model, and supports initiatives where it can add value beyond the grant – to help catalyse, amplify and connect, in two focus areas: the early years; and care experienced children and young people, as they intersect with poverty and disadvantage.

From the origins of this work, it seemed clear that the common outcomes could provide a useful conceptual framework – a hook on which to hang our work.

From the perspective of ‘user led movements’, grass roots initiatives and local communities, a shared and inclusive language that as many people as possible can connect with, is vital. In this case, parents, children and young people themselves. The simplicity of SAFE, HEALTHY, HAPPY, LEARNING & ENGAGED should not be underestimated.

Our role (the KPMG Foundation):

Our role in this venture has been ‘organic’ - initially seeing the value in the vision.

This prompted a leap of faith, by integrating the Common Outcomes into our own Theory for Impact.

In our grant making, we have referenced the Common Outcomes in our Grant Concept Notes and Full Proposal forms, as well as in our Reporting Guidance.

In the Foundation’s Nov 2023 Impact Report, we used the outcomes to describe some of the work we’re supporting. This will be repeated in the 2025 Impact Report.

More recently we have played a leadership role by encouraging other funders to join with us (financially) in supporting the further development of the common outcomes with a much wider group of organisations across policy, practice and research.

We are modelling collaboration through a coalition of committed funding partners to see how far we can take this approach over the next few years, open and willing to bring others along with this shared vision.