Our impact
Building evidence as carefully as we build programmes.
Impact isn't simply about how many people come through the door. We want to understand whether people participate, whether they return, what their experience was, what they tell us changed, and what we can learn from every programme we deliver.
As a developing community organisation, we are building our evidence base alongside our work. We publish what we can evidence. We explain where the evidence comes from. And where we don't yet know, we don't pretend that we do.
Benzone in action
Our current records show practical delivery across youth wellbeing, creative expression and community-based activity.
- 31
- Sessions and activities
- 27
- Catch Them Young sessions
- 4
- Voices on Paper workshops
- 6
- Community activities
Impact snapshot, May to September 2026, drawn from Benzone programme and delivery records. Programme categories overlap and should not be added together: the Catch Them Young sessions, the Voices on Paper workshops and the community activities are all counted within the total distinct delivery, not on top of it.
AGES 8 TO 16
Catch Them Young
Youth wellbeing and empowerment for children and young people.
- 27
- Sessions delivered
- 30+
- Young people participated
- 9
- Returning participants
Sixteen registered young people attended at least once, alongside approximately sixteen more who took part without registering, particularly during Summer Challenge activity. Because that unregistered figure is still being reconciled, we describe reach as 30+ rather than publishing a falsely precise total.
Nine young people are currently identified in our records as returning for more than one session. They did not necessarily attend every session. We keep registrations, unique participants and repeat attendance separate because each tells us something different about reach and engagement.
What Catch Them Young is teaching us
Creating a good programme is not enough on its own. Families need to know about it, trust it, understand its value and have accessible routes into participation. That learning is influencing how we approach community partnerships, parent communication, recruitment and programme design.
COMPLETED PROJECT
Voices on Paper
A completed four-week creative youth voice project, supported by Arts Council of Wales Creative Communities funding.
- 4
- Creative workshops
- 19
- Participant attendances
Young people explored identity, aspirations and self-expression through artist-led activities: My Story, Imagine My Future, My Personal Crest and My Mark.
Registration and attendance are not the same measure. Five young people registered, some registrants did not attend, and other young people took part without registering. The unique participant total will only be published once the attendance names across all four sessions have been reconciled.
These four workshops were delivered alongside Catch Them Young activity and are already represented within the delivery total above. They are not additional to it.
Young people's voice
Listening is part of how we design. The survey helps us build local intelligence about young people's experiences, interests and support needs.
Survey evidence is kept separate from programme participation evidence. A respondent is not a participant, and they are never added together.
Community reach
PARTICIPATION FIGURE BEING VERIFIED
Alongside regular programme delivery, we have taken activities into community and family settings, creating opportunities for children, families and adults to move, create, connect and participate.
Some community participation figures are still being confirmed with host organisations. As those records are verified this page will be updated, so that what we publish reflects people who actually participated rather than estimates.
More than a session count
Delivering an activity is an output. Understanding what happened because people took part is where our impact work begins.
That is why we look beyond the number of sessions delivered. We are building evidence around participation, repeat engagement, experience, confidence, belonging, connection, self-expression and willingness to try new things.
How we measure impact
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Reach
Unique participants are people evidenced to have taken part at least once. Participant attendances count every occasion somebody took part. Registrations are people who signed up. Repeat participation is people who came back. We keep them separate because they tell us different things.
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Engagement
Whether people return, participate actively, complete structured programmes and give feedback. Where relevant, parent and carer engagement and referrals from organisations.
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Outcomes
Depending on the programme: confidence, belonging, emotional awareness, communication, social connection, aspirations, self-expression, willingness to try new things, enjoyment, and physical activity where relevant. We only report changes our evidence supports.
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Participant voice
Numbers cannot tell the whole story. As our evidence base grows we combine them with consented participant feedback, parent and carer observations, partner feedback, creative outputs and structured case studies.
How we build our evidence
- Registration and attendance records
- Unique participant and repeat-participation tracking
- Participant feedback
- Before-and-after measures where appropriate
- Parent and carer feedback
- Partner feedback
- Structured facilitator observations
- Creative and programme outputs
- Consented photographs, reflections and case studies
Every headline figure on this page has an identifiable source and reporting period behind it.
What we will, and won't, claim
Benzone works in the space before crisis, creating opportunities that can strengthen protective factors such as confidence, belonging, connection, participation and self-expression.
We will not claim that Benzone alone prevents complex outcomes such as mental ill-health or homelessness. What we can evidence is what happens through our activities, what participants tell us about their experience and any changes they report, alongside attendance, observation, feedback and programme outputs.
That distinction matters to us.
What we're learning
Impact isn't only about celebrating what worked. It is also about understanding what needs to change. Our early delivery is helping us learn about recruitment, repeat participation, accessibility, youth voice, family engagement, trusted community relationships and the kinds of experiences people want to return to.
Where participation is lower than expected, or an approach does not work as planned, we use that evidence to improve what happens next.
We would rather learn from an honest number than build a story around an inflated one.
The stories behind the numbers
Explore our stories →-
VOICES ON PAPER
From Blank Pages to Young Voices
How four artist-led workshops created space for young people to explore identity, aspirations and self-expression through creative work.
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CATCH THEM YOUNG
Building More Than a Saturday Programme
What Catch Them Young is teaching us about participation, confidence, connection, recruitment and giving young people reasons to return.
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MOVE. THINK. CONNECT.
When Being Active Doesn't Have to Feel Like Sport
What we're learning from bringing movement, thinking games and social connection into community settings.
Invest in what happens before crisis
Crisis is visible. Earlier support can be quieter: a young person finding confidence, a family discovering somewhere they feel welcome, someone trying an activity they thought wasn't for them, or a young person finding a way to express what matters to them.
This is the space Benzone has chosen to work in. Help us create more opportunities for people to feel supported, capable and connected before challenges become harder to address.