Our clients
CANAL AND RIVER TRUST, DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARDS, ESSEX COUNCIL, GIRLGUIDING, THE FA, FIELDS IN TRUST, SWIM ENGLAND, ST JOHN AMBULANCE, SPORT ENGLAND, PARKRUN, NATIONAL CHURCHES TRUST, SPORTED, BEAT THE STREET, NATIONAL CITIZEN SERVICE , SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT COALITION, TIDEWAY, THE UNITED NATIONS,YOUTH SPORT TRUST
The things people say
“If you want to demonstrate credible evidence of social impact and value, State of Life is an excellent place to start.”
“The comparison to national data gave us a fast and affordable narrative for the impact of the Beat The Street project.”
Our Reports
Click on the image or link in red below to go to the published report for the client.
Or, to download any all our reports, please click on the button below and enter your details
Loneliness, trust and belonging - what helps?
Building on the House of Good Health (below). This is a look at the role of churches around the growing health epidemic that is loneliness. Being alone is not loneliness - loneliness is where no-one has your back, supports you when in need. It is one of the biggest negatives on wellbeing we have found. So fixing it or addressing it becomes important.
House of Good Health: churches relieving the cost burden on the NHS
Building on our 2020 House of Good study looking at the social care and social value that churches provide - foodbanks, drug and alchohol support, mental health groups and youth groups. In this 2024 update we use the NHS ‘Cost of production’ model for a WELLBY. We detail what it would cost the NHS to produce the help that churches are already providing every day. It’s a staggeringly big figure of £8.4billion. That’s £8.4billion of social care value that helps to relieve the immense pressure on the NHS. The case for collaboration between church and state at a national and local level is one we all need to consider.
OFCOM - online safety and wellbeing measures: a feasibility study.
Ofcom asked State of Life to consider whether wellbeing measures were suitable for assessing the impact of online harms; which specific metrics and what sort of survey questions are likely to work best when considering the impact on young people; and how might one control for other factors which might impact on wellbeing.
Sitting alongside our work on child wellbeing and the C WELLBY, this is a very informative and comprehensive bit of work in a vital area. The full report can be found here on Ofcom’s website.
TASO - education, education, education or vocation, vocation, vocation?!
Working with TASO* and our smart partners Mime Consulting. This was a three year, complex project to investigate the social, economic value of different pathways into higher education. It’s a big subject with big implications. All the detail is here (and the full analysis report is definitely worth a look). No easy answers on this one.
*The What Works Centre for higher education.
Youth Sport Trust
A first look at the social value and wellbeing impact of free PE and physical activity in schools. No surprise that activity is generally good for kids. But more interesting are how this breaks down. The benefits are almost double for those kids on free school meals or with a disability. And it's clear that those kids doing more outside of school are from wealthier backgrounds. So free PE has an important role in addressing inequality.
The full report can be downloaded here on the Youth Sport Trust website.
London Youth Rowing
Part of or work with Tideway was an impact evaluation of London Youth Rowing’s ‘Active Row’ programme. Described by peer reviewer as “closer to a clinical trial than social return on investment” - it’s a solid study with a control group. Rare in sport. Read the study HERE
Tearfund, Church Transformation in Africa
We worked with Tearfund to collect 8,000 survey responses in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to explore the impact of the CCT programme. In this pioneering and robust study we measure and value the benefit created in these communities, using the WELLBY. The results are compelling. Read the reports HERE
Tideway - the social value of London’s super sewer
We analysed the social impact above and beyond what Tideway were required to do by law. We monetised the ripple effect of benefits created through Tideway doing things differently in health & safety, taking lorries off the road, supporting STEM, reconnecting Londoners to the river and more. Read the reports HERE.
Adult Social Care - Sport for Confidence
This is a real trailblazer. Working and collecting in an NHS setting with adults with long term health conditions. Physical activity could be 12 times more cost effective than the NHS at generating wellbeing. Well worth a read HERE.
The cost effectiveness of parkrun
An experimental look at the social and economic value of parkrun using the new 2021 HM Treasury WELLBY measure. An eye opening report on the value of physical activity and it’s role in health and wellbeing. Read HERE.
State of Life: Faith, Hoops & Charity. Weekly works.
In this new, groundbreaking paper, we measured the health and wellbeing benefits of weekly religious attendance and physical activity alongside previous work on volunteering. For Summary and Full Technical paper click ‘Download Reports’ button above
Benefits of volunteering - a summary of work from 2014 to 2019.
A summary of key findings from all work as Jump Projects to date, including the ABC of BAME, A Bit Rich, Happy Days reports listed below. Click on ‘download reports’ above.
The wrong headed Covid-19 bail out for sport
How did half of the £300m bail out for sport go to one sport and why was this in direct contravention of policy guidance on levelling up?
The House of Good. A social and economic value of church buildings - summary report
Working with the National Churches Trust, this is a first attempt to put a social and economic value of all the work in the community. Read HERE.
FA - the social and economic impact of grassroots football
Working with the FA’s existing data, a pioneering look at understanding the benefits of football to those who play the game. Looking at which groups in society benefit the most. Read HERE.
NCS - impact and data linking to higher education outcomes
Detailed evidence on impact of programme on wellbeing and a unique analysis through data linking to higher education (acceptance to higher education).
Levelling up the playing field
A look at what the new 2020 Green Book focus on levelling up could mean for sport. And an indicative approach on how to use evidence to direct funding where the need is greatest.
The House of Good - full technical report
In the folder is also the ‘House of Good full technical report’ including use of the WELLBY cost effectiveness measure for wellbeing alongside the wellbeing valuation method. Presenting a full range of values and detailed methodology and data tables. Read HERE.
The value of parks and green space
A new evidence base for the value of parks and green space but with a unique ‘welfare weighted’ set of results to show that the greatest benefits are to those on low income and from ethnically diverse groups in society. Read HERE
ABC of BAME - volunteering and ethnic diversity
New, mixed method research into black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and motivations and barriers to volunteer. Working in partnership with BT, Cancer Research, National Trust and Sport England.
A Bit Rich - volunteering and income diversity
Working in partnership with BT, Cancer Research, National Trust and Sport England. Detailed analysis on diversity in volunteering (socio economic and ethnic diversity).
Sported - impact of sports club membership on kids
Investigating the impact on young people of sports club membership in line with the DCMS ‘Community Development’ outcomes. Read HERE.
Lifecycle of sport volunteering
Using the State of Life volunteer survey to compare sport volunteers to UK open data to understand the motivations, barriers and life stages of why people volunteer in sport and how sport is different to other volunteering. Read HERE
GIVERS - a behavioural model for volunteering
Using UK open data to understand the barriers and motivations to volunteering. The findings are packaged into a practical guide on how to recruit and manage volunteers. The work can now be found at the Sport and Recreation Alliance.
2020 - UN Volunteering Innovation Challenge
State of Life won through as the only northern hemisphere organisation to contribute to a UN global knowledge base on measuring volunteering. Our paper on measuring and economic value of volunteering is here (it’s sort of a State of Life greatest hits 2012 to 2020).
The wellbeing value of swimming
The paper here is our technical paper for Swim England. Analysis of the big four national data sets on Swimming with advanced regression on impacts across all 5 DCMS health and wellbeing outcomes for sport. The full report is on the Swim England website.
In The Mix - a study into the social cohesion benefits of the NCS Youth programme
Complex analysis of primary data of NCS participants compared to a control group. Outcome areas included social mixing, community cohesion, tolerance, confidence, and volunteering. Full report can be found on the NCS website.
Beat The Street - activity and anxiety levels
Using national, open data to compare physical activity levels to those of the Beat The Street programme to tell a simple, compelling story about effectiveness. Read HERE
Happy Days - the wellbeing value of volunteering
Published in the Journal of Happiness Studies 2020 analysis into the impact of volunteering on wellbeing. Addressing the perennial question - is it just happier people who volunteer or does volunteering actually improve wellbeing?