A new suit of tools has been launched to help churches and Christian organisations evaluate the impact of their projects.

The interactive project planning tools have been developed by grant-making charity, the Allchurches Trust, in partnership with Church Urban Fund. 

The resource is free to use and has been designed to help churches particularly in the planning stages of their projects as they think through the change they want to see in their communities. 

The Allchurches Trust said it hoped the tools would help organisations to strengthen their funding applications and support them in setting out objectives, as well as measuring outcomes. 

Allchurches Trust chairman, Tim Carroll, said: "Monitoring and evaluation that is proportionate, evidences change and shares learnings – both good and bad – can be hugely important for the long-term success of projects, and organisations as a whole, but it's perhaps the biggest challenge facing charities today, including funders.

"We hear from so many churches and Christian charities that they struggle to know where to start with impact evaluation, especially when so many of their projects are people-focused and relational, and numbers can never tell the story on their own.

Jessamin Birdsall, who heads up Research and Evaluation at Church Urban Fund and is a PhD candidate in Sociology and Social Policy at Princeton University, said: "We hope that these flexible tools can be a help to churches and charities who want to better capture the difference they are making in communities."