Institute for Voluntary Action Research

Who we are

We help charities and funders to be the best they can be – for the people and communities they exist to support. We do this by asking questions and helping our partners to answer them through action research – bringing together an organisation's data and experience with wider evidence. It’s high quality, rigorous research – with a practical application. Grounded in more than 20 years’ of working with organisations and partnerships across the UK.

Through our work we often produce useful ways of thinking about particular challenges. We publish these freely on our website for others to use. 

We value, welcome and respect all the differences that make us who we are, including: age, cultural background, disability and mental health, ethnicity and race, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and social background.