Above you can see the locations of our Northern Irish Organisations on the Index of Multiple deprivation overlay using Upshot's in-built map feature which uses actual Office of National Statistics (ONS) data. 

Over the last 7 years, a wide variety of organisations have started using Upshot across different programme areas alike youth work, employment and education programmes, disability support services and sport for development. Another common theme is to bring young people from protestant and catholic communities together across different programmes for a better future for all. 

Most of the current clients in Northern Ireland have received funding from the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) through Peace IV programmes, from the Education Authority or from the Housing Executive. All these funders focus on outcomes around Building a Cohesive Society through developing Personal Development, developing Citizenship and developing Community Relationships.

In order to evidence these outcomes, Upshot has a number of tools to achieve a successful data collection, participant demographics, case studies, attendance levels, surveys, media collection and a variety of relevant reporting features. 

Organisations like YMCA Ireland (M-Power), Youth Link N.I. (Transform), Belfast Metropolitan College (Futures) and Belfast Mencap (Heroes) which were funded by Peace IV from 2017-2021 have been able to successfully report back to the SEUPB. Specifically data gathered around engaged communities, attendance levels, participant achievements like OCN and DoE awards and other media collection was key for the success of their programmes. These organisations, as well as others that are applying for Peace Plus funding in 2023, are aiming to use Upshot again for their data collection if their applications are successful. 

Gordon Woolsey, Director at Youth Link N.I., one of our current active organisations, previously funded by the SEUPB, has stated: 

"We were on the lookout for an M&E tool which would help staff collate information on a weekly basis and assist with measuring progress and outcomes of our projects. Staff are based in 6 different locations throughout N.I., however Upshot allows myself and the project administrator to successfully collate all the required information for our funders without travelling across the country. Upshot also lets us track young people's individual journeys. The online tool has my staff team many hours of their time, which would instead be spent supporting young people, therefore this has been very cost-effective. The support received from the highly-skilled team at Upshot has been invaluable, always willing to help by phone and email. I highly recommend Upshot to any youth and community organisation and many others."

Jamie Maze, former Futures Project Manager at Belfast Metropolitan College has also added: 

"The Upshot team are very friendly and easy to work with and do their best to solve any issues quickly. The training and maintenance support provided has been invaluable. The system is constantly updated and improved which means new features are always available. Work smarter not harder!"

Another long standing client has been YMCA Carrickfergus. They started using the system back in 2017 as part of their objective to use digital tools to become more data and impact driven in their service delivery. They have used Upshot for a variety of different programmes around employability, youth development, community support and engagement as well as through their role in the M-Power - Peave IV programme. Specifically, the ability to use Upshot online wherever service delivery is happening or where staff are working either from home, on the go or in the office, has enabled YMCA Carrickfergus to continue providing projects throughout the pandemic which was crucial for communities around Carrickfegus. 

Karen Graham, Chief Executive at YMCA Carrickfergus has recommended Upshot to a number of other youth charities as she thinks that: 

"As a time saving, easy to use system I couldn't recommend it highly enough, it has made the recording and reporting of what we do so much easier."