Product - Journal

Latest updates: Summer edition

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This year the Product team has been beavering away turning your feedback into features – and in June we shared a list of recently completed updates to Match My Project.

There’s more to come, so stay tuned! Here’s a round-up to let you know what’s live now and what’s on the way, to make it easier to collaborate, communicate, and track your impact.

1. Filters updated, making it easier to view relevant projects and offers

🚧 The filters were too subtle in the Directory meaning people weren’t using them to save time finding matches.

✅ There’s now a more prominent filters button in Projects & Directory, with updated filtering and sorting options.

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✅ The filters display has been updated to remove clicks when filtering.

✅ More date sorting options have been added.

✅ Clear any filters you’ve set by clicking ‘Reset filters’.

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✨ Find specific projects & offers more easily in the Directory and Projects pages.

2. Filters automatically saved – so you see the most relevant information, every time

🚧 Previously if you set filters in the Directory or Projects, they would be lost if you left the page. This meant you had to reset them every time, even if you went back to the page where the filters were set.

✅ Now, once you’ve set the most relevant filters – location, project type, status – those filters are automatically saved and they’ll be set every time you return to the page. (They can be easily cleared anytime by clicking ‘Reset filters’.)

✨ Tip: whether you’re a business looking for a specific type of VCFSE project or a VCFSE seeking support in your area, set filters in the directory to speed up matching.

3. Easier locations input

🚧 When selecting locations using the checkbox format, it could be difficult to know where to find certain authorities.

✅ When selecting locations using checkboxes, you’ll can to type to search a location – removing clicks and making it easier to find the relevant options.

4. Updated card layouts

🚧 A growing number of labels and tags were being added to the cards, making them feel cluttered.

✅ The layout has been updated to make the cards clearer and accommodate more tags and actions.

Directory cards include ‘new’, ‘still waiting’ or ‘ending soon’ tags. They can be hidden and shown. The information on the cards has been updated based on feedback, e.g. locations added to the project cards.

Project cards have been updated with the tags shown below the title and description. The latest date and type of project have been added.

5. Jobs & training data updated

🚧 Jobs & training data wasn’t included on the leaderboard.

✅ The leaderboard points system has been updated to capture jobs, training and work placements.

What’s coming soon…

1. Smoother matching tools

To keep communication flowing, suppliers will be able to remove offers to complete community initiated projects.

And for smoother matching, VCFSE projects won’t expire when under offer, even if the project dates have passed.

2. Enhanced communication

Whenever someone declines a match request, they will soon be able to share a reason – to provide useful context for the requester.

Authority users will be able to request edits to approved projects and feedback, to prevent these conversations needing to happen on email.

Authority users will be able to resend account creation links if they get lost, to speed up someone accessing their account.

3. More timely & accurate feedback

To give users more confidence in the input metrics being shared, businesses and suppliers will be able to input and verify the value of resources that were given as part of a match. VCFSEs will still be able to report these figures.

You’ll be able to enter a target completion date when matching, so that we can send you more timely feedback reminders and projects don’t get stuck.

There will be a way for feedback to be amended if needed, in the situation that the edit window has passed.

💡 Have suggestions for future updates? We’d love to hear them. Email us at support@matchmyproject.com.

This year the Product team has been beavering away turning your feedback into features – and last month we shared a list of recently completed updates to Match My Project.

There’s more to come, so stay tuned! Here’s a round-up from July, to let you know what’s live now and what’s on the way, to make it easier to collaborate, communicate, and track your impact.

What’s gone live in July…

1. Filters updated, making it easier to view relevant projects and offers

🚧 Filters were being underutilised because they weren’t obvious.

✅ There’s now a more prominent filters button in Projects & Directory, with updated filtering and sorting options.

✅ The filters display has been updated to remove clicks when filtering.

✅ More date sorting options have been added.

✅ Clear any filters you’ve set by clicking ‘Reset filters’.

✨ Find specific projects & offers more easily in the Directory and Projects pages.

2. Filters automatically saved – so you see the most relevant information, every time

✨ Tip: whether you’re a business looking for a specific type of VCFSE project or a VCFSE seeking support in your area, set filters in the directory to speed up matching.

What’s coming soon…

1. Easier locations input

When selecting locations using checkboxes, you’ll be able to type to search a location – removing clicks and making it easier to find the relevant options.

2. Richer information in the Directory

Oldest and newest projects will be flagged, and locations clearly displayed – so it’s easier to identify potential matches.

3. Smoother matching tools

To keep communication flowing, suppliers will be able to remove offers to complete community initiated projects.

And for smoother matching, VCFSE projects won’t expire when under offer, even if the project dates have passed.

4. Enhanced communication

Whenever someone declines a match request, they will soon be able to share a reason – to provide useful context for the requester.

Authority users will be able to request edits to approved projects and feedback, to prevent these conversations needing to happen on email.

Authority users will be able to resend account creation links if they get lost, to speed up someone accessing their account.

5. More timely & accurate feedback

You’ll be able to enter a target completion date when matching, so that we can send you more timely feedback reminders and projects don’t get stuck.

There will be a way for feedback to be amended if needed, in the situation that the edit window has passed.

Have questions or ideas to share? Get in touch at support@matchmyproject.org

The data download includes information from the activity that happens on an authority’s Match My Project site.

It can be downloaded by Authority Admin and Standard users from the ‘Data download’ subsection of the Account page, accessed from the sidebar.

Structure

This table shows how the data download is laid out. A breakdown of each tab follows below.

Section	Tab names
Overview	1. Overview
Users	2. Users_Community 3. Users_Supplier
Match type 1: Community initiated projects	4. Projects 5. Shortlisted projects 6. Project offers
Match type 2: Supplier in-kind support offers	7. Supplier resource offers 8. Supplier offer requests
Match type 3: Jobs & training opportunities	9. Jobs & training 10. Employment referrals 11. Training referrals 12. Work placement referrals

Section by section breakdown

Section 1: Overview

🗂️ Overview tab

A summary of the activity that has taken place on your site, showing aggregated data for key metrics, for each quarter of the past year and all time.

Section 2: Users

🗂️ Users_Community tab

Contact data, organisation data and login data for each user.

This is created during signup and edited in their Profile. The ‘Created’ and ‘Updated’ columns show when the user was created and when they last updated their details.

🗂️ Users_Supplier tab

As above – Contact data, organisation data and login data for each supplier or business user.

Section 3: Community initiated projects

Three tabs contain data on projects posted by community organisations: Projects, Shortlisted projects, and Project offers.

🗂️ Projects tab

Contains information about projects that community users entered into the ‘Add a Project’ form. For projects that have been matched and beyond, it shows the match date, completed date and feedback.

Here’s a breakdown of the project stages shown in the ‘Status’ column:

Status	Description
Submitted	Awaiting review by the authority
Edits requested	The authority has asked the organisation to edit their project
Awaiting supplier	The project is live in the directory
Supplier offered to complete	The project is under offer, but is still in the directory as the community organisation hasn’t responded to the offer yet
In progress	A match has been made and the project is no longer in the directory
Completed	Both organisations have given feedback

🗂️ Shortlisted projects tab

Shows where suppliers have added community initiated projects to their shortlist of potential projects to support, indicating their interest in completing a project.

Includes the project name, email addresses of the users involved, and the date the project was shortlisted.

🗂️ Project offers tab

A log of all offers sent by supplier users – to complete community initiated projects.

Includes the status of the offer (whether it was accepted/declined) and the date that the offer was sent.

Section 4: Supplier in-kind support offers

There are two tabs related to offers of in-kind support posted by suppliers: Supplier resource offers and Support offer requests.

🗂️ Supplier resource offers tab

Shows the details entered by suppliers submitting an in-kind support offer on the ‘In-kind support offer’ form and the offer status. For offers that have been matched and beyond, it shows the match date, completed date and feedback.

Here’s a breakdown of the labels in the ‘Status’ column:

Status	Description
Submitted	Awaiting review by the authority
Edits requested	The authority has asked the organisation to edit their offer
Awaiting community organisation	The offer is live in the directory
Community organisation has requested the resources on offer	The project is under offer, but is still in the directory as the supplier hasn’t responded to the offer yet
In progress	A match has been made and the project is no longer in the directory
Completed	Both organisations have given feedback

🗂️ Support offer requests tab

A log of all requests made by community organisations, on in-kind support offers. All the information entered on the request form is shown in this tab, including the outcomes of how the community organisation plans to use the resources.

The status of the request is shown in the ‘Status’ column and the date that the request was sent is in the ‘Created’ column.

Section 5: Jobs and training opportunities

🗂️ Jobs & training tab

Contains all the data submitted by supplier on the ‘Employment & training’ offer form when they create a jobs or training opportunity.

You can also track the Status, match and completed dates, number of referrals for each opportunity and status of those referrals.

🗂️ Employment referrals tab, Training referrals tab & Work placement referrals tab

A log of the candidates referred to each opportunity type and when the referral was made.

Thanks for using Match My Project!

Special appreciation goes out to everyone who takes the time to share feedback 🙏

Send your thoughts over to support@matchmyproject.org.

The data download has recently been updated! In this article you’ll find details of the latest changes. For a general overview of the download and how to navigate the tabs, see this guide.

These changes include some upgraded metrics and bring the download in line with the site as a whole, reflecting recent improvements.

1. See more detail about community and supplier users

New columns in the Users_Community and Users_Supplier tabs now include all the information from the sign-up form:

✅ How they heard about Match My Project.

✅ The information to establish any pre-existing relationships with your organisation such as a recent contract, if community organisations have recently received funding from you or recognised funders and if they are a member of the local community & voluntary sector infrastructure body.

Some other changes include:

✅ New activity data for each user showing the number of logins in the past month and average monthly logins in the past 6 months, replacing the login log tab.

✅ For clarity, Charities Commission and Companies House numbers are in separate columns.

2. Keep tabs on key project and offer data

A few important data points have been added to help you understand your matches better.

✅ The match date and completion date has been added. For community initiated projects, these dates are located in the Projects tab, columns AG-AH. For business initiated in-kind support offers, they’re shown in columns Z and AA of the Supplier resource offers tab.

✅ The supplier’s tag for whether the project counts as Social Value or CSR is now displayed in the Project offers and Supplier resource offers tabs in a column called Social value / CSR.

3. Track jobs and training data

There are new tabs help you keep track of all jobs and training opportunities created by businesses.

✅ Jobs & Training lists all opportunities posted by suppliers and

✅ The Referrals tabs list all referrals made by community organisations to jobs, training and work placement opportunities.

4. See new overview data

The aggregated data has been slightly restructured to be more useful.

✅ In the Overview tab, there’s new ‘all time’ data, additional to quarterly data for the current financial year.

5. View and navigate data with ease

We fixed the extra-wide columns.

✅ The resized, standardised columns are easier to work with, prevent too much scrolling and improve readability.

Thanks for using Match My Project!

Special appreciation goes out to everyone who takes the time to share feedback 🙏

Send your thoughts over to support@matchmyproject.org.

Un-blocker (noun). An intervention to remove a barrier. (According to the Match My Project team at least).

We recently rolled out the first phase of ‘un-blocker’ features, small but crucial tweaks to the way Match My Project works, to help people save time and energy – and ultimately create more matches.

These changes were the ones we saw as levers to create the most value for the greatest number of users. They were largely identified by our user groups (our valued inner-circle authority, business and community organisations) and by analysing the most frequently reported queries received by our help desk.

Follow along for the roadblocks 🚧, solutions ✅ and the results ✨ we hope these changes will unlock for you. As always, let us know if you have any feedback.

Signing up

1. New guidance at signup, for success first time

🚧 New users were signing up for the wrong account type, or signing up twice on behalf of their organisation.

✅ Guidance links are available at signup to help people quickly solve any questions they have about signing up.

✅ At the end of the form, there’s a summary of the next steps, to help new users know what to expect.

✨ The easier signup is, the more organisations available to match and the greater impact can be delivered.

2. We binned Twitter to focus on LinkedIn

🚧 Being asked to add their X account details was (understandably) putting off new users.

✅ Now the only social media account information we collect is your LinkedIn account.

✨ Sometimes a step back is a step forward. Follow us on LinkedIn where we celebrate and share the amazing work being done through Match My Project.

3. Suppliers state their contracts, to speed up approval

🚧 Authorities reported difficulties approving businesses, because sometimes they’d have to talk to different teams to understand if they should be on the platform.

✅ To help the authority understand their current relationship with the business signing up, businesses are now asked if they have a current contract with the authority, and the contract title.

4. Tell us how you found us – to help spread the word!

🚧 Authorities didn’t know how organisations heard about Match My Project, or which channels for promoting it were effective.

✅ Both business and community users are asked how they heard about Match My Project.

✨ This should help authorities to promote Match My Project more effectively to their stakeholders and get more organisations on board.

Logging in

5. New guidance on login, for smoother account access

🚧 Users were getting confused by the login process and trying to login to the wrong authority’s site.

✅ It’s now clearer which site users are logging into, with the authority’s name displayed in the guidance text. There are instructions about what to do if you need to login to a different authority, or access more authorities.

✨ The aim: people login successfully first time.

Adding projects and offers

6. Autosave is here!

🚧 Previously when adding a project or offer, you had to click the ‘Save’ button in order to save it. But this wasn’t clear and sometimes people’s login sessions timed out, meaning their work was lost.

✅ Now once you’ve added your title and description, a draft project or offer is automatically saved in My Projects and can be accessed from the project card.

✨ Saved work = saved time.

7. Clearer project summaries – to speed up matching

🚧 Businesses were getting confused because of how projects were being described, taking them longer to find out if a project was relevant to them.

✅ The project title and description questions have been tweaked and good examples added, to help community organisations describe the projects in the best light!

✨ Suppliers save time & community organisations get more matches.

8. Businesses can make their offers clearer by adding add documents

🚧 It was sometimes difficult for community organisations to understand what was on offer because they weren’t able to see it.

✅ Useful documents such as images and product specs can now be added to offers of in kind support.

✨ Clearer information = time saved.

Profile updates

9. Community users can easily update team members

🚧 Previously community organisations couldn’t manage their team very easily. When team members left, you had to contact the help desk so that someone new could take over the account.

✅ Now, users can easily be added and deleted from the Profile page.

✨ Keep your account more secure.

⚙️ New users are invited by email.

⚙️ If you need to delete someone’s account, their projects can be transferred to an existing user.

Authority updates

10. More flexible sorting and less scrolling

🚧 Previously, authority users could only sort through their applications A-Z or Z-A. This made things difficult you needed to view a category that was in the middle of the list, e.g. ‘Edits requested’.

✅ Now clicking the sort buttons cycles through options where there are more than two categories visible.

✨ Find the information you need more quickly and easily.

11. Authorities can see who’s given feedback

🚧 Previously it wasn’t easy for authorities to know who to nudge, for projects that were taking a long time to complete.

✅ Now authorities can see on the project card which organisation has given feedback. They can also see the details of the feedback on the project page.

✨ More visibility, more impact.

⚙️ Feedback details appear immediately.

12. Authorities can reverse matches that can’t be completed

🚧 Previously this was only available on community-led projects and not in kind support offers, meaning some projects were getting ‘stuck’ where organisations had gone into administration, for example.

✅ Authorities have the ability to ‘reverse match’ all matches. The relevant organisations are alerted by email. If the end date hasn’t passed for the project or offer, it is returned to the directory. If the project or offer has expired, the organisation is alerted to update or remove it.

✨ Up to date projects that are easier to track and manage.

13. All matches included in impact data

🚧 Previously the impact section only included information on community-led projects, not matches initiated by suppliers.

✅ ‘Matches’ has replaced ‘Projects supported’

✨ Stakeholders have a full picture of what’s happening.

14. More data points added to your data download

Stay tuned for a guide on how to make the most of your data download.

👀 Un-blockers round 2 is coming this summer – stay tuned!

💡 Have suggestions for future updates? We’d love to hear them. Email us at support@matchmyproject.com.

We all know that managing Social Value takes time…

From finding out what community organisations need, to getting suppliers involved, to tracking delivery – it all adds up.

Many authorities dedicate hours, even days, every week to Social Value administration. Our conversations with public sector partners have highlighted this challenge repeatedly.

We’ve heard many a horror story about manual Social Value Excel spreadsheets.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Working closely with our public sector partners through our bi-monthly User Group, we’ve designed Match My Project to eliminate this time drain, without compromising on quality.

In fact, our platform helps deliver more outcomes while requiring less admin time.

Here’s how:

Speedy onboarding: authorities can be up and running in just 8 minutes, businesses in under 2 minutes, and community organisations in under 6 minutes

Simplified project creation: community organisations can add well-structured projects in around 8 minutes, eliminating the need for authorities to chase up on poorly written requests

Automated matching and tracking: suppliers and community organisations match amongst themselves, removing the need for spreadsheets, email chains, and follow-up calls that take up valuable time

One of our most prolific authority users, Hyde Housing Association, told us, “Having Match My Project has meant that the time spent on reviewing and facilitating Social Value requests has reduced from two days a week to two hours a week. So it’s definitely been worthwhile for us.”

What makes Match My Project stand out is that it’s not a trade-off between time and quality. You actually get better outcomes in less time.

The platform ensures resources go to the right places while freeing up your team to focus on strategic priorities rather than administration.

Would a quick chat be helpful? Let’s see how we can help you reduce the amount of time you spend doing Social Value without sacrificing any quality.

Are you delivering Social Value that is genuinely impactful?

Social Value is a great opportunity to strengthen local communities.

And local community organisations know what their communities need better than anyone.

From our conversations with our public sector partners, we know they agree with us.

But so often Social Value feels untargeted – sometimes driven by what the supplier chooses to do, rather than led by the community. And, worst case scenario, it can be unverified.

How confident are you that the Social Value committed at tender stage – which feels ambitious and aspirational – is actually delivered, is actually felt in the community?

It’s a problem.

And, based on our public sector partners – through our bi-monthly User Group – that we knew to design Match My Project to explicitly address these challenges.

Every authority we work with has the opportunity to configure its own Match My Project site to ensure:

-All community projects that receive resources are delivering against local place based outcomes

-Resources get to the type of community projects that are really going to benefit – larger charities with existing bid writing teams may, for example, not need extra resources as much as the smaller local organisations

-Resources get to projects in exactly the right place, geographically – does the southern part of the borough, or a particular estate need more support? You can do that on Match My Project.

Would a quick chat be helpful? Let’s see how we could help you deliver Social Value that is truly targeted and impactful.

It’s one thing getting suppliers to commit to Social Value – and another for them to deliver it

Over the years, Social Value has suffered from what we call the ‘credibility gap’.

That’s the difference between rhetoric and reality.

Or… what suppliers promise to deliver at tender stage and what they deliver in contract mobilisation.

There are ways and means of dealing with this. Let’s take them in turn.

Option 1: ask the supplier to self certify

This is a tricky one.

It creates a risk of gaming: essentially, you are asking suppliers to mark their own homework.

In our experience, the people who do Social Value in supplier organisations believe in Social Value and do a great job of delivering it. But, as an institution, suppliers have to focus on revenues and profit margins.

That will always be the priority and this is where potential conflict of interests arise if you go with Option One.

Option 2: ask a third party to assure

Can be expensive.

Asking a team of consultants to assure can increase time and cost.

There is also the risk that the consultants may not have the experience or insight to do this job properly.

And more potential conflict of interest is the team of consultants is also in a contractual relationship with the supplier. Sub-optimal.

Option 3: use a marketplace platform

Marketplace platforms, like Match My Project, have direct access to the community beneficiary.

If a supplier has committed to delivering a resource or an apprenticeship, the community beneficiary – the organisation or the individual – is on Match My Project and will record whether the resource has been delivered to time and to quality.

This is then shared across the network to establish which suppliers are credible and consistent.

No need for suppliers to self-certify or to bring in costly consultants if you use Match My Project.

Would a quick chat be helpful? Let’s see if we can help you deliver Social Value that is community led and community verified.

We’re excited to roll out three impactful updates that will make managing projects and supplier offers even easier. These new features aim to enhance transparency, streamline user management, and improve visibility of resources. Here’s what’s new:

🔍 Real-Time Feedback Visibility for Authorities
Previously, authorities could only see project feedback once both the community organisation and the supplier had submitted their feedback. This sometimes meant authorities were left in the dark if only one side had responded, creating delays and stalled progress.

The Update:
Now, when either the community organisation or the supplier submits feedback, the authority can see it immediately, even while the project remains “In Progress.”

Here’s how it works:
If either the community organisation or the supplier leaves feedback, the project will still show as “In Progress,” but the card will now display a clear message: “In progress – [Community/Supplier] feedback given.” This allows the authority to see that one side has already provided feedback, even if the other hasn’t. These projects will appear at the top of the “In Progress” list, making it easier for authorities to spot where progress has been made and where action might be needed. The feedback will be fully visible to the authority and can be approved for public view as usual.
This change gives authorities better visibility on project momentum and the opportunity to intervene early if support is needed.

🗂️Community Organisations Can Now Transfer Projects and Delete Users
We know staff and volunteer changes are inevitable, and they shouldn’t disrupt your project delivery.

The Update:

Community-based organisations (CBOs) now have the power to delete users from their accounts and transfer ownership of ongoing projects to another user within the organisation. This ensures continuity of communication and smoother transitions when teams evolve.

📤 Suppliers Can Now Add Documents to Their Offers
Suppliers often want to include more detailed descriptions or visuals, such as flyers, product specs, or images, to give CBOs a clearer picture of the support on offer.

The Update:
The Supplier Offer Form now includes a file upload option. Suppliers can attach documents with the same constraints and layout in the CBO project forms.
Once uploaded, the documents will be viewable and downloadable from all related project info pages.
This feature helps CBOS make more informed decisions when choosing offers that suit their needs.

Why These Updates Matter
At Match My Project, our mission is to create a seamless and transparent platform where community groups, suppliers, and local authorities can collaborate confidently. These new tools support that goal by improving communication, ensuring smooth handovers, and making project offers more informative and engaging.
We’re excited to see how you use these features to drive even more impact in your communities!

💡 Have suggestions for future updates? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at support@matchmyproject.com.