Claire Gordon

Claire works at NPC as Principal Consultant. She brings over a decade of experience in research and evaluation, with particular expertise in qualitative methods. She is passionate about the rich, nuanced insights these approaches generate and how they can inform better decision-making. Through her work leading evaluation and learning partnerships with clients such as GambleAware, the Santander Foundation, and NHS Charities Together, she supports organisations in reflecting on and adapting their practice in response to evidence and learning.

She has also advanced NPC’s work on equitable evaluation, helping to embed approaches that empower practitioners and people with lived experience to shape methods, interpret findings, and influence what happens next.

For over a decade, Claire has been involved in the grant-making sector through the William Grant Foundation, where she champions the organisation’s environmental funding strand. Claire is fascinated by what makes a good funder and was the lead author of NPC’s guidance for funders on monitoring, evaluation, and learning grounded in trust and equity. She is currently developing our thinking on what a systems change funder should look like. Claire regularly delivers training to strengthen grant-making and impact measurement practice.

Claire has a longstanding interest in the early years. In 2024, she led research into community-led approaches in this space. She is also a trustee of a new grant-maker focused on supporting the first 1,000 days of life in Scotland.

Before joining NPC, Claire worked at Social Life, where she led a range of place-based community research projects for public and private sector clients. She also brings experience in academic research, focusing on market-based approaches in development, and began her career in fundraising for Recode, a digital inclusion charity in Brazil.

She has worked in research and evaluation in and around the charity sector for over eight years and brings expertise in designing and leading mixed methods projects, with a particular focus on qualitative methods. At NPC, she has supported clients including the Santander Foundation and NHS Charities Together to understand their impact and develop learning to inform their programmes. She is currently leading our work creating a new framework for funders to evaluate and learn, while balancing trust, evidence and equity.

Before joining NPC, Claire worked at Social Life, leading a range place-based research and evaluation projects for private, public sector and charity clients. She also brings experience in academic research, where she focused on market-based approaches in development. She started her career working in fundraising for Recode a digital inclusion charity in Brazil.

Claire has a longstanding involvement in the grant-making sector, as a trustee of the William Grant Foundation, where she champions the organisation’s funding for the environmental sector. Claire holds an MA in Anthropology of Development from SOAS, University of London.

Why I work at NPC

It’s a real privilege to work across a wide range of clients and topics and be able to cross-pollinate from one to the other and, in that process, we hope, help to bring about some much needed change.