Katie Boswell

Katie works within NPC’s research and consulting team as Associate Director. She works with a range of charities and funders to help them to understand the change they want to see and how to get there. This includes using approaches such as theory of change, user involvement and systems change to maximise their impact. Since joining NPC in 2015, she has worked with clients including RNLI, Scope, Stroke Association, Versus Arthritis, London Funders, The Robertson Trust, Power to Change and Friends Provident Foundation.

Katie is passionate about the potential for greater user involvement, systems change, collaboration and place-based approaches in the social sector. In 2018, she worked with Lankelly Chase Foundation to gather practical insights on systems change, which were shared in Thinking big: How to use theory of change for systems change. In 2020-2022, she led our research and learning partnership with Fulfilling Lives Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham to map the system around adults experiencing multiple disadvantage and understand how the system can change. She also co-authored NPC’s guidance on rebalancing power dynamics and our framework for Place.

Katie’s work covers a range of causes—and she regularly works with charities and funders who are joining the dots between different issues. In 2017, she led NPC’s work with The Health Foundation on how non-health charities address the social determinants of health. In 2018, she co-authored Tackling the homelessness crisis: Why and how you should fund systemically. In 2020, she worked with the Beacon Collaborative to explore how philanthropists can collaborate for a cause. She has also authored reports on children and young people, including guides for funders on tackling child abuse and supporting disabled young people.

Before joining NPC Katie gained ten years’ experience in grant-making, research and consultancy. At One World Children’s Fund she managed a programme that partnered with community-based organisations in over twenty countries. She has worked and studied in the UK, USA and India. In 2013, she completed a Masters in Development Management, during which she specialised in institutional development, social research methods, education, and human rights. Katie is a Trustee of the Finance Innovation Lab, which aims to transform the financial system so that it works for people and planet.

You can find Katie on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Why I work for NPC

‘NPC is at the forefront of vital debates about the social sector and everyone in the team is passionate about making a difference to people and communities.’