#NPCIgnites2018: Meeting the challenge of change

Ahead of tomorrow’s match between England and Sweden, we’ve heard a lot about what a new, dynamic England team this is. Regardless of any upcoming results, they have played differently, acted differently and won more than those who came before them; breaking records and capturing people’s hearts in the process.

How and why a change like this happens is difficult to understand. Sometimes it’s leadership, sometimes it’s a great idea, sometimes it’s circumstance, often it’s a combination of all three. But for all we struggle to understand change, and we do at NPC daily, we know one thing for sure—change is constant, and it affects everyone.

As a result, change is always a key factor that must be addressed and embraced for those of us involved in trying to achieve positive social progress— that is why it is the focus of our autumn conference NPC Ignites.

Over time the issues the sector tackles change, with high levels of low quality employment and a rapidly ageing population.

The policy environment is the most unpredictable for a long time, to the extent that calls to soften austerity from some areas of government are shouted down from others. All in the context of Brexit, an event that could change Britain more dramatically than any other.

We see technology expand the range of tools we might use to create social progress—as we move from analogue activities to technologically enabled philanthropy and user centred apps.

The public are changing, both demographically but also in attitudes to charity, their faith rocked by recent, and not-so-recent, scandals.

That is why the sector needs to constantly challenge itself and why we at NPC won’t stop banging the drum for innovation. And it’s why Ignites is so important, because it provides both the motivation and the tools for attendees to get out there and make change happen.

At Ignites we gather together and re-energise all of those who are interested in doing things better—whether in a large, small or medium sized charity, an innovative start up or scaling up social enterprise, or a grant making trust wanting to give funds out better.

We’ve got speakers from some of the biggest charities in the country, The Scouts, Shelter, Plan International UK, sharing a platform with the smaller organisations who are driving change first hand, such as The Brain Tumour Charity and Spark Inside.

We’ll hear from experts inside and outside the sector. Speakers from NESTA, the Money Advice Service and IPSOS MORI will help us understand what is happening in the world, how we can help and how we are perceived.

Finally, we’re pleased to announce that the Minister for Civil Society, Tracey Crouch, will be speaking. She will be coming to us hot off the heels of the publication of the Civil Society Strategy (we hope), and we can’t wait to hear her vision for the sector in the coming years.