NPC Ignites: Now for the action

In this guest blog, Michelle Lawrence, CEO at Link Up (UK), reflects on the conversations at NPC Ignites 2026 and asks what it will take to turn shared ambition into action. She explores why collaboration needs time, resources and investment, and sets out her next step: a pilot of Connect The Dots. 

How do you sum up my thoughts on Ignites in less than 800 words? Well, it was a lot. 

A lot of great people, great speakers, talking, conversations, listening, coffee and cake, laughter, frustration and hope. And hopefully, next… a lot of action. 

I loved the almost defiant celebration of the charity sector. A defiance that stems from the challenges we face in our work and in securing funding, but also from the attacks (heartbreakingly, sometimes even physical and verbal threats) increasingly directed at our sector. 

Because this truly is an amazing sector. One that persists on a shoestring, fuelled by passion, energy, commitment, with agility and dogged stubbornness. Which means a lot of us are running on empty. And that is unsustainable. It needs to change. 

This change cannot come from one sector on its own. It cannot be just top down, nor can it be just bottom up. It has to be up and down, side to side, and side by side – it has to be the charities, the funders, the government, the procurers, the communities, academics and educators all working together. 

Why change cannot wait

For me, this was the other strong thread running through Ignites: a growing acceptance that change is necessary. But what does this change look like, how is it going to happen, and who is going to make it happen? 

Change needs impetus. Covid forced researchers to work together to create a vaccine and broke down siloed ways of working in communities, enabling organisations to come together to help those in need. We neither need to have, nor want to have, another Covid-type impetus to make change happen, but we do need to create the conditions that make it possible. 

And perhaps those conditions are now aligning. Demand for our work is growing, problems are becoming increasingly complex and entrenched, and funding is harder to access while costs rise. Funders are overwhelmed with applications, charities are closing, trust in the sector is declining, and all of this is playing out against an increasingly divided society. 

So it’s hardly surprising that there is a growing understanding that the current ways of working just aren’t… well, working. 

And what does need to change? Some headlines for sure are: 

• More long-term core funding.
• More logic and less measurement.
• Less power imbalance.
• More honest and open engagement
• More sharing of what works and less reinventing the wheel.
• Fewer application forms (please).
• All voices at the tables.
• More understanding of the other.
• More co-creation.

Collaboration needs investment

To my mind – and I have to declare a significant interest here – collaboration underpins all of these changes. Collaboration across and between sectors is how we make impact happen. I created Connect The Dots to enable and support exactly this: collaborations that creates long-term impact, from prevention to intervention and through to pathway. 

Connect The Dots gives people the tools and structure to collaborate effectively, bringing together the skills, resources and expertise that already exist in our communities in order to create the maximum impact. This means people can spend their time helping their communities, rather than working out how to collaborate. But collaboration doesn’t just happen because we agree it’s a good idea. The structures that maintain the status quo are too ingrained for change to happen organically. We need a concerted, coordinated effort, and we need to fund the structures that make it possible. 

This was another message I heard at Ignites, perhaps for the first time with such consensus: that collaboration and systems change take work, and that this work needs to be funded. Recognising that it takes time, resource and investment is a huge step forward. 

And if, as a result, we can do more with less, coordinate our efforts on the ground, share what works and what doesn’t, and ultimately make life better for our communities, then the cost will be priceless. 

Turning conversation into action

So now the ‘next’ needs to happen.

Most of us who attended will have been following up with others. Emails will have been flying around, and LinkedIn will have been a rather busy place. But how do we turn all that energy and enthusiasm into action? 

For me, the next step is to run a pilot of Connect The Dots. So, anyone interested in exploring collaboration, running or funding a pilot, helping shape the programme, getting involved or even collaborating on the collaboration… do get in touch. I would love to hear from you. Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn.