The year in review: 2023 at NPC

With the end of the year fast approaching, here are our highlights of 2023! 

January 

We kicked off the new year with a new trustee! In January we welcomed Meera Craston to the NPC board. Meera is a strong advocate of evaluation and evidence-based decision making and delivered a speech at this year’s NPC summer drinks reception. 

February 

In February, NPC’s Policy Manager, Theo Clay, published a blog analysing the governments Levelling Up agenda. In it he explored key questions, such as where funding is being allocated and what it’s being spend on. Is Levelling Up tackling needs? No one knows. 

March 

In March, spring officially sprung, and we moved office! We also launched the first report for our Signpost+ project, exploring how we might improve signposting for young people, and published a paper summarising our work with stakeholders to develop use cases for a Civil Society Satellite Account.  

April 

To mark Autism Acceptance Week, three NPC staff members shared their reflections on how autism has shaped their careers, harnessing the power of their lived experience in the hopes of prompting people to rethink how they view autism.  

May 

At the start of May, we published a practical guide on how to embed DEI into your grant-making cycle, which stimulated important conversation across the sector.   

June 

During the hottest summer since records began, we published a series of briefings outlining how the climate and nature crises will impact young people, older people, Disabled people, and people from ethnic minority communities. We also released a report making the case for better and more transparent data in the impact investing industry. 

July  

In July, we published two more practical guides for the sector! The first, our Open Philanthropy guide, detailed how funders can make their grant-making more inclusive and transparent. The second, outlined how trustees can govern in a crisis.  

August  

With the news of Lankelly Chase’s decision to close hitting the headlines, we published a blog exploring the implications of closing a foundation.  

September 

In September, we released our findings from the Everyone’s Environment programmes research into how Disabled people, older people, young people, and people from ethnic minority communities want charities and government to respond to the climate and nature crises.  

October 

Our annual conference, NPC Ignites, returned for two days of thoughtful and provocative discussion on the big topics affecting the sector. This year we explored the role of charities in politics and policy, the state of the sector, and heard from Mike Adamson (former CEO of the British Red Cross).  

November 

In November, we toasted to another successful year of maximising social impact through campaigning and advocacy at our House of Lords policy reception, and welcomed back Sarah Sandford, Principal: Data at NPC, who provided some important updates on our data projects.  

December 

With the year drawing to a close, we published our highly anticipated Centring Lived Experience guide on how to effectively incorporate insight from lived experience throughout your organisation. 

Thank you to everybody who helped make it a great year, we hope you enjoy the festive break, and we’ll see you in 2024!