NPC spark

Transforming the charity sector

By Dan Corry 15 October 2012

New logo. New strap line. New website. Even a new URL (or website address to you and me). What on earth is the NPC CEO up to? Hasn’t he got better things to do with his time and to use resources on?

Well, some may say it’s just the one year itch—I needed a way to celebrate the anniversary of my arriving on the deck of the good ship NPC. Others will think it is a vanity project.

But I like to think otherwise.

In fact the whole refresh of NPC is based on a lot of hard work over the last year on the narrative of what we do, who we are, why we are different and worthwhile. We have been helped by our many friends, giving us their time to tell us what they think valuable about us, how they relate to us and what we could do and communicate better. We were also lucky to have pro bono support from Blue Rubicon to help us develop our thinking.

This process suggested strongly that what NPC does, and the position it holds in the sector, has evolved since we started out in the early 2000s. The name New Philanthropy Capital only gets across half of what we do today.

In fact we are in business to bring analysis and rigour, allied with passion and thoroughness, to the not-for-profit sector. We try and improve the impact of everything that goes on, from funding to frontline delivery, from charities to social enterprise, from government policy to the way trustees work and much else besides. And we do all this as an independent voice, not a membership body or a trade association, caring above all for the beneficiaries of charitable activity.

As a think tank and a consultancy—an unusual but valuable mixture—we therefore think that we are in business to do what we can in transforming the charity sector, and that will be our strap line from here on in.

And with this bold, confident approach, we have brought in new colours and a new logo that fit us better. In place of the logo that suggested, at least to some, money dropping from the skies, in comes the NPC spark, that talks abut igniting change, about interconnections and joining up, about movement and dynamism.

Our old website had done sterling work. But it had become hard to navigate, hard to update, and hard to download reports. So we bid it a fond adieu and, thanks to the support of a foundation that shared our vision, usher in what we hope will be a much more user-friendly experience.

Change, even for change makers like NPC, is never easy. Some will find the new look, voice and website difficult to get used to. But I believe it puts NPC in the right place to be as influential over the next 10 years as it was in the first.

And it helps celebrate my first year in post!

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