Guides

How much a foundation pays out goes to their heart of its mission. But many boards do not regularly consider how much money they are giving away over all, and whether this fits with what they're trying to achieve. So how can trustees guard against being too conservative in their spending?

‘A vision without a plan is just a dream. A plan without a vision is just drudgery. But a vision with a plan can change the world.’ We've updated of our free guide to charity strategy with some fresh thinking. Here Sally Bagwell introduces our approach and outlines some key principles for developing a strategy.

A charity closing is not a bad thing if it benefits its users. When news hit last September that leading childcare charity 4Children had ceased operating, NPC’s CEO Dan Corry argued that charity sector should learn from this type of event. The charity, it seemed, had managed to close in a way that did minimal damage to its beneficiaries and staff—a major coup. So what went right? We spoke to it’s former and final CEO to learn from their successful closure.

Andrew Weston outlines two key questions charities must ask themselves when designing a digital product or service.

Putting all your eggs in one basket, or your money where your mouth is? Views differ as to whether trustees should be expected to donate money as well as time to the charities they serve. Ruth Gripper explores the arguments for and against.

Terms like 'start-up' and 'social enterprise' sound like brand new approaches to pervasive social issues. But, as he explains below, James Noble has found that the model is not quite as new as we might think. And like the social enterprises of old, modern ventures need a solid approach to understanding and improving the success of their work. Read about an 'olde worlde' approach to social impact, and our guide for today's start-ups.

In the private sector, the move towards greater board diversity has been building for years now. And as a result, a compelling case has been made for how it can boost organisations' performance. Reflecting on a recent NPC roundtable, Julia Oliver argues that the third sector needs to step up and follow suit. She offers some ideas as to why and how trustees should open themselves up to get different skills, insights and perspectives on board.

When buying an item, we often shop around to compare deals—do a bit of work to find the best quality product that does the best job for the best value. So how can we do the same when donating our money?

There are over 10,000 charitable foundations in the UK, and between them they generate a vast amount of data. But this data has not traditionally been seen as a resource in the same way that money has been. At NPC, we think this is a missed opportunity. Here are five simple ways that data can improve your grant-making.

In any sector, be it private, public, or voluntary, maximising efficiency and improving quality is crucial. Many organisations are striving to get better at producing, managing, and understanding data, and it’s thanks to this hard work that we are seeing innovations in impact measurement that are worth learning from...

It's no secret that a power imbalance exists between grant-makers and their grantees. So it's important that funders are aware of how this imbalance could negatively affect the social impact they are trying to achieve. Oliver Carrington outlines three key things funders should consider to help them harness this power in a more effective way.

Many charities, funders and social enterprises are committed to learning and improving, but are stretched for time, resources and know-how. Cecilie Hestbaek, who leads the Inspiring Impact programme, outlines three easy and free ways to help busy organisations improve their impact practice.