The little blue book: NPC’s guide to analysing charities, for charities and funders

The little blue book is NPC’s concise and practical guide to analysing charities, for charities and funders.

Update: What makes a good charity? is our most up-to-date guide to charity analysisDownload it here.

The guide contains examples of how charities and funders benefit from analysis, and explains NPC’s charity analysis framework, which looks at how charities can assess their effectiveness in six areas:

  • Activities: Do the charity’s activities address a genuine need?
  • Results: Can it demonstrate results of what it has achieved?
  • Leadership: Do trustees and management provide high quality leadership?
  • People and resources: Does it use staff, volunteers and resources well?
  • Finances: Are the finances sound?
  • Ambition: Is it ambitious to solve social problems?

The little blue book also contains a grading grid, which can be used to describe a charity’s effectiveness on each part of the framework.

At a time when many charities are having to make tough decisions, The little blue book can help them to assess their own performance, to identify successes and failures, and to understand how they can improve. It can also help funders make thoughtful funding decisions, by better understanding charities’ strengths and areas for development.

 Charitable effectiveness is about working hard, day in, day out, to deliver the very best services you can, to people that need them … and the thing that stands out for me in our relationship with NPC is the rigour of its approach.

Judith Moran from Quaker Social Action.

Quaker action won a CAF Charity Award as a result of being able to show the effectiveness of its creative financial education project.

 

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