Charity analysis
What makes a good charity? How can I tell if a charity will achieve its aim? Will my donation make a difference? How can my charity be more effective?
At NPC we believe it takes both head and heart to change lives. Charities, funders and trustees must be passionate about a cause, but you also need clear-headed charity analysis to make smart choices.
Our tried and tested approach centres around the integral features common to all effective charities. If you’re looking for funding advice or if you’re a charity seeking strategy support, we can help.
We want to help you translate your passion for change into tangible impact. To do this, we analyse four vital areas of effectiveness:
- Purpose: Is the charity needed? Does the charity have a good strategy? Do the charity’s activities match its strategy? Does the charity achieve results?
- Impact practice: Does the charity use information to learn and improve? Does the charity know what it is achieving? Does the charity have the right approach to evaluation? Is the charity open about its findings?
- People: Does the charity have good leadership and governance? Does the charity recruit talented people? Do people using the charity help shape its work? Does the charity have a healthy organisational culture?
- Finance and operations: Is the charity financially secure? Is the charity managed well? Is the charity efficient?
To learn more about our approach, read our guide: What makes a good charity?
We’d love to see you at one of our training days. We also offer tailored consulting support to help you do good, better.
Featured resources for charity analysis
What makes a good charity? NPC’s guide to charity analysis
NPC's step-by-step guide to charity analysis, outlining our tried and tested approach which focuses on the key characteristics we believe are common to all effective charities.
How I’d analyse a charity in two hours
'There’s a lot to do if a funder wants to analyse a charity. What if the funder only has two hours to make a decision? Or a day at most?’
How I’d analyse a charity in two hours: Part 2
Last week I talked about part 1: analysing a charity in two hours, and focused on the first hour of desk research. This week, I'm talking about the phone call with the chief executive.
So… what actually makes a ‘good’ charity?
This week we launched a new guide to charity analysis. Ruth Gripper explains what the guide is, and how it can help both charities and donors understand what an effective charity looks like.
