User involvement
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The people that charities and funders exist to help often have little or no influence over those organisations’ decisions. And there is rarely any way to let organisations know how they would like things to be different. User involvement is all about designing and delivering solutions ‘with’ people rather than ‘to’ people. This way, power is shared and better answers are found. We want to support charities and funders to do more of it.
Featured resources and commentary on user involvement
Implementing and evaluating co-design
Our five-stage roadmap for planning and implementing your co-design. We also explore how to evaluate your outcomes and processes, and how to learn from the data.
Co-design: Making it real and doing it well
Done well, co-design can unlock positive outcomes for participants, organisations and communities. Designing services and strategies with people rather than to people can build solutions that better address their needs.
Make it count: Why impact matters in user involvement
Involving users in shaping services and strategies is increasingly considered to be both the right and most effective way for the social sector and charities to work. This paper argues for a greater focus in the social sector on what user involvement aims to achieve and evidencing its effectiveness.
Why we need to do user involvement right
User involvement is in the spotlight, and while participatory and influencing practices are nothing new, they are now making it to the mainstream. But are they being used as well as they could be? Rosie McLeod, Deputy Head of Measurement and Evaluation explores her new research.
User voice: Putting people at the heart of impact practice
This report explains how charities can best harness the views and needs of their beneficiaries in order to improve their impact.
User mapping techniques: A guide for the social sector
This guide outlines how user mapping techniques can be used to better understand people's lived experiences and drive impact.
Putting people with lived experience in the lead
Darren Murinas, CEO, Expert Citizens
Expert Citizens is a Stoke-based independent group of people who have all experienced multiple needs. As ambassadors of lived experience, they encourage decision-makers to listen, learn, and then lead systems change in local services to make them even better. Here the organisation’s CEO shares his experience of connecting user voice, governance, strategy, and service design. He argues that charities still have a long way to go before they are truly putting people with lived experience in the lead.
4 insights from working with ‘experts by experience’
We talk a lot about the need for charities to involve the intended user when designing services. But we also know that it’s easier said than done. So we decided to have a go at doing. Here are four things we learned from mapping young people's experiences in Camden.
Bridging the gap between charities and their users
Involving users in planning, delivering and evaluating a charity's work can help make services more effective. But it's also a matter of principle, argues Shona Curvers.
Funders can set a powerful precedent by involving service users
It has been broadly accepted by charities from across the sector that listening to users is not only the moral thing to do—it’s also the smart and logical thing to do. So, how do funders fit into all of this?
Latest updates
Co-design: Making it real and doing it well
Done well, co-design can unlock positive outcomes for participants, organisations and communities. Designing services and strategies with people rather than to people can build solutions that better address their needs.
How to plan effective co-design
At Christmastime many charities will be campaigning for action on loneliness. Many projects are using co-design to involve people directly in improving community spaces. What are we learning about what works?
How to engage young people in arts and culture
The artistic landscape is shifting. Across the country, budgetary pressures and the demands of career-focussed choices mean we may be facing a generation of young people who have never experienced art at school or anywhere else. Philanthropists have an opportunity to change this.
NPC Ignites: People, Impact, Purpose
What can you expect from our annual conference NPC Ignites 2019?
Learning to involve stakeholders in your charity’s work
What practical steps should charities take to to involve users in an ethical way?
Snapshots of the sector 2019: Involvement
Some charities are expert in involving their users in their work, but is the whole sector up to speed.
Why we need to do user involvement right
User involvement is in the spotlight, and while participatory and influencing practices are nothing new, they are now making it to the mainstream. But are they being used as well as they could be? Rosie McLeod, Deputy Head of Measurement and Evaluation explores her new research.
Make it count: Why impact matters in user involvement
Involving users in shaping services and strategies is increasingly considered to be both the right and most effective way for the social sector and charities to work. This paper argues for a greater focus in the social sector on what user involvement aims to achieve and evidencing its effectiveness.
4 insights from working with ‘experts by experience’
We talk a lot about the need for charities to involve the intended user when designing services. But we also know that it’s easier said than done. So we decided to have a go at doing. Here are four things we learned from mapping young people's experiences in Camden.
Built with grit (not the snow kind): Co-designed tools to support your impact management
Charities and social enterprises need real support with their impact management. Announcing a new co-designed online platform to help with just that, Chair of the Impact Management Programme Sally Higham talks through these tools and celebrates the hard work that went into creating them.
User mapping techniques: A guide for the social sector
This guide outlines how user mapping techniques can be used to better understand people's lived experiences and drive impact.
Bridging the gap between charities and their users
Involving users in planning, delivering and evaluating a charity's work can help make services more effective. But it's also a matter of principle, argues Shona Curvers.
Talk to us
Got a question, comment, or want to work with us on user involvement? Get in touch with Liz Gadd NPC’s User Involvement Lead.
Get in touch