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Economics lessons for charities
NPC’s Eibhlín Ní Ógáin talks to five experts about applying economic principles to the charity sector—and discovers that charities have a lot to learn.
Ian Hislop is a British satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the magazine Private Eye. He presented Ian’s Hislop’s Age of the Do-Gooders, recently broadcast on BBC2. Here he tells NPC about how a train journey across India inspired him to help children living on the streets.
PG Wodehouse is widely acknowledged as the greatest comic writer of the twentieth century. Less widely known is his insight into the perils of restricted funding for charities. Yet Wodehouse has a lesson about how donors should approach their giving.
NPC Blog
NEETs charities must work together to prove their worth
Posted 17 hours ago by Guest contributor
Valuing healthcare for the homeless
Esther Paterson explores how collecting data has helped the London Pathway to improve homeless people’s lives.
‘No one has wanted to help our kind before. You have saved me, thank you so much.’
London 2012: Inspiring the next generation?
The London 2012 Olympics promises to inspire a generation of young people. But are the Games leaving the right legacy behind?
Learning from community organisations
Charities have a lot to learn from community organisations. By recognising people’s strengths rather than labelling them according to their problems, community organisations have the potential to help local people to help themselves in some of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.
Foundations for knowledge
Funders are not only a source of money, but also offer a wealth of knowledge and information, says Adrian Fradd.
Autism charities face uncertain future
NPC research analyst Sarah Hedley reveals that many autism charities face a looming funding crisis, which threatens to leave people with autism in the lurch.
Counting on family ties
Relationships with our loved ones are not always easy, but the financial, practical and emotional help families provide has a significant impact on our lives. The same goes for offenders leaving prison.
"Don’t treat me differently"
How the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity is measuring the impact is has on the self-esteem of visually impaired teenagers.
The art of measurement
Many arts organisations have room for improvement when it comes to proving their impact. J.P. Morgan has been looking to raise standards.
Strengthening family ties to reduce reoffending
Charities that support prisoners’ families often end up at the bottom of the funding pile. NPC’s work with Indigo Trust aims to help these charities demonstrate their impact on reoffending rates.
Making data count with NPC
NPC loves data. Collecting data allows organisations to demonstrate success and to identify and learn from their mistakes to establish good practice. But we know that it is not enough simply to collect data—what matters is what you do with it.
The business of philanthropy
Following its latest report that revealed the lacklustre market for philanthropy advice, NPC has brought together some of the sector’s heavy hitters to help stimulate both supply and demand for effective advice on charitable giving.
Analyse this: The little blue book
Last month NPC published The little blue book, our guide to analysing charities.
Turning the tables: one year on
Last year NPC’s report, Turning the tables, called for more to be done to cut excessive reporting burdens on charities. Twelve months on, we give an update about what has happened since then.
From boot camps to dancing shoes
NPC’s research into youth offending argues that charities are a vital source of innovation in a sector that is averse to risk.
Life behind bars
Following a series of ‘Seeing is believing’ visits to Wandsworth Prison, NPC reports back on what life is really like on the inside—and how to make prisons more effective.
The parent trap
Poor parenting is blamed for many of today’s social problems. So what can we do to improve children’s prospects?
Can you put a number on a feeling?
How happy would you say you are today? Four? Eight? It seems strange to put a number on a feeling. That’s why many charities working to improve well-being and make children happier struggle to measure their impact. But NPC believes you can put a number on a feeling, and has developed a questionnaire to help charities measure their impact on children’s well-being.
Addressing autism
The possibility of using a biological test to screen babies for autism before they are born has come a step closer to reality, thanks to research by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen at the University of Cambridge. This news has released a torrent of debate about the ethics of screening pregnancies and subsequent terminations.
Tackling infant malnutrition in India
The vast sub-continent of India boasts one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Yet the shining skyscrapers of Mumbai are nestled among dark and dirty slums, where poverty, hunger and disease are rife. Swathes of the population have not been reached by India’s prosperity, and almost half of India’s children are malnourished.
A titanic mistake?
Built in remote locations to house up to 2,000 prisoners, are super-jails the answer to overcrowding in Britain’s prisons? NPC fears that so-called ‘Titan’ prisons will only make matters worse.
Waking up to the benefits of philanthropy
Research last year by NPC and wealth management consultants Scorpio Partnerships showed that banks and family offices were not meeting their clients’ philanthropy needs. But a number of professional advisors are finally realising that philanthropy can offer huge opportunities.
Inspiring charities in India
The well-being of India’s children has not kept pace with the country’s recent economic development. Half of all Indian children are undernourished (nearly double the rate for children in sub-Saharan Africa). Six out of every hundred babies die before their first birthday; and half of all children do not complete eight years of schooling.
The youth of today
It costs the Brandon Centre less than £2,000 to improve a teenager’s mental health. It can cost at least ten times more if the problem is left untreated.
Turning risk into return
Risk is something we like to talk about a lot at NPC. It offers an exciting opportunity for donors looking to create big impact. We talked to two funders to find out what risk means to them.
Turning the tables
NPC suggests it is time that charities turn the tables by providing funders with just one standard report—so they can devote more of their time to delivering frontline services.
The price of justice
For the price of a family holiday, donors can help domestic violence victims bring their attackers to justice.