NPC's history

New Philanthropy Capital was set up by Goldman Sachs staff who were trying to find the best way to give away money to charity. They realised that there was a dearth of information and advice for donors, to help them decide where to invest their charitable donations most effectively. So they decided to fill the gap.

NPC was launched in 2002, having been registered as a charity the year before.

Well-known economist and then Goldman Sachs partner, Gavyn Davies, was sitting in the cafeteria of the investment bank’s London headquarters with fellow partner, Peter Wheeler, when the idea of NPC came to them.

According to Davies: 'In financial markets in the late 1990s there was an enormous industry dedicated to putting capital to use where it gets the highest returns. So why couldn’t the same be true of philanthropy?’

'We found there wasn’t enough information produced in a hardheaded, independent, high-quality way,’ says Davies.' (Quoted in Philanthrocapitalism, by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green).

An expanded role

Initially set up with the goal of helping donors find effective charities, NPC has now expanded its approach to focus both on charities and donors. We also play a broader role — inspiring public debate on charity impact and building the marketplace that links charities and funders. Currently, one of our biggest projects is developing a tool to measure well-being, which will be available online from late 2010.

Find out how we help and read about NPC's achievements.