Helplines
What would you do if you were a child being bullied at school, too scared to tell your parents? Or if you just found out you had cancer and did not want to burden your family with your fears? Who would you turn to if you got yourself into such large amounts of debt that it was taking over your life?

Millions of people who find themselves in situations like this turn to helplines run by charities, such as the NSPCC, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Consumer Credit Counselling Service.

NPC wishes to look in more detail at the role and effectiveness of helplines. What difference do helplines make to people’s lives? How can helplines measure their quality and impact? Should some helplines consider collaborating or merging to provide a better service?
>>Click here for more details

Employment
Central government recognises that employment raises well-being and saves money by getting people off benefits. However, charities say when talking to local commissioners, the health and well-being improvements to their beneficiaries are too often ignored. NPC wants to produce a cost-benefit analysis, highlighting how improved health and well-being could save money at a local level, which charities could then use in discussions with local commissioners.
>>Click here for more details

Innovation in small charities
If we are to tackle social problems successfully, we need to create effective innovations. Innovations can come from many places, but one hypothesis is that small, grass-roots groups which are close to the problem are fertile sources of innovation, possibly because they have closer links to the people experiencing problems than larger organisations. However, small organisations often do not have the expertise or capacity to influence decision makers. So how much innovation do small organisations generate? And what is their track record in getting these innovations into the mainstream?
>>Click here for more details