Who we've helped

NPC has worked with a variety of clients over the past eight years, including individuals, businesses, charities, foundations, intermediaries and government bodies.

Below you can read stories of how we’ve helped some of our clients make a bigger difference to those they help.

Charities

 

CSV: Attracting sustainable funding

We helped CSV to investigate sustainable funding and come up with a plan to increase its capacity. Our report included actions CSV could take to attract funding, and recommendations for impact measurement. CSV has used the report to secure new funding. Read the full story >

ECI: Planning an effective strategy

Exeter Community Initiatives (ECI) asked NPC to help it plan its strategy for the next three years. We analysed the charity and suggested priorities for the future. ECI's acting director told us 'the end result is a very clear report that highlights what we are doing well and where we need to improve'. Read the full story >

Mind: Helping to measure impact

Mind carries out a whole range of activities, and works with 180 independent Local Minds. Mind commissioned NPC to develop an evaluation framework to help it better understand its impact. We created a measurement plan and a set of tools for both Mind and the Local Minds, which is now being piloted. Read the full story >

NationalNumeracy: Developing a new charity

Our numeracy report, Count me in, recommended creating a new organisation to tackle poor numeracy. Following publication, we brought together a group of experts, charities and funders to discuss how to do this, and as a result a new charity, NationalNumeracy, is being established. Read the full story >

Sue Ryder: An organisational review

Sue Ryder commissioned NPC to carry out an in-depth review, to identify where it is doing well and where it could improve. We published a detailed analysis of the charity, which Sue Ryder's chief executive called 'agenda-setting', telling us 'the report is going to be really valuable when out fundraising'. Read the full story >

 

 

Corporate funders

 

Barclays Capital: Defining objectives for giving

In 2011, Barclays Capital commissioned NPC to review its Community Investment Programme. We began by analysing Barclays Capital’s three funding programmes to understand the objectives of its giving, before working with the Community Investment team to prioritise those objectives. Read the full story >

Execution: Helping to give effectively

NPC first met stockbroking firm Execution when it was planning a trading day for charity in 2002, with proceeds going to the Execution Charitable Trust. The Trust wanted to ensure its giving had maximum impact, and NPC suggested the best way to do so was to support several local charities. Read the full story >

J.P. Morgan: Measuring the impact of their philanthropy

J.P. Morgan was keen to know more about the impact of its giving in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and commissioned NPC to analyse its 2008–2009 grants programme. We reviewed the impact of all 35 grants completed in this time, and wrote detailed case studies of six grantees. Read the full story >

Nationwide: Analysing needs

Nationwide commissioned NPC to help shape its corporate responsibility strategy. The building society had identified housing, financial exclusion and employability as potential focus areas and asked NPC to research each to help it decide what to prioritise. Read the full story >

Nomura: Reviewing their giving strategy

In 2009, the global investment bank Nomura set up a charitable trust to support disadvantaged young people in London and the Middle East. NPC helped advise the trustees about the Trust’s focus, strategy and processes, and after its first year of grant-making, was asked us to conduct a review of its activities. Read the full story >

 

Government

 

Turning the tables

NPC was funded by the Scotland Funders’ Forum, BIG Lottery Fund and the Cabinet Office to look at how the reporting burden for charities could be reduced. The aim was to ‘turn the tables’ and inspire charities to negotiate more coherent reporting requirements form their funders. Read the full story >

 

Read more case studies of our work with government >

 

 

Individual donors

 

Analysing an international development charity

A trustee of an international development charity, who also supported the charity financially, commissioned NPC to analyse the organisation and advise him on future funding decisions. We analysed the charity’s overall organisational capacity and a specific proposal for funding to scale up activities. Read the full story >

Helping a couple to focus their giving

A wealthy couple had been giving to charities for years. Like many donors, they chose causes that tugged at their heartstrings, giving to a homeless shelter after seeing people on the streets of London, and an international development project after visiting Ghana. But this approach to giving was unfulfilling. Read the full story >

 

Intermediaries and client advisors

 

Supporting Coutts to help their clients

Coutts & Co, a private bank, has used NPC’s charitable experience since 2005 to help private clients create their own personal giving strategies, understanding their motivations and objectives. Coutts also has a special arrangement with NPC, whereby we help clients with particular projects. Read the full story >

 

 

Trusts and foundations

 

The Badenoch Trust: Putting a number on impact

The Badenoch Trust commissioned NPC to do a Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis of Columba 1400—a charity it funds which runs leadership academies for young people from difficult backgrounds. The trust wanted to help the charity demonstrate the value of its work. Read the full story >

Inspiring Scotland: Producing a baseline report

Inspiring Scotland was looking to combine the resources of investors from a number of sectors and focus them on key social challenges that face Scotland today. The team was looking to meet these challenges by providing £10m per year over seven to ten years and by supporting organisational capacity building. Read the full story >

Laureus Sport for Good: Putting a value on sports projects

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation wanted to find evidence of the economic value of sports projects that tackle youth crime. We researched three charities working in this area, finding a positive return on investment for all. Laureus is using our report to make the case to government for investment in sport. Read the full story >

Helping a foundation to identify needs

A large foundation, which helps disadvantaged children in the UK, wanted to allocate part of its budget to a preventative programme that would tackle the causes of these children’s problems.

Read the full story >

Evaluating a four-year funding theme

In 2009, a foundation commissioned NPC to conduct a review of grants made under its education theme. The foundation wanted to know what its grantees had achieved—individually and as a whole—in order to understand what difference its funding had made. Read the full story >

Learning from experience

A well known grant-maker aimed to provide a link between grassroots organisations and policy makers, by funding local organisations and using their experiences to inform national policy debates. The chief executive asked NPC to review whether or not the trust had been successful. Read the full story >