Close Search
 
MEDIA, JOBS & RESOURCES for the COMMON GOOD
News  | 

What Makes a Good Charity?


4 October 2016 at 11:01 am
Lina Caneva
Good charity analysis is one of the key ways to review and improve performance, and allow funders to better understand where to put their money to achieve maximum impact, according to a new step-by-step-guide by UK think tank, New Philanthropy Capital (NPC).


Lina Caneva | 4 October 2016 at 11:01 am


0 Comments


 Print
What Makes a Good Charity?
4 October 2016 at 11:01 am

Good charity analysis is one of the key ways to review and improve performance, and allow funders to better understand where to put their money to achieve maximum impact, according to a new step-by-step-guide by UK think tank, New Philanthropy Capital (NPC).

NPC’s latest free publication, What Makes a Good Charity, is split into four key areas: purpose, impact practice, people, and finance and operations.

“In the guide we explain why each area is important, the key questions to ask and what to look for in order to reach a judgement about an organisation’s effectiveness,” NPC chief executive Dan Corry said.

“It also helps charities themselves improve and so deliver more of the social and other outcomes that they are set up to achieve.”Corry said that since NPC published its first guide in 2010, the environment for charities has changed.

“We have seen the growth of new forms of finance, the shift, for many charities, from grant funding to contract delivery, ongoing demographic and societal changes, digital technology opening up new possibilities and a charity’s’ public benefit no longer being taken as read,” he said.

NPC charity graph

“Recent scandals and problems have brought a renewed focus on governance. What it takes to be effective as a charity in this environment has evolved and that evolution is reflected in this guide.

“We place a greater emphasis on the involvement of people using the charity, as well as on organisational culture, in supporting effectiveness. The need for organisations to be able to adapt and respond to change is greater.

“In our recent work we have explored how successful charities are embracing digital technology and the idea of ‘systems change’ as a way to tackle the root causes of complex problems. These ideas, too, have informed the development of this new guide.

We believe that analysis can help charities to improve. It can help funders to identify charities’ strengths and weaknesses, and make decisions about how to allocate resources. It can help charities to assess their own performance and make improvements to their organisation.”

The NPC guide also includes an assessment grid to summarise what “good” looks like for each of the four key areas and a blank template for notes as participants work through the guide. A separate assessment grid template can be downloaded and printed.


Lina Caneva  |  Editor  |  @ProBonoNews

Lina Caneva has been a journalist for more than 35 years. She was the editor of Pro Bono Australia News from when it was founded in 2000 until 2018.


Get more stories like this

FREE SOCIAL
SECTOR NEWS


YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Following in one charity’s AI-powered footsteps

Ruby Kraner-Tucci

Wednesday, 29th March 2023 at 4:09 pm

Preparing the NFP sector for Privacy Act and cybersecurity reforms

David Spriggs

Monday, 27th March 2023 at 1:37 pm

There’s no need to fear, cryptocurrency is here

Ruby Kraner-Tucci

Wednesday, 22nd March 2023 at 1:20 pm

Recognising the sector’s excellence in technology

Contributor

Tuesday, 21st February 2023 at 9:37 am

pba inverse logo
Subscribe Twitter Facebook
×