Author Archive:
Tris Lumley
How to turn your grantmaking approach inside out
What if philanthropy could be more open? Open to the latest ideas, open to listening to others, and open to sharing what we’ve learnt? How much more could we achieve? Open Philanthropy is about funding …
Is grant-making fit for the digital future?
As pretty much everyone has noticed, we’re in the middle of a great revolution driven by digital technology and the internet. It permeates almost every aspect of our lives—as consumers, citizens, friends, communities, donors and …
What can funders learn from Team GB’s Olympic gold rush?
As the dust settles after another Olympics, many of us are left wondering how to fill our time now we can’t obsessively follow taekwondo and canoe slalom. Those of us in the world of charity …
Who should measure the impact of non-profits? Responses to Caroline Fiennes and Ken Berger
The non-profit impact revolution has taken a wrong turn. The job of examining their impact should be done by independent specialists rather than non-profits themselves: this is what Caroline Fiennes and Ken Berger argue in …
Why aren’t we learning?
There are signs of growing unease with impact measurement in the charity sector. At the most recent Association of Charitable Foundations conference the whole concept faced something of a backlash. At NPC, we’ve started to …
Power to the people?
The issue of power dynamics in philanthropy has recently come to the fore. Should grantees have a greater say in their relationship with funders? And what would this look like? It comes into particular focus …
Inspiring impact: how funders can help to make the next decade one of high impact
The word ‘impact’ conjures up everything from passion to frustration, confusion to hostility. It means different things to different people. Many equate it with impact measurement – a rather narrow focus on how to measure …
How impact reporting principles can help funders
Funders today – whether established grantmaking trusts, family foundations or individual philanthropists – are keen to explore how they can offer charities more than money. Financial help is clearly central to grantmaking, but it’s often …
Leap of Reason – Managing to outcomes in an era of scarcity
I’m an evangelist about charities measuring their results – a signed-up, card-carrying member of the impact brigade. But from time to time, I admit I have doubts about whether the increasing interest in measurement among …
Selecting charities on the basis of good impact reporting
When the Guardian and Observer 2010 Christmas Appeal launched at the weekend, I had two reasons to celebrate. The first was that the funds raised will go to ten great charities working with young people …
