Lucy de la Casas - Head of Donor Advisory

Life before NPC included roles in the business and the NGO world, and for me, NPC is a great combination of the two. In my day to day work, I use skills and knowledge from both. Ambitions and expectations are high, as is debate and energy around the issues with which we are dealing.

I work in donor advisory, which works with donors on how and where to give most effectively. Much of this work draws strongly on my previous experiences in strategy consultancy and business development, providing a similar variety of project-based work and opportunities to use consulting skills (research and analysis, developing solutions, building relationships, client work, and so on).

The difference is partly the content, and partly our charitable status. Donor advisory does consultancy work, but rather than profit being our main driver, it’s the charitable impact we aim to have, namely ensuring better funding for effective charities. We therefore prioritise work which we believe will have the greatest impact on achieving our mission. This is one of the most rewarding things about the job: that the work you are doing is contributing towards something you believe in. For me this focus on impact is crucial.

My belief in what NPC is trying to achieve is driven by a couple of experiences. In my last job, in a small research and advocacy charity, I was constantly astounded by the frustrations associated with how funding worked and how it could hinder charities. We also worked on the accountability of NGOs, particularly to beneficiaries. Clearly this is a crucial issue in itself, but the funding environment is also influential, as a charity’s focus on accountability to funders can distract from delivery to beneficiaries. NPC’s work aims to address both these issues – promoting effective charities, i.e. those that deliver to their beneficiaries effectively, and promoting a funding environment for these charities that supports them in this delivery. Ultimately we’re trying to ensure that funders and charities are working towards the same goal: improving the situation for beneficiaries.

ldelascasas@philanthropycapital.org

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