At people make it work, we have been listening and we know what you are looking for during NPO season.
We’ve created a new menu of support that is designed to meet you where you are – from light touch support to all-in packages of fundamental support.
From single days of deep thinking, to support that will be there for you every week throughout the development period. We’ve got bright bursts and slow burns….
What will suit you best?
Our offers include Everyone’s NPO Club, NPO Thinking Day, NPO Critical Friend, NPO Bootcamp and NPO Specialist Support.
Whatever you need, we’ll help you create the space to think about where you’re going, what you’re building and what you want investment to make possible. Then we’ll work alongside you to turn that thinking into a clear, credible and deliverable NPO proposition.
Applying for National Portfolio investment isn’t simply a writing exercise. It asks organisations to make decisions about their future.
What are you trying to achieve? Who is it for? What needs to change? What can you realistically deliver? What should be funded through NPO, and what sits outside it? What will it cost? What infrastructure, leadership and capacity will you need? How do you tell that story clearly and convincingly?
people make it work can work alongside your organisation throughout that process, bringing additional perspective, expertise and capacity for a defined period.
We create the space, challenge, expertise and practical support that can help you move from “We need to apply for NPO” to “We know what we’re trying to build, why it matters and what we’re asking Arts Council England to invest in.”
Whether you join Everyone’s NPO Club, our accessible fortnightly online support space, or choose one of our more tailored offers, you’ll be working with culture people who understand the realities of leading and developing cultural organisations. We are trusted by organisations across the sector and work every day with people making culture happen throughout the UK.
What are we committed to bringing?
Our NPO support offers
Everyone’s NPO Club
Are you looking for a regular place to bring the questions, decisions, uncertainty and pressure that can arise throughout the NPO process?
Everyone’s NPO Club is a fortnightly online space for everyone thinking about or making an NPO application, bringing insight, community and care for us all.
Whether you are considering an NPO application for the first time, currently part of the National Portfolio and preparing for the next round, or were previously part of the portfolio and are hoping to rejoin, Everyone’s NPO Club is for you.
Every fortnight, we’ll convene a supportive online space where you can pause, test your thinking, ask questions and hear how other people are navigating the same journey. You’ll have access to shared insight, sector intelligence, honest conversation and learning from peers, including people from established NPO organisations and experienced practitioners.
The Club is responsive to the people in the room rather than built around a fixed course that everyone must complete. Come to the sessions you need, bring what is happening for you and your organisation, and draw on a community designed to offer insight, connection and care throughout the NPO process.
NPO Thinking Day
Do you need protected time to think together as a leadership team, perhaps with board members, artists or other colleagues too?
An NPO Thinking Day brings a structured and facilitated experience into your organisation, creating focused space to explore your ambitions, develop clarity and identify practical next steps.
Depending on what you need, the day could include a pre-session diagnostic, a half-day or full-day facilitated session, participation from your leadership team or board, exploration of your organisational ambition and NPO proposition, identification of priorities, choices and gaps, and a written summary or next-step framework.
If you’d like to talk to us about an NPO Thinking Day, email us and we’ll arrange an initial conversation.
Talk to us about an NPO Thinking Day
Please use “NPO Thinking Day enquiry” as your email subject line.
NPO Critical Friend
Are you planning to undertake most of the work internally while having experienced, independent support alongside you?
NPO Critical Friend gives you an outside perspective at agreed points throughout the process. We can help you test your thinking, identify gaps, strengthen the relationship between different parts of your proposition and retain momentum as the application develops.
Depending on what you need, this could include an initial NPO Thinking Day, regular strategic check-ins, application reviews at agreed stages, outside-eye challenge and feedback, a dedicated budget or finance session, one or two individual coaching sessions and a final application review.
This support could run over eight to ten weeks, shaped around your organisation, capacity and application process.
If you’d like to talk to us about NPO Critical Friend support, email us and we’ll arrange an initial conversation.
Talk to us about NPO Critical Friend
Please use “NPO Critical Friend enquiry” as your email subject line.
NPO Bootcamp
Do you need an intensive period of thinking and development?
Our NPO Bootcamp is designed to bring your leadership team together for a short, focused development process across up to four days.
We’ll support you to work through your proposition, develop your plans and create the energy, insight and movement that can come from concentrating on the process together.
The precise shape of the Bootcamp will be developed around what your organisation needs, where you are in the process and what you most need to achieve during the time.
If you’d like to talk to us about NPO Bootcamp, email us and we’ll arrange an initial conversation.
Please use “NPO Bootcamp enquiry” as your email subject line.
NPO Specialist Support
Perhaps you already have much of the thinking and capacity you need but would benefit from expert support in a particular area.
You may need some specialist input to complement the insight and experience you are already drawing from within your organisation and across your sector relationships.
Our expertise spans business modelling, fundraising advice and writing, finance and income generation, partnership and place-based working, equity, diversity and inclusion, cultural strategy, art-form-specific insight, participatory and engagement work, governance, organisational culture, impact measurement, theories and stories of change, and vision, mission and values development.
Across the people make it work team and associate community, we have colleagues working across different art forms, disciplines and areas of organisational practice.
Tell us what you are looking for and we’ll explore whether we can connect you with the expertise you need.
If you’d like to talk to us about NPO Specialist Support, email us and we’ll arrange an initial conversation.
Talk to us about NPO Specialist Support
Please use “NPO Specialist Support enquiry” as your email subject line.
Working alongside you
Whatever form of support you choose, we’re interested in more than helping you develop a strong NPO application. We’re also interested in the organisation and the people who will need to carry that ambition and make it real.
We’ll work alongside you, bringing the space, expertise, perspective, practical support and care that are most useful for where you are in the process.