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 in the UK. The second is that New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) helped select these charities by designing and testing a new application process. That process aimed to select charities that were really good at communicating their impact.

An application and screening process may not seem particularly exciting or revolutionary at first glance. But my excitement stems from the fact we were trying to come up with a new answer to the question: how much do you need to know about a charity to decide whether you should support it?