Our story
20 years of understanding how communities connect.
What started with hand-drawn maps on paper became a platform used by housing associations, councils, and funders across the UK. The question has always been the same: how do you prove that your programme is actually changing people's lives?
Where it began
A question nobody could answer.
Colin Campbell spent over a decade building social enterprise ecosystems across Scotland. The work was clearly making a difference, but one question kept coming up: how do you measure the relationships that make an organisation work?
Attendance sheets count heads. Surveys capture opinions. But neither shows whether new relationships are actually forming, whether trust is growing, or whether isolated people are becoming connected.
In 2004, working with Scotland UnLtd, Colin drew the first network maps by hand. Eight social entrepreneurs started with an average of three connections each. By the end of the programme, they had 55. For the first time, there was a clear picture of what the programme had actually done.
First hand-drawn network maps with Scotland UnLtd. Eight social entrepreneurs, three connections each.
Bonding, bridging, linking framework validated across dozens of community programmes.
Glasgow Disability Alliance begins a decade of longitudinal measurement, tracking 420% connection growth.
Platform built to automate what used to take months of manual mapping and analysis.
15,000+ connections mapped. Used by housing associations, councils, and funders across the UK.
The methodology
Not just counting. Understanding.
Every relationship serves a different purpose. The methodology behind Nectis categorises connections into three types, then measures how they change over time. Take a baseline before your programme, measure again after, and the comparison tells the story.
Close ties
The relationships within a group. People who share an identity, a background, or a daily working context. These connections build trust and mutual support.
Reaching across
The relationships between different groups. People connecting across boundaries of geography, sector, or background. These connections bring new ideas and opportunities.
Reaching up
The relationships that connect people to those with authority or resources. Connections to decision-makers, funders, or institutions. These open doors that were previously closed.
This framework has its roots in academic research going back decades, refined through 20 years of practical application with real communities. It works because it reflects how relationships actually function, not how organisational charts say they should.
The team
People who have done the work.
Colin Campbell
CEO & Founder
Kerr Campbell
CTO
Licia Claveria
COO
Contributors
Nectis has been shaped by the work of many people over 20 years. Special thanks to those who helped build what exists today.
Nectis Ltd is a Scottish company (SC621729), based in Edinburgh. We build and operate the Nectis platform from the UK, with data hosted on UK infrastructure.
Want to see 20 years of methodology in action?
30-minute walkthrough with real data from organisations like yours.
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