I can’t remember when the term “third sector” first came into being – probably long ago. Even before we used this label, it did of course exist. Charities and the concept of charitable giving have existed for many hundreds of years.
For this reason, it’s very difficult to imagine what society would look like in the UK if charities simply did not exist. Would the responsibility of looking after the needs of 60 million people in our country fall solely on government? Taxation would be unimaginably higher for corporations and individuals, and the government machine would need to be substantially larger to take on the incredible range and depth of responsibilities the third sector currently carries. Read More »
A few years ago you couldn’t move for publications, training and think pieces on full cost recovery. Now, I rarely seem to hear the words uttered and, on reflection, I think that in an age of austerity we have let the government ignore the concept and start to put price right at the heart of all commissioning processes. Read More »
It’s true to say that mentality and culture in the third sector are very different from those in the corporate sector. It’s more difficult, however, to define exactly what that difference is. Some see the corporate sector as shrewd, canny, and businesslike. The very purpose of a corporate entity is to provide a return for its shareholders. Although there may be some aspects of the corporate sector that we in the voluntary one don’t like, there is much that chief executives of charities can learn from the way the private sector is run. Read More »
Six months ago on my allotment I got an insect bite. It made me very ill and I’m only just recovering – slowly. I took the good fortune of my health for granted; it’s been a huge shift to adjust to my new reality.
We good people in the voluntary sector are so great at caring; we’re champions of those we work for. It has been a shock to discover I didn’t know a fraction of what it really is like. I just had no idea until I ‘walked in their shoes’. Read More »
The Community First programme was officially launched last week. ‘Yippee’ we are all suppose to say, and I really want to be positive because our sector needs all the help it can get.
This programme is designed to replace/continue the highly successful Grassroots Programme which ended in March. Locally, Grassroots enabled Staffordshire Community Foundation to develop an endowment fund of £2.5m with local community groups directly benefiting from £1.1m in grants. If Grassroots was the invention of the round wheel, Community First is attempting to replace that with a square one – undoing every bit of good practice and success. Read More »
Funders, the government and circumstances are pushing our sector down the road of mergers. I don’t doubt planned mergers or collaborations can cut costs, increase impact, improve services and increase efficiencies in the long term. However, on the other hand, mergers imposed are forced marriages. They can cause a loss of self
esteem, independence, identity, and thus a symbolic sense of failure. For these reasons it’s argued they cannot
possibly work. Read More »
The party conference season is always a good opportunity to reflect on the position of the third sector and the issues likely to face us all over the coming months. Speaking to people across the sector on the fringe this year, I have been struck by one common theme – predictions of increased demand for charities’ services and busy times ahead for us all. Read More »
At Jewish Women’s Aid we provide support, refuge space and counselling, among other services, to abused women and their children. Above all we aspire to provide a holistic service to women, supporting them to address their experiences of domestic violence. We don’t just want to point our clients in the direction of the local college and the benefits office. We want to work with them around the areas where they need to heal, the areas where they are able to develop their life skills so when they leave our services, they have the tools to manage in the wider world. Read More »
When I first joined the sector, August was sold as a quieter time and, except from the occasional slipped-out government consultation, a time for a much needed catch up.
Not so this August. Why? In April a lot of people chose to wait and see, keep their heads down or just come to terms with a radically different environment. However, the autumn is local authority budget setting and with 31 March 2012 D-day for a number of planned initiatives, suddenly things need to be done (or already should have been done). On the community side staycations and weeks off at home seem to have kept activity up. Read More »
Most charities exist because someone had a good idea, wanted to do good, wanted to help others, or wanted to alleviate poverty. The people that are actively involved in running or supporting charities are good people, who want their client group to genuinely benefit from the work they do.
The government has made much of its admiration for the voluntary sector, with David Cameron repeatedly pledging to help charities, claiming that “we need a government that helps to create a big society.” Unfortunately, from my experience this doesn’t seem to be happening on the ground. Read More »
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