Latest Updates
October 2006
State of the voluntary sector research programme
Northern Rock Foundation will invest substantially over seven years in an in-depth, longitudinal analysis of the scale and activity of the voluntary and community sector in North East England and Cumbria. As well as providing much-needed regional and local detail, the research will be designed to draw comparisons with other parts of the UK, and to national studies. As the commissioner, the Foundation’s independence will ensure the research is neutral, robust and widely disseminated. The Foundation will also seek partnerships with agencies in other regions to support the development of comparable data and similar methodologies.
Why is a regional state of the voluntary sector research programme needed?
There is a distinct lack of consistent, good-quality, in-depth information on the scale and activities of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) at regional and local levels. The government’s general statistical data obscure or miss altogether the contribution the sector makes to the country’s social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being. Specialised national initiatives, including the Office of the Third Sector’s (OTS) State of the Sector Panel, CAF’s Charity Trends, and NCVO’s Voluntary Sector Almanac, are important, but provide only very general information which is difficult to translate to the level where most of the sector operates: in towns, cities, counties and regions. Despite some useful steps to address the problem in particular areas, particularly through ‘mapping’ exercises commissioned through Change Up and other funding regimes, the results are piecemeal and patchy. And because they are done as one-off and often isolated exercises, such research projects fail to measure change over time, or make sense of particular data in a wider context.
This lack of good local and regional data creates severe problems for the VCS. It is an obstacle to effective lobbying on policy and funding matters; it hinders understanding of organisational growth and development in the sector and it acts as a barrier to effective public sector partnerships with voluntary and community organisations. As a result it’s not just the VCS itself, but more importantly, the people it helps, that get a raw deal.
How will the research be designed and commissioned?
The Foundation will establish an advisory group of key regional and national agencies to help design the programme, ensuring it has cross-regional impact. The group will also advise on commissioning the work. At this stage we do not have a fixed view on who should do the research, but it is likely to go out to limited or open tender to academic institutions and other research providers. Once a delivery body is appointed, the advisory group will continue to meet to guide the research and help with its promotion.
The precise methodology will be determined during the development stage, but we envisage an initial large-scale census of the sector, gathering data on governance, management, staffing, volunteering, funding and activities. This will result in a major report and event on the state of the voluntary sector. A second census will happen, probably five years later. In the intervening period, the researchers will produce sector or theme reports, looking in more depth at, say, volunteering, or employment issues, or the characteristics of organisations with an income under £50,000. A second strand will be to collect qualitative data from a reasonably representative set of case-study organisations. They will be interviewed annually to establish and track change and development. Each year there will be at least one publication and event. Data will also be publicly available via a website.
The timetable for the work will evolve during the development stage, but we plan to appoint researchers by mid-2007, with the intention that a first state of the voluntary sector report would be published in early 2008.
Getting involved
The Foundation is keen to engage partners in the VCS and in other sectors in the research programme. At this stage we are especially keen to hear from organisations that have recently commissioned or already carried out research into aspects of the VCS in North East England or Cumbria so that we can avoid duplication in our planning.
More information
Rob Williamson
Director of Policy and Communications
Northern Rock Foundation
The Old Chapel,
Woodbine Road,
Gosforth,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE3 1DD
Tel: 0191 284 8412
Email: rob.williamson@nr-foundation.org.uk