Posted on 25th February 2010
Two new reports have recently been published as a result of the Northern Rock Foundation’s £500,000 funding of the Third Sector Trends Study.
Both studies focus on the North East and Cumbria but their findings are intended to be generalisable across the UK, and are aimed at those who need information about the characteristics and activities of third sector organisations, including funders, policy makers and infrastructure agencies.
The first report, What makes a third sector organisation tick? Interactions of foresight, enterprise, capability and impact, written by academics based at Teesside University, focuses on attributes regarded as especially important to organisations in a time of economic uncertainty – in particular, sustainability, and the ability to plan strategically, network, measure and communicate success.
Professor Tony Chapman, who led the Teeside research team, told Philanthropy UK, "We found that small, local voluntary organisations are not very good at demonstrating their role and communicating their impact to relevant audiences. Philanthropists need to know what charities do, how they do it and whether it makes a difference, if this information is not available then it may deter them from offering support because they can't know if they're backing the right horse.”
Chapman and colleagues found that local organisations often work well with the public sector, nurturing good relationships with those who distribute public money in their field of activity. “But apart from their work with grant giving charitable foundations, there's no real tradition of these organisations having a relationship with individual philanthropists or private sector funders. Work maybe needs to be done on both sides to show how philanthropists and philanthropic organisations can help local charities achieve their missions."
The second report, Beyond “flat-earth” maps of the third sector: Enhancing our understanding of the contribution of ‘below-the-radar’ organisations, was written by academics based at the University of Southampton who are trying to produce the first reliable picture of the thousands of small, but vital, ‘below-the-radar’ community-based and local organisations.
The research, led by Professor John Mohan, finds that the numbers of below-the-radar organisations per 1000 population are broadly comparable with the better-known registered charity sector and other types of regulated third sector organisations (TSOs). However, their distribution, and the kinds of activities in which they are engaged, differ from the regulated TSOs. There appear to be higher numbers of below-the-radar organisations in the most deprived localities. In contrast, registered charities are located in the more prosperous parts of the region, although the activities of such charities (as measured by expenditure) are not confined to such areas.
Mohan’s report concludes that funders and policy-makers need to better understand the kinds of community capacity that local ‘below-the-radar’ organisations provide. “This work demonstrates the challenges involved in improving our understanding of the ‘below-radar’ organizations. But it also shows how important it is that we do not neglect the contribution made by these organisations, which seem to be distributed rather differently from the regulated third sector and may therefore be meeting different needs, possibly in more disadvantaged areas," says Mohan.
Dr. Helen Bowcock is a fundholder with the Surrey Community Foundation and author of Hidden Surrey, which documents the existence of need in apparently rich counties and calls on donors to support local charities. Reacting to the new research, she told Philanthropy UK: “Very often it is the small voluntary groups that include members of the communities they serve in the design and delivery of services, therefore their understanding of need is precise. But certainly much more could be done to match them with individual philanthropists who are looking for the most effective means of social investment."
Cathy Pharoah, chair of the Advisory Board of the study, noted that it was “highly timely” to publish these reports in early 2010 and told Philanthropy UK that, “The information being produced in the Third Sector Trends Study is aimed at providing an evidence base to help donors and funders target their gifts in the most effective way.”
Full copies and summaries of both reports are freely available from the Northern Rock Foundation website.
