In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in place-based investment by government, local and combined authorities, the NHS and charitable trusts and foundations. Their aims vary, but at root most focus upon securing or reaffirming trust, hope, confidence and self reliance; together with engagement in local decision making and voluntary action so as to engender wellbeing and pride in place amongst people in hard-pressed communities.

Investment in place-based programmes can be enormously expensive and there is a growing recognition that the burden cannot be carried by a single funder – not even government. Consequently, those funding agencies and institutions that wish to help improve local community life are thinking more and more about how their efforts can connect – whether in complementary, collaborative or in formal partnerships.

Investing in hard-pressed communities never starts from scratch. There are always institutions already established in place and working to improve people’s lives. And so, when new funding schemes are mooted, there should always be a strong desire to assess what is currently on the ground and to consider ways of ‘working with what’s there’ rather than starting from scratch.

This report draws on Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2022 data to help those agencies which are interested in investing in place to identify ‘what’s there’ on the ground and to assess how to support existing capacity. To do that, the analysis cannot show what is happening in ‘every’ place – that would be an impossibly labyrinthine task. Instead, the report looks at a set of ‘types of places’ to hold up as a mirror to ‘real places’ and help identify local strengths and weaknesses in current voluntary sector capacity.

The report was supported by Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales.

The report is available here: Strengthening voluntary sector capacity, vitality and impact in the context of place (September 2026)