2019 was a busy year for us – completing several projects, continuing with new ones and starting the new Third Sector Trends study. Our engagement work with the public, private and voluntary sectors last year involved the organisation of several events too.
If you want to read all about it, here’s a link to our Policy&Practice Annual Report 2019
The Third Sector Trends study has been running in the North of England since 2010. In 2016 over 3,000 responses were received. In 2019 we’ve achieved that again. North East England has been very supportive this time w
ith over 1,100 returns. In Yorkshire, we have over 850 and in North West England, well over 1,000.
This time we have also collected a sample from the rest of England and Wales. Over 900 charities responded. That brought the survey total to 4,010 when it closed on 10th December. We’ve never tried to assess what’s going on at a national level before – and to see how the North compares – but this time we can.
We will show what organisations and groups aim to do, who they help, what impact they have and how they get hold of their people and finance resources to get things done.
The triennial study was funded this year by Community Foundation serving Tyne and Wear & Northumberland, Power to Change and Garfield Weston Foundation. Results will be published from February 2020.
Following their recent Commonwealth Books publication on how sport can contribute to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, Iain Lindsey, Oliver Dudfield and Tony Chapman have published a conceptual article on how to understand the way relationsh
ips are configured between state and non-state actors.
The article considers new ways of looking at inter-organisational relationships through the lens of public policy and politics. In so doing, it explains how power relationships frame the way organisations can work together or limit the options for formal or complementary working relationships.
The article focuses on sport, but it has wider relevance to those who study interactions between the state, business and non-profit organisations in a local, national or global context.
Lindsey, I., Chapman, T. and Dudfield, O. (2019) ‘Configuring relationships between state and non-state actors: a new conceptual approach for sport and development’, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XJRHZCPGQIMUBNWBQVTE/full?target=10.1080/19406940.2019.1676812
A new study for Power to Change, published this week, reveals that community businesses often sign up to deliver public service contracts in the knowledge that they will make a financial loss. The authors of the study, Professor Tony Chapman and Dr Tanya Gray of Policy&Practice at St Chad’s College, Durham University, said the trend was driven by the community business sector’s commitment to social and financial success when judging contract values. One CEO said:
‘We’ve gone for certain contracts that we feel are crucial to our community. We provide services to people who have quite complex needs. We might not be making any money on it, the reality is that we’re contributing about 12 per cent. But we think it is so important, that we’re prepared to do it because nobody else could do it properly at this price.
’Professor Tony Chapman, who co-authored the report, said:
“The trend is not down to acts of financial desperation, nor that community businesses are complicit in a ‘race to the bottom’ in contract pricing. But community business leaders knew that if profits on contracts were out of the question, then they’d have to make up the difference from other aspects of their trading to sustain vital services.”
Resolving these pressures is virtually impossible for community businesses. So the onus is on local public sector organisations to be more realistic about contract values. But that is easily said in the current fiscal climate. And even though Chancellor, Sajid Javid, announced in this September’s Spending Review that ‘austerity is over’, what this really means is that, at best, things will get no worse.
Suzanne Perry, Research Officer at Power to Change, said: “This research gives us excellent insight into the extent to which community businesses are sacrificing in order to keep local services open in their neighbourhoods. Additionally, the report reveals what adept business people they are – utilising their income to make the place they live better.”
There’s little to be gained by pointing at Public Services (Social Value) Act of 2012. The reality is that public sector bodies need an enormous boost in funding to bring them anywhere near back to where they were in 2010. In the meantime, local public bodies should be applauding community businesses which keep services going in their communities – rather than to assume that they’ll continually be willing and able to do ‘more for less’.
Striking a balance: How community businesses build effective working relationships with public, private and third sector organisations, by Professor Tony Chapman and Dr Tanya Gray. Published 18th September 2019.
Click here for Tony Chapman’s Blog on the report
Click here to download the report
Small charities make a big contribution to personal, social and co
mmunity wellbeing. So it’s not surprising that governments and big charitable foundations have been attracted to the idea of helping build their capability to do things better and their capacity to do more of it.
Over the years there have been plenty of initiatives of this kind. Evaluations tend to produce pretty positive findings – suggesting high percentage satisfaction amongst small charities with the support they’ve been given. But the extent to which they made a deep or lasting impression is open to question.
After all, small charities tend to remain small, independent minded and focused on issues that they feel that bigger organisations have ignored, neglected or even caused. So they’re often not minded to listen to the good advice of outsiders – however generously it may be dispensed.
Just because most charities are small, does not mean that they lack complexity. They may not have specialised divisions of labour, hierarchical command chains or bureaucratic procedures. But that does not mean that their internal dynamics are simple. In fact, small charities – especially when they are collectively governed and run – are complicated entities.
A blog for Small Charities Week.
Valuing small charities for what they are, not what they should be
Using the findings, we will build a picture of how organisations and groups work, how they get their resources and how they are planning to work in future. This will help us to inform national and local government, health organisations and charitable foundations to make good decisions on how to invest in the activity of the third sector. It will also help the third sector itself show the extent and value of the work it does. The project has generously been supported by Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, Garfield Weston Foundation and Power to Change.
Please support the survey: The survey takes just 20 minutes to complete and you shouldn’t need to check up any facts and figures to fill it in. You can complete the survey online by clicking this link:
And tell your friends and colleagues to do the same: by sending them an email with the link to the survey or by drawing attention to the study via twitter using #ThirdSectorTrends
Headline findings will be published in December 2019 and the full results will be freely available from spring 2020. Reports from the study so far can be found at:
A seminar to debate new initiatives to create social and economic growth
THIS SEMINAR IS NOW FULLY BOOKED
A seminar organised by the Institute for Local Governance, (ILG). It will take place at the Beaumont Hotel, Hexham, Wednesday 10th July 2019, from 1.00 – 4.00 p.m.
Town centres have been under the spotlight recently as the economic viability of high streets have been put under intense pressure due to the changing patterns of consumer demand and behaviour, the consequences of online shopping for retail outlets and the pressures of business rates.
However, town centres invariably offer a wider range of opportunities in public service provision, leisure activities, events, socialising opportunities etc. But they are more than just hubs for such activity, they also represent a focal point for economic development and civic pride – they tell us something about local culture, our sense of place and about who we are. In the rural borderlands or England and Scotland, economic and social pressures may have been compounded by their relative isolation for major urban centres.
Often it is felt that market towns face a kind of double jeopardy because they are relatively small and isolated from key decision making centres. At one time many market towns were dependent for their economic wellbeing on agriculture and related rural businesses and services. But now, new sectors and enterprises are emerging, some of which can compete at a national or even international level utilising information and communications technology and able to recruit skilled workers and professionals attracted by the quality of life and local environment.
From a policy perspective, central and local government, their agencies and financial programmes are increasingly recognising the need to support rural and coastal towns and their centres. This seminar is about more than economic vibrancy, it is also about quality of life, community development, business engagement and place making.
The seminar will be chaired by Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Cabinet Member for Economy, Northumberland County Council and introduced by Professor Mark Shucksmith, Professor of Planning, Newcastle University
Speakers will include:
Simon Hanson, Federation of Small Business: on the contribution of small business to social wellbeing and civil society.
Chris Kolek, Director, Kolek Consulting: on the process of supporting business development strategies in rural areas.
Bryan McGrath, Chief Officer, Economic Development, Scottish Borders: on town centre regeneration in the Scottish Borders.
Jonathan Wallace, Senior Director, Lichfields: on the revitalisation of town centres in North East England.
Seminar presentations are available here:
Mark Shucksmith – ILG Market Towns Seminar 10th July
Chris Kolek ILG Market Towns Seminar 10 July 2019
Bryan McGrath – ILG Market Towns Seminar 10th July
Jonathan Wallace ILG Market Towns Seminar 10th July
Simon Hanson ILG Market Towns Seminar 10th July
The Institute for Local Governance is a North East Research and Knowledge Exchange Partnership established in 2009 comprising the North East region’s Universities, Local Authorities, Police and Fire and Rescue Services. Further information about the content of the event can be obtained by contacting: – tony.chapman@durham.ac.uk or john.mawson@durham.ac.uk
A seminar to discuss the way forward for stakeholders in the voluntary sector, charitable foundations and the public sector.
Friday 5th July 2019, Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, 9.30 – 1.00
The voluntary and community sector (VCS) has maintained its role in supporting and strengthening the civil society in Tees Valley. It has done so in the context of a great deal of economic, social and political change. The aim of this event is to bring people together from the VCS, charitable foundations and the public sector to engage in a forward looking debate surrounding the changing policy and funding landscape and the positive contribution which the sector can make to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the area.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the challenges of recent years, the VCS has managed to sustain its contribution at more or less the same size and scale of activity. This has been achieved as individual organisations and groups have adapted and looked at new ways of accessing resource through trading, fundraising, public sector contracts, winning grants from regional and national foundations and from social investment banks. The mix may have changed in the sector’s basket of funding, but the overall volume of income seems to have remained much the same.
But it has not been easy and many VCS organisations say that they have had to work harder than ever to keep themselves going and supporting local causes that are important to them. With all these changes in mind, it seems like a good time to ask people to get together for an event. The event will be small but productive, with just 60 places, bringing key stakeholders from the VCS, public sector and charitable foundations together from across the five boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.
At the start of the event, a panel presented views on the future challenges facing the sector, including policy trends, funding and investment context and potential collaborative initiatives with partners.
The event was chaired by Councillor Chris McEwan, Darlington Borough Council.
Nancy Doyle-Hall, Executive Director, Virgin Money Foundation: on the role of charitable grant making foundations and trusts in supporting civil society
Alison Collins, Investment Manager, Northstar Ventures: on the role of social investment in developing VCS sector strengths
Tony Chapman, Policy&Practice, St Chad’s College, Durham University: on changing funding relationships between the public sector and the third sector.
Following table discussion there was a second panel to debate with the audience the current situation across Tees Valley and its environs and the future prospects for the development of civil society.
Tracey Brittain, Middlesbrough Voluntary Development Agency
Karen Grundy, Community Programme Manager, Catalyst Stockton
Mike Millen, CEO, Redcar and Cleveland Voluntary Development Agency
Slides from the seminar can be found here:
Alison Collins – ILG Seminar 5th July 2019
Tony Chapman – ILG Seminar 5th July 2019
Introductory Slides – ILG Seminar 5th July 2019
New initiatives to deliver decent, affordable homes in appealing communities. A seminar organised by the Institute for Local Governance.
This successful seminar rook place at Teikyo University, Elvet Hill, Durham on 21st June 2019
Since the establishment of the welfare state, good quality housing has been regarded as one of the central pillars of citizenship. And yet definitions of what constitutes ‘good housing’ seem always to be changing. Change can be driven by the confluence of a number of factors including the state of the economy, supply of land and planning policy, performance of the building industry, and government policies etc.
In recent years such factors have led to corners being cut in terms of the size, style and facility of homes. There are also important social and demographic pressures and specific government policies such as welfare reform, which can result in the structure and needs of households changing and transforming patterns of demand. Demand for housing is affected by more than style, structure and facility.
Since the 1980s ‘right to buy’ schemes were introduced, and debates about the efficacy of different forms of tenure in terms of renting, mixed provision, social and private housing have dominated discussions at a policy level. The evidence suggests that demand to buy homes is still strong, but the proportion of households which are able to achieve that aim has fallen, especially amongst the young.
These factors, taken together, have led to the development of a much more complex mix of tenures available to people – but the indications are that the current range of tenures and types of housing in the North East of England is not well matched with current or future likely patterns of demand. This seminar looks at how such a challenge can be met by looking at some of the innovative ways social landlords, the private sector and local authorities are tackling these mis-matches.
The seminar was chaired by Professor John Mawson, Director, Institute for Local Governance.
Speakers will include:
Professor Janice Morphet, Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, on the changing landscape in local authority provision of housing
Karen Brown, Senior Policy Advisor, Northern Housing Consortium, on the impact on national housing policy on housing in the North East England.
Richard Horniman, Director of Regeneration, Middlesbrough Council, on the ambitions of MHomes, Middlesbrough Council’s housing company.
Nigel Wilson, Chief Executive Officer, Gentoo Group, on adding value to the contribution of social housing providers though new build and improvement of existing stock.
Presentations from the seminar can be downloaded here:
ILG Homes – Janice Morphet – 21st June 2019
ILG Housing – Nigel Wilson 21 June 2019
ILG Housing – Karen Brown 21 June 2019
ILG Housing – Richard Horniman 21 June 2019
The Institute for Local Governance is a North East Research and Knowledge Exchange Partnership established in 2009 comprising the North East region’s Universities, Local Authorities, Police and Fire and Rescue Services. Further information about the content of the event can be obtained by contacting: – tony.chapman@durham.ac.uk or john.mawson@durham.ac.uk
Policy&Practice has been commissioned by the Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland to look at the way charitable foundations support the voluntary sector in the North East of England. The research has involved in-depth interviews with 25 regional and national charitable foundations and is concluding with seminars in Newcastle and London to test the findings from the research.
In recent years funding for the voluntary sector has remained fairly similar but its composition is changing – with a lower level of reliance on local and national government sources during a long period of austerity policy. Charitable foundations have often stepped in where social needs have been growing in areas such as homelessness, poverty, health and personal wellbeing. Reduction in funding for youth services by local councils has also led to higher levels of investment by charitable foundations.
The research is not just about where money from grants is flowing, Instead it is focusing on how charitable foundations determine what issues they want to support, how they know if their grant giving is making a real difference and how they work alongside each other to have a greater overall impact. Another key purpose of the exercise is to feed new questions in the forthcoming Third Sector Trends survey across the North beginning in June 2019.
Charitable foundations involved in the study include all Community Foundations serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, County Durham Community Foundation, Tees Valley Community Foundation, The Ballinger Family Trust, The Barbour Foundation, Big Lottery Fund, Children in Need, Comic Relief, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Greggs Foundation, The Henry Smith Charity, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Lloyds Bank Foundation, Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation, Millfield House Foundation, Northstar Ventures, The Pilgrim Trust, Power to Change, Sage Foundation, The Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, Sir James Knott Trust, The Tudor Trust, Virgin Money Foundation and Wolfson Foundation.
A report will be published in the late summer of 2019 on the research findings and further reports will emerge in 2020 using quantitative data from the Third Sector Trends surveys. For more information on the project, contact tony.chapman@durham.ac.uk.
