Sector structure is shaped by local conditions

This fourth national report in the series demonstrates that voluntary sector structure, capacity and interest in tackling issues is shaped primarily by local area characteristics. Area affluence is one of the most important influences. There tends to be a higher concentration of TSOs per 1,000 members of the local population in more affluent regions such as South East England (3.6 TSOs per 1,000 resident population) than in less affluent regions such as North East England (2.6 TSOs per 1,000 resident population).

The balance between rich and poor areas varies within regions. In South East England, for example, only 6% of TSOs are located in the poorest areas (the least affluent quintile of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation), while 35% are located in the most affluent. In North East England, by contrast, 28% of TSOs are located in the least affluent quintile while only 15% are situated in the most affluent.

Within North East England the structure of the third sector is shaped by local social and economic conditions. For example, in Middlesbrough 65% of TSOs are located in areas of the deepest social deprivation compared with just 10% in Northumberland. At the other end of the spectrum, 27% of TSOs in Darlington are based in the wealthiest IMD quintile compared with just 4% in Sunderland. These variations have a significant impact on how the local voluntary sector is structured, how it works and what it aims to achieve.

It must be remembered, though, that areas do not become wealthy because they have a higher proportion of voluntary organisations. It is the other way around, because they are affluent, there is a higher proportion of TSOs as there is a stronger impetus locally to engage in voluntarism due to the local population’s higher levels of social capital, wealth and productive free time.

Volunteer support varies by region

In England and Wales, regular volunteers working with TSOs number around 4.3 million people who contribute 308 million hours of work valued at between £3.8bn and £5.6bn in 2025. In most regions, there has been a decline in regular volunteers since the pandemic. In North East England, the number of regular volunteers has fallen from 163,900 in 2022 to 148,900 in 2025; the hours worked has decreased from 11.6m in 2022 to 10.7m in 2025.

Reliance on regular volunteers is higher in more affluent regions. Expectations that TSOs can rely on volunteers on a very regular basis (81%) or for them to work unsupervised (71%) is substantially lower in the North East than in the South East (87% and 80% respectively). Similarly, fewer TSOs in the North East state that they could not keep going without volunteers (82%) than in the South East (91%). These variations are due to there being many more affluent areas in, for example, South East, South West and the East of England.

Conversely, because there are more deprived areas in North East England, a much higher percentage of TSOs report that many of their service users are beneficiaries (74%) compared with just 63% in South East England. In all regions, a substantial proportion of TSOs state that they have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels of volunteering (~38%). Only North West England stands out as an area which is particularly struggling this this respect (44%).

Sector beneficiaries and social impact is regionally focused

Sector focus is shaped by local conditions. For example, emphasis on physical disability, health problems, mental health tends to be higher in areas where concentrations of deprivation are higher.

In North East England the focus on all aspects of health is considerably higher than more affluent regions such as East of England and South East England. Clearly this also affects sector focus on supporting carers, which is at its highest in North East England (17% of TSOs). The same pattern applies for related beneficiary issues such as unemployment/worklessness, urban deprivation and poverty.

In some aspects of beneficiary support, other regions stand out. For example, homelessness is featured as a bigger priority in Greater London than in any other region, while emphasis on rural issues is higher in the less urban regions of East Midlands, South West, East of England and Wales.

Given the depth of deprivation in many areas of the North East region, it may not come as a surprise that the focus on overseas aid and development is the lowest in this region (2% of TSOs) compared with Greater London (8%) and the South East (6%).

As would be expected, in North East England there is a much stronger focus on aspects of pernicious and critical social need than in more affluent regions. For example, 32% of TSOs in the North East believe that they have a very strong impact on health and wellbeing compared with a national average of 25%. Similarly high scores are recorded for social isolation (38%) and building people’s confidence to manage their lives (27%).

In other respects, the impact of the North East England’s third sector is little different from other areas. For example, about the same percentage of TSOs feel that they have a very strong impact on the environment or the cultural and artistic life of the community as in other regions.

Sector withdrawal from public sector contracts may intensify competition for grants?

While localities undoubtedly shape sector purpose and structure to some extent and help to account for regional variations in sector wellbeing and impact, other factors also come into play derived from national political decision making which shape the prospects of TSOs.

Often the impact can be direct – when, for example, government shifts policy direction and invests heavily in one aspect of social life to the detriment of others. And on other occasions, government decisions on how it works with local and regional public sector agencies, such as the NHS or local authorities can have a profound impact on third sector activity.

One such challenge, highlighted in this report, is the government’s squeeze on public finances which has the effect of lowering the value of contracts offered to TSOs to deliver public services. This could, potentially, upset the financial dynamics of the third sector now that many larger TSOs are losing interest in, or have already withdrawn from delivering public services.

If the present government fails to substantially raise levels of funding to the NHS and local councils so as to facilitate an increase in contract values (and TSOs are obliged to withdraw from this field) it is highly unlikely that leaders of big TSOs will decide to reduce the size of their operations dramatically, make service-delivery staff and managers redundant and consolidate activity in existing areas of work which are financed by other means.

A much more plausible response is that leaders of big TSOs will look for alternative ways of sustaining their activity. Indeed, leaders in 94% of TSOs which were delivering contracts in 2025 stated that they intended to bid for funding ‘to deliver something brand new’ (compared with 68% of leaders in organisations which have no intention of delivering public services).

Furthermore, leaders were also asked how they ‘felt’ about bidding for funding to do something brand new: 18% were ‘excited’ about this (that this is ‘what get’s them up in the morning’) and 40% were ‘quite excited’. Admittedly, some leaders were worried about bidding to do something brand new (22%), but that was unlikely to stop them from trying.

As most of those organisations which delivered contracts operate mainly in poorer areas, there will be limited scope to develop self-generated trading activity to bridge the gap in their finances. Consequently, most will probably turn to trusts and foundations for substantial grant funding.

As report author, Professor Tony Chapman, Durham University concluded:

“Delivering public services is a minority sport in the voluntary sector. But if those organisations which currently do contract work withdraw from the field, given their size and financial clout, it will have profound consequences for the rest of the sector. Middling-sized charities will be especially at risk as they witness intensified competition for grants from trusts and foundations.”

Increased competition for grants could seriously upset the current equilibrium in funding opportunities, especially for middling-sized TSOs in a marketplace with finite resources. But the extent to which that happens may vary by region. At present in the North East of England, for example, many TSOs are holding fast and remain involved in public service delivery. In other regions, such as North West England and Yorkshire and Humber, there are worrying signs of an exodus from this field. And again, by contrast, in South East England, East of England and London (though admittedly from a lower base), more TSOs are bidding for or delivering contracts.

It is very difficult to assess what will happen next because many organisations remain ‘ambivalent’ about bidding for public service contracts rather than being dead against the idea. And so, If government decides to raise public spending on services, many TSOs may return to the fold or enter this field.

Third Sector Trends reports have consistently shown that it is middling-sized voluntary organisations which are generally the most vulnerable financially. In North East England, for example, 31% of medium-sized TSOs (with income between £50,000-£250,000) seem to be financially vulnerable because they are using reserves for essential costs, while even more larger organisations (with income £250,000 to £1m) are at risk (47%).

Furthermore, it is in less affluent areas where a great many of these organisations are located, delivery vital support to hard-pressed communities). Without their capacity, enthusiasm and commitment to tackle local problems, what would the consequences be?

The current situation in North East England for middling-sized voluntary organisations is quite positive as trusts and foundations have been supporting them strongly.

• Larger TSOs are the most likely to have been provided with long-term grant funding (59%). Medium-sized organisations have been served less well in this respect (48%).
• Larger and medium-sized TSOs are by far the most likely to have been given unrestricted funding (73% and 69% respectively),
• Trusts and foundations have made more effort to get to know medium-sized (68%) and large organisations (70%) in the North East.
• Training and consultancy support has been offered by trusts and foundations to a bigger proportion of medium-sized (41%) and larger (43%) of TSOs.

There is one aspect of trust and foundation’s grant making practices which is more concerning – of making demands that their work is ‘innovative’. Only 58% of the biggest TSOs were asked to be innovative in the North East, but this was expected of 71% of medium-sized and 78% of larger TSOs.

As report author, Professor Tony Chapman, Durham University concluded:

“Vogueish muscular terminology surrounding innovation is alluring politically – but for the most part, voluntary organisations achieve what they do using sound practice, consistently delivered for the people they really care about. This report shows that all around the county, the third sector has an enormously strong commitment to place which is informed by place-based understanding and is responsive to local conditions – not according to a blue print delivered down to them from on high.”

Third Sector Trends has been surveying the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector every three years since 2010. In 2025, 8,680 responses were received across England and Wales. This is the only large-scale and fully representative longitudinal national survey in the UK which can produce robust and detailed comparative analysis at regional and national level.

The project is funded in 2025-26 by Community Foundation North East, Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales, Wales Council for Voluntary Action and Millfield House Foundation. This is the fourth of five national reports from Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025. This is the fourth national report in the series.

The report will be available here on 12th February 2026: Third Sector Trends in England and Wales: The contribution of voluntary organisations to place.

All other reports in this series can be located here: Third Sector Trends Publication Archive.

And will also be available on the website of the Community Foundation North East: Third Sector Trends

Finance dominates debates about the third sector to such an extent that it sometimes seems as if money is the only driver of sector activity. As instability in voluntary organisations’ income is the norm, not the exception, it is hardly surprising that leaders of third sector organisations (TSOs) feel as if they are struggling against the odds.

The results from the third report was published on 15th January 2026 and is available here: Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025 – income sources, assets and financial wellbeing (January 2026) 

Laying the blame for the sectors’ financial woes on external factors is the most common response. A recent editorial from The Guardian exemplifies this, when it argues that: ‘Britain is now in dire need of a new golden age of voluntarism. But the current financial squeeze on charities, which the government has done too little to address, is pointing in the opposite direction.’ (1st January 2026)

Finance is important, that is undeniable. But a majority of voluntary organisations manage with little money as all their energy is provided by volunteers. In such circumstances, financial issues are secondary to those of principle and ambition to achieve the objectives leaders of voluntary organisations prioritise. Certainly, bigger organisations need money to pay for salaries – but it is people who get the jobs done. That is why, In this third national report from Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025, money is conceived as ‘facilitative’ for voluntary organisations. It is one amongst many resources to help get things done.

Sometimes, with careful management, nudging and persuasion money finds its way fairly reliably to voluntary organisations along well-trodden paths such as public giving, philanthropy, members who pay subscriptions, from property rents, regularised trading activity, dividends from investments or interest on endowments. More often, getting hold of money requires real effort, determination and imagination. For example, when applying for grants voluntary organisations have to be creative so as to meet the stipulations of funding bodies whilst permitting TSOs to sustain, somehow or other, aspects of tried-and-tested practice to which they are firmly committed and are heavily relied upon by their beneficiaries.

Raising funds can be challenging for TSOs. Especially so when they are engaged in activities which are ‘unpopular’ or ‘unfashionable’ with government, trusts and foundations, philanthropists or public giving is concerned. One example, over the last 15 years is youth work in less advantaged areas where government agencies and many local authorities all but abandoned lending support to this area of third sector activity. But suddenly, in response to low levels of labour market engagement of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETS), youth work is back on the political radar.

Competition exists because voluntary organisations’ leaders are so ambitious and determined to achieve their objectives, so it is unlikely that there will ever be enough money to meet demand. Furthermore, new TSOs are being established to enter into new or existing fields of work. In the last financial year, for example, the Charity Commission reported that 9,840 applications had been received to set up new organisations, up from 9,008 the previous year. And in the lifetime of this project, the number of Community Interest Companies has grown more than ten-fold from 3,572 in 2010 to 37,081 in March 2025.

With these points in mind, analysis in this report proceeds from the view that there will always be ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in funding terms within the third sector. And rather than implying, misleadingly, that the sector is in a perpetual financial crises that is driven solely by external forces – it is recognised that ambition and internal competition within the third sector helps to explain why there never seems to be enough money to go around.

The results from the third report was published on 15th January 2026 and is available here: Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025 – income sources, assets and financial wellbeing (January 2026)

A blog providing a summary of findings will be published here: Tony Chapman Blog

The full report is also available on Community Foundation North East‘s website: Third Sector Trends

Sector press stories on the research report can be located here Civil Society Media,Third Sector, Charity Finance, UK Fundraising and Charity Times.

All the national reports on findings and technical reports on methodology and analytical techniques can be found here:  Third Sector Trends publications archive.

Another busy year for Policy&Practice.  Much of it focused on Third Sector Trends as we hit the triennial cycle of the study in 2025 for the sixth time.   But there’s plenty more news too, if you’d like to read our eleventh annual report:  Policy&Practice Annual Report 2025.

The third sector is a force to be reckoned with in England and Wales as it commands enormous resources of people energy to deploy. With the equivalent of about 1.3m full-time staff and regular volunteers at their disposal, voluntary organisations attend to a wide range of social, economic and environmental issues.

That does not mean the third sector is a single-minded entity, which is logically structured and systematically directed to achieve shared goals. On the contrary, it is pluralistic in structure and particularistic in its objectives – serving the needs of people or places according to the passions of those who lead and work within each and every voluntary organisation.

The second of a series of five reports from Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025 looks at the scale of impact that the third sector delivers through its work and makes plausible estimates on the value of that work. And because this is a longitudinal study, running back to 2010, it demonstrates how the third sector has sustained productive energy over the years.

That has not always been an easy task. In the lifetime of this research project, third sector leaders have had to deal with uncertainties that have come their way which were completely beyond their control. That series of challenges ranged from the 2008 global economic crash, almost a decade of government austerity policies, Brexit, the Coronavirus pandemic and now a ‘cost of living crisis’.

Often, the sector press carries news stories from doom-laden commentators or gloomy research report findings prophesising the imminent demise of the third sector. And yet, unenviable though their tasks may have been at times, this report will show that a majority of voluntary organisations are still led by people who are remarkably ambitious and optimistic.

Levels of confidence and vitality amongst leaders varies because they get excited and worried about different issues – depending upon the kinds of organisations they run or where they are located. The characteristics of leaders themselves is varied and continually changing. So this report looks at that issue too – and asks whether experiences of leadership vary depending upon spatial and organisational factors – and according to the biographical and personal characteristics of leaders.

Challenging though leadership can be, its experience is not shown to be one of relentless drudgery, fear or crisis management. Instead, this research report shows that leaders have the energy and ambition to tackle issues that are important to their organisations.

That is not to say that everything in the garden is lovely. Since the pandemic, many voluntary organisations have continued to face difficulties in holding on to or recruiting new employees in challenging labour market conditions. Support from regular volunteers during the pandemic declined and the evidence presented here shows that while there has been a measure of recovery – nearly two fifths (38%) of voluntary organisations have yet to get back to the levels of regular volunteer support they once enjoyed.

The clinical tone adopted to report findings about the overall wellbeing of the third sector, may jar with readers whose voluntary organisations are currently facing serious difficulties. But reports must adopt such a tone so as to alert those who work with or invest in the third sector can reach a clearer understanding of why some are struggling while others are thriving.

While life in the third sector can be challenging and sometimes the pressure feels relentless, that does not mean that the people who lead organisations lose their verve. The confidence and ambition of most organisational leaders remains high. This is a vital story to tell if the third sector is to renew itself by continually bringing in new people to lend it support, to work, to regularly volunteer and lead.

The report is available here: Third Sector Trends in England and Wales – people, work, ambition and impact (December 2025)

A shorter blog is also available here: TonyChapmanBlog

News stories on this report can be found here from: Civil Society Media, Charity Times and Third Sector

Professor Joyce Liddle of  Policy&Practice was invited as a keynote speaker at Network: evaluating & researching university participation interventions conference in  London, September  2025.

The move towards increased collaboration and regional organisation for widening participation initiatives announced by the Office for Students in June 2025 opens up a range of opportunities for higher education. This new approach to partnerships could support a shared national purpose by coordinating the work of providers in tackling local and regional challenges to achieve a greater collective impact. The possibility of more productive links with employers and communities, support for collaborative work with younger age groups and enhanced careers provision would all be facilitated. But at times of change it is also vital that we recognise and learn from the success of existing partnerships.

The NERUPI Convention gave people the opportunity to:

• engage with wider perspectives on regional development
• increase understanding of Office for Students intentions and requirements
• consider ways to retain existing partnership activities
• explore strategies for developing new collaborative initiatives

Professor Joyce Liddle from Durham University provided a keynote talk that drew on her many years of experience and engagement as an academic and policy/practitioner in regional development.  Her speech was entitled “Setting widening participation, knowledge exchange and collaborative partnerships for place transformation in a civic and place leadership context for higher educations institutions: The UK Government’s ‘Going for Growth’ regional agenda”

She used the session to set widening participation, knowledge exchange and collaborative partnerships for place transformation in a context of civic and place leadership role for HEIs. In the evolving, highly fragmented devolutionary landscape of regional and local growth, mayoral combined authorities are expected to drive leadership in collaboration with other agencies, including higher education institutions.

Professor Joyce Liddle of Policy&Practice has recently published a new edited volume with Professor John Shutt of Northumbria University.

Cases on Public Sector Entrepreneurship examines the shifting political, economic and socio-technological forces that are altering public entrepreneurship contexts. Addressing the gaps in current methodological knowledge and combining theory and practice, this illuminating set of case studies provides integrated scholarship on business enterprise and public entrepreneurship.

The book presents an international perspective, including detailed case studies from the UK, France, Finland and Nepal. In so doing it acknowledges the difficulties in transferability between jurisdictions and cases, illustrating key elements of public entrepreneurship in different settings by exploring narratives, stories and ethnographic examples to enhance knowledge and policy learning on how public officials seek real word social and economic outcomes and impacts.

“We badly need more creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in the public sector, particularly in an era of profound transitions, even though a truly, and fully entrepreneurial state would be unwelcome and dangerous. Part of the value of better research, and of this book, is to help us define and navigate the boundaries.”  Professor Geoff Mulgan

Joyce Liddle and John Shutt (2025) Cases in Public Entrepreneurship, Elgar Cases in Entrepreneurship Series, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.

Fieldwork for Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025 concluded on 30th September and received 8,680 valid and complete responses. The first report on findings was published on 29th October.

The point of this study is to give an independent and balanced picture built upon what voluntary organisations tell us. And contrary to many ‘alarmist’ reports about sector crises, we’re finding a voluntary sector that is much more capable, confident, well resourced, resilient and impactful than many might expect.

Certainly, some organisations are struggling at the moment (and we’ll be able to show who’s more likely to be at risk and why as the research progresses) but most are getting on well while some are thriving.

The first report is available here: . Relationships, influencing and collaborative working – Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025 (October 2025)

The report has been covered in stories in Third Sector  and Civil Society Media.

A series of reports will follow – titles may change a little, but this provides an idea of what they will cover:

People, work, ambition and impact (to be published late first week December 2025)

Income, assets, financial wellbeing and outlook (to be published early January 2026)

Sector dynamics in the context of place (to be published February 2026)

How voluntary organisations contribute to community vitality (to be published March 2026)

There will also be a special report on The voluntary sector in Wales – which will be published in February 2026. Other localised reports are likely to follow.

Two other background reports are also published today. 

The first is a qualitative study of 50 voluntary organisations which ran for 15 years and has been updated in 2025. Going the distance – how third sector organisations work through turbulent times [New Edition October 2025].

The second report explains how the study was done: Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025: technical paper on research methodology and sample structure.

If you’d like more information about the project please click here

Thank you to all 8,680 voluntary organisations which took part in the study this year.

We have received at least 600 from every English Region and over 700 from Wales.  It takes four months and a great deal of support to do the fieldwork for Third Sector Trends, which started on June 2nd and finished on 30th September.

The study has had tremendous help from many local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations (such as CVSs) from around the country who have helped to boost local responses.

And as planned, towards the end of the fieldwork process, many Community Foundations stepped in to ask their current and recent grantees to respond to the survey producing a significant increase in the number of charities and social enterprises taking part in their areas together with support from UK Community Foundations, London Funders and London Plus.

The study has generously been funded by Community Foundations North East, Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales, WCVA and Millfield House Foundation. 

When will we start to see the findings?

In October a new edition of Going the Distance: how Third Sector organisations work through turbulent times. This is a report from a 15 year qualitative study of voluntary organisations in North East England and Cumbria and forms the basis much of the analysis in the survey reports.  Additionally, a Research Methodology report will be published in October for people who’d like to get the detail about sample sizes and how representative the data and findings are.

Now that the survey is closed, the reporting from the survey will begin soon. The first three reports will be at national level starting with Relationships in the Voluntary Sector which should be published by the end of October or first week November.  This will be followed by a report at the end of November/first week December on People in the Voluntary Sector.  In January a third national level report will be published on Sector Finances and Assets. 

In February and March, two of the area reports will be published. The first for North East England will track changes right back to 2010 when the study began.  The next report will be published by WCVA for Wales and will provide comparative data with English regions.  In March a report will be published by Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales on Organisational Vitality in Smaller Charities.

As in previous years, others will follow when commissions are received on area studies or other issues such as the sector’s contribution to issues such as public health and community wellbeing.

If you ‘d like to find out more about the study, or read previous reports you can find everything you’ll need here: Third Sector Trends

Third Sector Trends is a major long-running study of the voluntary sector in England and Wales. It began in 2010 and the survey is repeated every three years.  In 2025,  we have  over 8,600 responses so far.

The survey closed at midnight on Tuesday 30th September. 

The evidence we collect will provide unprecedented opportunities for time-series and spatial analysis on key issues of concern to voluntary organisations, charitable trusts and community foundations, local government, the health service and businesses which contribute financially or with in-kind support to charities and social enterprises.

We rested the survey campaign in August, but are now back and put out a reminder on 1st September to our lists of charities.  Many community foundations across the country are  now sending direct invitations to grantees to help build the samples in their local areas too – including Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Essex, Forever Manchester, Herefordshire, Merseyside & Lancashire, Leeds, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Staffordshire & Shropshire, Suffolk, Tees, Two Ridings, Wales and, of course, Community Foundation North East.

The survey will remain open until midnight on 30th September and we still need you to take part so that we can build a balanced picture for the area within which you work.

Whether you’re big or small – thriving, struggling or just going along as normal – we need to hear from you. It’s quick and easy to do, interesting and really helps to build a picture about how the voluntary sector responds to change and initiates change in society.

So if you’re an amateur sports, dance or gardening club, a village hall, a carers’ group, an arts, music or heritage society, a campaigning trust; or if you deliver social or health services, care for the environment or run a hostel, refuge or food bank – whatever you do, it’s important to us.

The study is big (8,500+ responses so far in 2025) and runs right across England and Wales. But its focus is still very local – looking at how the voluntary sector develops and works in areas like yours – whether the interests you serve are focused in a neighbourhood/village – or span national/international boundaries.

It’s completely confidential, incredibly relevant to the voluntary sector and those who support it and only happens every three years. So please tell us how it’s going and have your say on what you think the future holds.

If you want some more detail before you start,  go to this page Third Sector Trends

At an on-line ceremony held on 14th July 2025, Professor Stephanie Fiorentino of the University of Cambridge, on behalf of the Regional Studies Association Board, presented Professor Joyce Liddle the ‘2025 Distinguished Services to Regional Studies Award’.

This new award recognises those academics who have made an important contribution to the field of regional studies internationally, either through long lasting quiet service or a brief but impactful intervention.

Professor Fiorentino was happy to announce Professor Liddle as one of four annual recipients of the 2025 award and Professor Liddle of Durham University, UK gratefully accepted the honour.

The YouTube video of the ceremony can be found on RSA website HERE.