We have a vision! It is one in which the business and charity sectors work more closely together for greater ‘collective impact’, generating sustainable social value in not only community wellbeing but also a healthy operating environment for all organisations in Northamptonshire.
The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant financial and social crises have massively impacted the voluntary sector in the UK. Even prior to the pandemic, the sector was struggling financially due to a decade of austerity affecting the financial sustainability of the sector. In recent years, there have been several reports projecting a £10bn financial deficit within voluntary organisations.
COVID-19 amplified the challenges faced by voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations and has significantly impacted their resilience. Despite the UK government’s offer of some financial support, the short-term survival let alone long-term sustainability of the sector is uncertain.
A new research project aims to evaluate and identify factors influencing the local voluntary sector’s resilience, and how it engages with business. To overcome the complexities within the sector, in terms of the number of stakeholders and the influences that the sector has on the wider environment, a systemic approach must be adopted to analyse the key stakeholders – public, private, third and academic – and their inter-relationships.
Status Report
Our initial findings show that:
- Charities’ survival is at stake due to over-dependency on the public sector
- There are opportunities for private sector engagement
- A fresh independent sector strategy is needed
The National Charity and Voluntary Organisations’ (NCVO) 2022 Almanac analysis shows that government funding for charities is falling – it is now only 26% of the sector’s income, the lowest proportion since 2004/5. There is, there- fore, a need for a fresh approach to the not-for-profit sector.
In contrast to the adverse effects of COVID-19, there has been great compassion and collaboration among local businesses, with stakeholder capitalism and social responsibility rising on corporate agendas, at both large corporates (fuelled by the growing ESG movement and the engagement of the financial and investor community) as well as SMEs who traditionally do so much in and for the local community.
The opportunity exists to harness these trends in a way that is strategic, focused and aligned with the county’s social priorities, as highlighted in the Northamptonshire Community Foundation’s (NCF) Hidden Needs report based on research undertaken with the University. We can also harness the desire of local businesses to collaborate to address important ‘social and economic inequalities’.
However, notwithstanding a lot of good work and some exemplar collaborations, there is at times a lack of high-level strategic vision and leadership in the third sector, which is often riven with conflicts of interests and barriers to addressing local needs and achieving collective impact.
We see an urgent need for a new independent sector strategy and development including the generation of sustainable income through entrepreneurial trading and enterprise and better collaborative partnerships with business, not only to secure the continuity of community provision but also ensure robust and immediate responses to critical incidents in the future.
Leading the Way
Our initial research into similar initiatives nationally suggests that we are at the forefront of national thinking – but that we are not alone. We have joined a movement called A Better Way, a national campaign by an independent group of leaders from the voluntary, public and private sectors who want to improve services and strengthen communities.
Their thinking is based on an initial report from The Baring Foundation in 2015 and a follow-up report, A Shared Society (Civil Exchange, 2017). We have joined the campaign to contribute our thinking as well as learn, assist in local action, inform policy and advance systems change.
The aims and planned outcomes for the project are as follows:
- To run a series of focus groups and interviews with stakeholders within the sector, to understand the motives of and dynamics for effective cross-sector collaboration
- To hold a major practitioner-academic conference to present our findings, showcase best practice examples and engage key stakeholders in addressing the core issues and challenges of cross-sector collaboration
- To disseminate results within practitioner media channels, and pub- lish a ‘green paper’ to influence policy locally as well as nationally
Evidence gathered will support future grant applications in this space, to increase the scale and scope of the project and extend it beyond Northamptonshire. The research team will document, write up and publish details of the process and its findings for wider dissemination through both academic and practitioner channels.
Shining Example
An example of an effective informal cross-sector social partnership, led by Dominic Goble DL JP, is the Youth Court Solutions project in Northamptonshire. With the locally-based charity Crysalys as the catalyst, Dominic, deputy chair of Crysalys, has harnessed a group of people from different organisations who moved with speed, agility and energy to launch, in record time, the new service supporting young people caught in the criminal justice system – another example of a successful ‘Made in Northamptonshire’ project now attracting national attention, having reduced repeat offending by 36%.
Next Steps
We invite local companies and charities to get involved by joining an informal working group made up of people with a genuine interest and strategic yet dispassionate view of the county’s charity sector, which, despite some notable exceptions, many consider to be overly fragmented, fiercely competitive and often hostile to each other, fighting over ever-reducing public funds.
We are looking to undertake research into the issues facing charities and businesses, with a focus on how to bring the two together with the same language (vocabulary) and currency (metrics) for a stronger collaboration. We want to unlock much-needed innovation and draw on business skills and energy to address major social issues.
Bringing businesses and charities together in a more strategic, focused, local and aligned way to address our community’s greatest challenges will enable a strong platform for the third sector to engage with the local authorities, as well as address the county’s greatest social problems in a more systematic and transformational way.
Our approach offers a strengths-based and lessons-learned third sector reset at the sector’s most challenging time by combining the best of academic research, critical frontline community-based operations and local business skills. Ultimately, we hope to achieve a new county-wide cross sector, sustainable ecosystem for all, in support of those who are marginalised, disadvantaged and oppressed, through transformational business-charity partnerships.
To find out more, contact Adrian Pryce on 07720 297402 or via Adrian.pryce@northampton.ac.uk or visit Youth Court Solutions.
