Kirsty Rowlinson, Community Action Hampshire

Community Action Hampshire 1

www.actionhants.org.uk


Assessing the Impact of Local Infrastructure Support on Small/Medium

Third Sector Organisations

• ESRC Funded ‘Third Sector Placement Fellowship’

• Seek to evaluate front-line organisations’ perceptions of local infrastructure support

• Based at the Third Sector Research Centre at Southampton University

• Two days per week for six months – ended Dec 2011


Three main elements of my research:

• Data analysis of National Survey of Third Sector Organisations (NSTSO)

• Analysis of databases from infrastructure organisations

• Fieldwork – semi structured interviews with a range of frontline VCOs, all eligible for NSTSO


Element 1 – analysis of the NSTSO

Q19. “Do you currently get any support from other third sector organisations in your local area (eg. Council for Voluntary Service, Local Social Enterprise Network, Co-operative Development Agency, or other capacity building bodies) or not?”

(NSTSO’s exact wording)


Responses

• Yes – 18%• No – 55%• Don’t know – 3%• Not applicable – 23%• No response – 2%


Who say they use local infrastructure services the most and least?

MOST

Beneficiary type: • socially excluded• Mental health• Refugee/asylum seekers• Victims of crime• Addiction

Role:• Equalities• Criminal justice• Health & welfare• Cohesion

LEAST

Beneficiary type:• Faith• Animals

Role:• Religion• International development• Animals• Heritage• Culture & leisure



MOST

Income sources: • Grants/core• National Lottery• Non statutory grants• Earned income

Geographical coverage of work:• Single tier local authority area• Two tier borough area

LEAST

Income sources:• Investment• Membership• None of these• Donations and fundraising

Geographical coverage of work:• National• International



MOST

No of employees: • 6-10• 11-30• 3-5

No of volunteers:• 31-50• 51-100• 21-30

LEAST

No of employees:• None

No of volunteers:• None• 1-10



MOST

Turnover: • £100K to £500K• Peak at £150K to £200K

Region:• North East & North West

Local authority type• Metropolitan

Population Density• High

LEAST

Turnover:• 0 to £200K

Region:• South East & South West

Local authority type:• County Council

Population Density• Low


Diversity MonitoringOrganisations that monitor diversity vs q19

42.143.65

41.68

20.01

23.27

19.49

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Monitor management diversity Monitor volunteer diversity Monitor staff diversity

Use infrastructure

Don't use infrastructure


IMDsIMD Score against Q19 if work in neighbourhood location

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0.1 to5

5 plusto 10

10plus

15plus

20plus

25plus

30plus

35plus

40plus

45plus

50plus

55plus

60plus

65plus

70plus

75plus

Use infrastructure

Don't use infrastructure

N/A


Analysis

The relationship between receipt of infrastructure support and the beneficiary type of the organisation is largely independent of:

• the age of the organisation;• the origin of their funds; • and their turnover.


Element 2 – Analysis of VCS Databases

• I’ve collected databases from 13 infrastructure organisations. Only had two refusals.

• Data relates to Hampshire only• 5,930 listings after de-duplication• Cross referenced to Charity Commission

datafiles


Preliminary Findings• 3,312 groups with no known charity

registration receive infrastructure support. 89% of these are supported by only one organisation

• Out of 8,242 registered charities in Hampshire, 77% of them do NOT receive services from a local infrastructure org

• 495 public bodies receive services from a local infra org. 20% of these receive services from two infra orgs. (CAH provide services to 281 public orgs!)


Element 3 - Fieldwork• Only carried out 12 interviews so far. Hoping to do

about 24.

Categories of questions I’ve asked:• Re-asked (verbatim) Q19 from NSTSO• Have you heard of these infra orgs, used their

services, been of benefit?• What would be your first port of call for support?• Do you know if any orgs represent your interests?• Do you feel part of a ‘sector’?• If you could wave a magic wand?

Answer given

‘Correct’ answer?

Reason correct?

Comment

NO YES NO “I do get a lot of support, but not right now. Did last week though.”

YES YES NO “Yes, we get funding from Winchester City Council”

YES YES YES

YES YES YES

NO NO NO “I don’t know what you mean by support”

NO NO NO “We wouldn’t expect donations from another charity”

N/A NO NO “We tend not to be in anyone’s funding range when we try to apply for funding”

YES YES YES

NO YES NO Do use infrastructure

NO YES NO Do use infrastructre

YES YES NO Construed ‘support’ to mean funding

NO YES NO Do use infrastructure


What would be your first port of call for advice regarding:

• Funding and finance – CVS (7), Board (3), LA, my husband, God’s providence

• Training/events – CVS (8), specialist org (5), LA (2), wherever sends me a leaflet at the right time

• Legislation/policy changes – CVS (4), Charity Commission (4), specialist org (3), solicitor, LA

• Trustees/vols/staff – CVS (7), Charity Commission (5), Board (2), LA, specialist org


Do you think there are any local organisations that represent the interests of charities to local government?

• Most organisations said “no, I don’t think so”. A few said they hoped their local MP would represent their interests if approached about a specific issue. Only one organisation identified an infrastructure organisation as having a role in representing the sector’s interests.


Do you use infrastructure?

Is there are community of charities?

Comment

Yes Yes Definitely

Yes Yes Sector don’t blow trumpets enough

Yes Yes Other people have been so helpful to me

Yes Yes Not always very apparent

No No There is none

No Maybe Maybe for other people, but not for me cos I wouldn’t expect them to be interested in animals or India.

No Probably Probably, but I’m not part of it

Yes Yes Definitely

No Probably Probably, but I’m not part of it

Yes Yes, but … I choose not to be part of it. I find their interest a bit voyeuristic

Yes Yes Definitely

Yes Not really, no


If you had a magic wand, apart from loads of cash, what would you change to make life easier for your organisation?• Most had wishes that were related to increased income eg.

an office base & money for phone bills. However, other suggestions were:

• In-kind support from local businesses• Recognition of importance of user led work (as opposed to

provider led)• A place for organisations that don’t want to compete, just

want to serve• Continuity and earlier funding decisions from LA. • Contracting problems eg. Tupe arrangements addressed• CRB checks and other paperwork to be simplified• Awareness that we exist and what we do (two orgs)• Some guidance through lunacies of Health and Safety


Favourite quote …

Respondent: “So what do these organisations [local infrastructure orgs] do then?”

I explained the kinds of roles and functions of an infrastructure organisation

Respondent: “Hmmm. It all sounds pretty peripheral to me.”


Next steps …

• Work isn’t complete. TSRC are kindly funding me to carry out 11 more days of work

• Need to finish interviews (12 more hopefully)

• Need do some more analysis of the databases

• Need to write a paper on it


Questions for you …

• Given the additional work I’ve outlined, are there any particular elements you think I should investigate?

• How can I maximise the useful knowledge from this work?

• How can we use the knowledge to tell a positive story about local infrastructure support?

• How can we use the knowledge for lobbying?

If you have any bright ideas after the conference, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I want this research to be useful for us all, so I’d be most grateful for any input!

Kirsty [email protected] 857355

mailto:[email protected]

Kirsty Rowlinson, Community Action Hampshire

Career

Transcript of Kirsty Rowlinson, Community Action Hampshire