COVID-19 and VCSE organisations response
Lead Research Organisation:
Nottingham Trent University
Department Name: Business School
Abstract
According to a recent government report (DCMS 06/05/2020) the Voluntary Community and Social
Enterprise (VCSE) sector is "fighting for survival", with increased demand for its services, whilst
simultaneously facing funding cuts estimated at £4.3bn (during March-May 2020), resulting in
many VCSEs organisations estimated to be insolvent 'within weeks'. As the report states:
"Social distancing is making delivering services harder and more costly. Reserves are running out.
Smaller charities, in particular, are at risk of imminent closure".
The core ideas for this project emerged through dialogue with DCMS, who are leading the
government's response on how COVID-19 is impacting the sector, and co-designed with NCVO, the
sector's leading infrastructure organisation. The project has three purposes. First, to provide realtime
data and learning on how COVID-19 is impacting the whole sector and, significantly, varies
across different organisations by size, structure and services offered. Second, to provide lessonslearned
reports about how organisations on the impacts and responses to COVID-19, particularly
focusing on the new working-practices and innovations which can be scaled across the UK. Third,
to provide insights to aid long-term the VCSE sector's resilience.
The project team brings a unique alignment of researchers specialising in the VCSE sector, HR and
innovation, NCVO, who provide sector knowledge, guidance and access, through their research
and policy team and 15,000 members. The outputs are a VCSE vulnerability barometer, providing
real-time data of the impact COVID-19 on the sector, lessons-learned reports, enabling innovations
to be scaled, a final project report and toolkit for resilience.
Enterprise (VCSE) sector is "fighting for survival", with increased demand for its services, whilst
simultaneously facing funding cuts estimated at £4.3bn (during March-May 2020), resulting in
many VCSEs organisations estimated to be insolvent 'within weeks'. As the report states:
"Social distancing is making delivering services harder and more costly. Reserves are running out.
Smaller charities, in particular, are at risk of imminent closure".
The core ideas for this project emerged through dialogue with DCMS, who are leading the
government's response on how COVID-19 is impacting the sector, and co-designed with NCVO, the
sector's leading infrastructure organisation. The project has three purposes. First, to provide realtime
data and learning on how COVID-19 is impacting the whole sector and, significantly, varies
across different organisations by size, structure and services offered. Second, to provide lessonslearned
reports about how organisations on the impacts and responses to COVID-19, particularly
focusing on the new working-practices and innovations which can be scaled across the UK. Third,
to provide insights to aid long-term the VCSE sector's resilience.
The project team brings a unique alignment of researchers specialising in the VCSE sector, HR and
innovation, NCVO, who provide sector knowledge, guidance and access, through their research
and policy team and 15,000 members. The outputs are a VCSE vulnerability barometer, providing
real-time data of the impact COVID-19 on the sector, lessons-learned reports, enabling innovations
to be scaled, a final project report and toolkit for resilience.
Organisations
- Nottingham Trent University (Lead Research Organisation)
- Institute for Voluntary Action Research (Project Partner)
- British Academy of Management (Project Partner)
- Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (Project Partner)
- Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (Project Partner)
- Civil Exchange (Project Partner)
- Volunteering Matters (Project Partner)
| Description | The research has explored the impact of Covid-19 on the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise sector, through a monthly barometer, a panel survey and 300 interviews. The results of the barometer demonstrate the way that organisations were impacted, particularly highlighting the way in which demand for services remained high throughout the course of the pandemic whereas levels of funding fluxated. This shaped organisations expectations of survival. The research highlights the variability of experiences of VCSE organisations, particularly how for some organisations, contrary to the dominant story, they have come out stronger through the pandemic, both in financial terms and their confidence, connections and capacity to respond to future challenges. |
| Exploitation Route | Provide a deeper understanding of the way that organisations are impacted, lessons learn about various forms of practice and future trends for the sector |
| Sectors | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://cpwop.org.uk/what-we-do/projects-and-publications/covid-19-vcse-organisation-responses/ |
| Description | The results of our work have been used by a variety of organisations to inform their policy and practice. It has been used by DCMS to understand both the impact of Covid-19 on the VCSE sector and inform thinking about the future of volunteering. A number of local VCSE infrastructure organisations have used our work to highlight the impact of Covid-19 on the sector as a whole and on their region, and have used this to inform funding bids, including to the National Lottery. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Developing the barometer |
| Amount | £29,840 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2023 |
| End | 12/2023 |
| Description | Evaluation of the impact of Covid-19 on Communities 1st |
| Amount | £14,870 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Communities First |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2021 |
| End | 04/2022 |
| Description | Department of Digital, Media and Sport: Baroness Baron, Civil Society Stakeholder COVID-19 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of the the project data to the Minister for Civil Society, Baroness Baron, at the Civil Society Stakeholder COVID-19 - including other key stakeholders in the sector. The presentation included the latest data from the project and sparked many questions and discussions about the data. The research team have been invited back to present more as the level of interest was high |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presentation of research data to national Third Sector infrastructure organisations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of key findings of the research by NCVO to the other key infrastructure organisations, which support the development of understanding of the research and the way that the VCSE sector has been impacted by Covid-19 - led to Q&A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presentation of research to practitioner group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research to network of practitioners who are interested in voluntary sector management. Presented key research findings and implications for practice |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presentation to All Party Parliamentary Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of the data from the project to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Charities and Volunteering. Presentation was made to MPs, Lords, and key stakeholders in the sector. It led to a discussion regarding the data and a number of Third Sector and charitable organisations got in touch afterwards wanting to know more |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ncvo.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/all-party-parliamentary-group |
| Description | Project Monthly Reports |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The project produces a monthly report which is designed to capture the headline findings from the project in a way that is accessible and relevant to the audience. These designed reports are created to be engaging and accessible to Third Sector/Social Enterprise and voluntary organisations. The reports have been read by many practitioners and policy makers, as a way of promoting the work |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | http://cpwop.org.uk/what-we-do/projects-and-publications/covid-19-vcse-organisation-responses/ |
| Description | Talk to AGM for Communities 1st |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings to AGM of a local infrastructure organisation, Communities 1st |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Talk to AGM for Medway Voluntary Action |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of research findings to Medway Voluntary Action AGM |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |