A paper examined government expenditure on the voluntary sector in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The voluntary sector was currently relatively well funded by the governments concerned. The proportion of the voluntary sector's income coming from statutory sources had grown in recent years, creating an increasing dependence on public funding. Wales and Northern Ireland had relatively weak voluntary sectors, with disproportionately low levels of sector income compared with the size of their economies.
Source: Ian Mocroft, Government Expenditure on the Voluntary Sector in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, Working Paper 2, Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Dec
A report examined the social investment market in England. Social investment remained at a very early level of development: more than 80 per cent of all lending was secured against borrower assets, and only 5 per cent was equity or quasi-equity. There were only a handful of organizations that had the necessary scale and performance characteristics to accept meaningful capital injections from Big Society Capital (formerly referred to as the 'Big Society Bank').
Source: Adrian Brown and Will Norman, Lighting the Touchpaper: Growing the market for social investment in England, Young Foundation/Boston Consulting Group
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Nov
A briefing paper examined the establishment of the 'Big Society Bank' (subsequently renamed as the Big Society Capital Group). The bank would be the destination for money previously identified by the dormant fund legislation, plus a contribution from the main banks under the 'project Merlin' initiative. It would seek to be a catalyst for other social investment vehicles, providing funding, guarantees, and support: but it would not be a direct grant-making body in its own right.
Source: Timothy Edmonds, Big Society Bank, Standard Note SN/BT/5876, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Oct
A study examined the approaches taken by charitable foundations to 'funding plus' – activities by funders designed to support and work alongside the organizations that they funded. It identified two broad categories of activity: capacity building (focused on helping to develop skills or competencies); and activity focused on influencing public policy and/or practice.
Source: Ben Cairns, Steven Burkeman, Alison Harker, and Eliza Buckley, Beyond Money: A study of funding plus in the UK, Institute for Voluntary Action Research
Links: Report | IVAR press release
Date: 2011-Sep
The coalition government published guidance to local councils in England that were considering 'changing' (sic) funding to local voluntary and community groups and small businesses. It said that councils should give at least 3 months? notice of any funding cuts, and that cuts should not be 'disproportionate'.
Source: Best Value Statutory Guidance, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Guidance | DCLG press release | NCVO press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Sep
A report said that the voluntary and community sector faced nearly £3 billion in funding cuts over the government's spending review period (2011-2015). This might turn out to be an underestimate, since half of all local authorities were making disproportionate cuts to the voluntary sector.
Source: David Kane and James Allen, Counting the Cuts: The impact of spending cuts on the UK voluntary and community sector, National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Links: Report | NCVO press release | TUC press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Aug
The coalition government announced that it had endorsed outline proposals for the development of a 'Big Society Bank', presented to it by independent advisers. The Bank, once operational, would act as a wholesale investor for social investment and would champion the sector to the public, stakeholders, and investors.
Source: Press release 9 May 2011, Cabinet Office
Links: Cabinet Office press release | Outline proposals | Labour Party press release
Date: 2011-May
An article examined the coalition government's consultation paper on supporting a stronger civil society. It said that 'support' should be viewed with some ambivalence. Rather than a neutral set of mechanisms for improving the operation and effectiveness of third sector organizations, 'support' might disguise hidden assumptions about how the third sector ought to be different.
Source: Rob Macmillan, '"Supporting" the voluntary sector in an age of austerity: the UK coalition government's consultation on improving support for frontline civil society organisations in England', Voluntary Sector Review, Volume 2 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
A report examined the impact of taxation on charities. The compliance burden faced by charities in administering taxes often seemed disproportionate to the taxes collected. The diversity and complexity of charity taxes, reliefs, and related compliance would benefit from simplification.
Source: Charity Tax Map, Charity Tax Group
Links: Report | Nuffield Foundation press release
Date: 2011-Feb