1. ‘Is the third sector so special?
What is it worth?
Angus McCabe: Third Sector Research Centre,
University of Birmingham
NCVO
21 November 2012
Funded by:
Hosted by:

2. A HEALTH WARNING
• The views expressed in the following session
are not necessarily those of
• The Third Sector Research Centre
• The Presenter

3. A CRY FOR HELP
• Is there a Counsellor in the house?
• Psychodynamic?
• Primal Scream?
• CBT?
• Solution Focused Therapy

4. WHAT’S ‘THE SECTOR’ WORTH?
• Easy…….
• Income - £170.4 billion (Civil Society) - £36.7
billion VCS
• £228.4 billion (Civil Society) - £90.2 billion VCS
• Workforce of 765,000
• Growth in number of organisations
• Almost continuous growth over the last two
decades…..till 2011

5. A MORE IMPORTANT QUESTION…?
• What’s it worth…..to whom?
• The Market?
• Policy Makers?
• Commissioners?
• Communities?
• Service Users?
• Itself/Its Members?

6. A RHETORIC OF WORTH
• Flexibility
• Responsiveness
• Inclusion
• Innovation
• Surfacing new needs
• Connected to communities etc etc
• Is this more than – or just – rhetoric?

7. VALUE OR VALUES?
• Again – easy
• Cost Benefit Analysis
• Social Audit and Accounting
• Social Return in Investment
• Global Reporting Initiative
• Triple Bottom Lines
• Added Value etc
• A purely monetarised value?

8. VALUES STATEMENTS
• “If the third sector is about something more
than ‘not for profit’ we need to define it in
terms other than its relationship to money.
Values are the key”

9. VALUES STATEMENT 2
• “Empowering people, Pursuing equality, Making voices heard,
Transforming lives, Being responsible, Finding fulfilment,
Doing a good job, Generating public wealth......These values
inspire people to work and volunteer in the third sector.
Separately these values are present in the public and private
sectors. However, the way in which third sector organisations
combine and prioritise these values is unique”. P7 (Blake et al:
2006)
• Blake, G., Robinson, D. and Smerdon, M. (2006) Living Values:
a report encouraging boldness in third sector organisations,
London: Community Links

10. VALUES…REALLY?
• ‘Our sector stands to make a greater
contribution to the Government’s Open Public
services agenda. Crucially we need the
opportunities to do this. National and local
commissioners need more encouragement to
engage with the sector.’
• Mitigating the impact of Welfare reform
– Locality, NAVCA etc – to HM Treasury 19/10/12

11. BUT GOING BACK….
• An NCVO Scenario for 2012 (NCVO April 2003);
• Voluntary organisations employing 1 million people, same as
public sector (actually – NHS)
• Delivering a range of public services under contract to
national, regional, local government and other public
agencies, e.g. social work, health, education, probation,
community renewal, social enterprise
• Voluntary organisations having inspection and performance
monitored by a government appointed regulator (Housing
Associations model)
• Being recompensed fully for full costs under contracts
• Salary levels to reflect new roles

12. A SQUEEZE MIDDLE?
• Mark Lever (CEO National Autistic Society)
said charities were getting larger and were
having to compete with the private sector.
"The added value and hidden benefits of
community-generated services get squashed
out by price," he said. "Those that can
compete and win contracts are seen by the
public as being like businesses.“
• (Third sector: 16/11/12)

13. ALTERNATIVES…..?
• For community organisations ‘there is the challenge
of imagination – to define a new purpose and to
establish an agenda fit for that purpose. Community
organisations need to change their primary roles
from being a partner of the state or from being a
servant of the state. Their primary role for the next
period will inevitably be oppositional to the dominant
policy positions being pursued by the state.’ Niall
Crowley: TSRC Discussion Paper

14. ALTERNATIVES…..?
NCIA: We are not an arm of the state….

15. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE…
“I don’t want to predict what the future, say in
five years, will look like for voluntary never
mind community groups. There may be a
leaner but more efficient and effective sector,
a more entrepreneurial and business like
sector – or just a leaner one. What we will see
played out in some form is a profound
change in the relationships between people,
government and the sector.” (Development
Agency Interview)

16. AND FINALLY…..
• Learning from the past – but looking to the
future….where next?
• Over to you….