What is the future of infrastructure support for small charities?
Julian Lomas
As we wrote in our recent blog, we are concerned that the legal and regulatory environment is too complicated for small charities to navigate. More and more small charity Trustees are getting in touch with us asking for help, particularly with governance concerns: how to start a charity, change structure or objects, marge with another charity or, in some cases, close down in an orderly way. We’re passionate about the value of small charities and are always happy to help, including signposting to free support available from other sources.
We find it really worrying that it is getting harder to access such support. In spring 2022 the Small Charities Coalition closed due to lack of sustainable funding. Some of their key services and resources such as the small charity helpdesk, online help and guidance, free webinars and a practical support bulletin were taken on by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and the Foundation for Social Improvement for Social Improvement (FSI). Now the FSI has also announced its closure during spring 2023 and the future of those services has been thrown into doubt.
We know from 16 years of supporting small charities that infrastructure support in areas such as governance, fundraising, business planning, impact assessment, financial management and much more, is vital to the continued strength and safety of the services small charities offer. Yet, as a recent 360 Giving report shows, funding for infrastructure support is declining and the infrastructure sector is a very fragile ecosystem indeed. While there was a boost to infrastructure funding during the pandemic, this appears not to be sustained and the downward trend has resumed.
Where can small charities go to get help with capacity building?
The NCVO remains an important source of information and resources, and membership is free to very small charities and affordable for small charities.
Local Councils for Voluntary Service and Rural Community Councils are also often a great source of advice and support. However, many of those are also struggling to find funding for their traditional infrastructure support services and are increasingly moving into frontline service delivery to maintain financial stability. They also often struggle to provide the expert technical advice some small charities need. Some have closed altogether and mergers are increasingly common.
It is also great to see that more of the larger grant making trusts are offering support beyond providing funding. Lloyds Bank Foundation offers its Enhance programme, which includes free consultancy support to build capacity in small charities receiving grants from the Foundation. The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has its Funding Plus programme which offers small grants to pay for capacity building support for charities receiving their grants. Clarion Futures has launched its Grants Plus programme to provide consultancy, employee volunteering and other capacity building help for Clarion Housing Group’s small charity partners. We are proud to be working in partnership with Clarion Futures to deliver this programme.
More is needed, and these two high profile closures of charities providing infrastructure support show that it can’t happen without increased funding for the infrastructure sector. If the state can’t or won’t do this then the burden may fall on charitable funders and the National Lottery Communities Fund, but they will need to shift their attitude towards funding infrastructure and capacity building charities and projects.
Meanwhile, we continue to work with funders, infrastructure providers and dozens of small charities to help them navigate increasingly complex and voluntarily times and we’d be delighted to engage in a debate about the future of infrastructure support oir small charities.
If you would like to explore how we could help with capacity building in your charity please contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to arrange free initial discussion.