Opinion

Umbrella stands

Finance | Ian Allsop | 1 Nov 2004

Umbrella bodies should practice what they preach, says Ian Allsop. Ian AllI

There are quite a few umbrella groups in the voluntary sector, most struggling to make ends meet by competing with each other for grants as well as fighting for pieces of the commercial pie.

However funded, these groups do provide valuable support for their members and bring together people from many organisations to share good practice for the benefit of the whole sector. All of which makes it decidedly unedifying to hear about the latest round of territorial squabbles and the intransigence of those apparently determined to hold onto purse strings at the expense of their peers.

On this occasion, it would appear that NCVO has had its nose well and truly bloodied in a bitter scrap over who should control the proposed ICT hub and, as a consequence, who should decide the distribution of the Active Community Unit's £9m IT 'ChangeUp' grant.

After doggedly resisting the involvement of interested parties representing finance directors, chief executives and fundraisers among others, heads were finally knocked together by the ACU and concessions forced from NCVO by the reminder that the £9m had yet to be allocated and that a more inclusive approach was likely to be displayed by the ultimate recipient of such largesse.

Of course, turf wars between umbrella bodies are nothing new. For example, NCVO provides well respected financial management support, while CFDG has recently beefed up its policy work. Similarly, NCVO runs conferences on leadership, financial management, law and many other topics that other specialist organisations would at first glance be better suited to arrange. There is nothing wrong in this if members of respective umbrella groups indicate there is a demand for these extended areas of support. However, surely there are times when it is barmy and counter-productive that umbrella bodies do not collaborate more, especially with groups that clearly have greater expertise in a certain field.

All of this displays a grand irony at a time when NCVO has launched with great fanfare its new collaborative working unit. NCVO chief executive, Stuart Etherington (pictured), has called for an improved understanding of collaborative working saying it would make the voluntary sector even more effective and improve services for beneficiaries. Collaboration should be a goal not only for individual charities but also the groups set up to support them. The words 'practise' and 'preach' spring to mind. 

Directory: National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
Who's Who: Sir Stuart Etherington