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New NCVO Commission aims to set future funding agenda

Fundraising | Tania Mason | 27 Jan 2009

The NCVO is setting up a high-powered commission to map the various funding streams available to the voluntary sector and investigate whether they could be made more effective or new ones created.

The Funding Commission will be chaired by Rachel Lomax (pictured), who until last June was deputy governor of the Bank of England, and is a former vice president and chief of staff to the president of the World Bank. She is still a non-executive director of HSBC Holdings plc.

The Commission's remit is to explore what funding sources currently exist for the sector, how these are expected to change, whether they are adequate or need to be improved, and whether any new ones are needed.

The aim is to make the sector more secure and sustainable by ensuring it has access to as wide a range of financial help as possible.

The other members are:

• Toby Eccles, development director at Social Finance and formerly secretary to the Commission on Unclaimed Assets
• Dawn Austwick OBE, director of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
• Michael Brophy, former Charities Aid Foundation chief executive
• Fiona Ellis, director of the Northern Rock Foundation
• Paul Amadi, director of fundraising at RNIB and chair of the Institute of Fundraising
• Stephen Dunmore, former Big Lottery Fund chief executive
• Brian Horner, chief executive of Norwich and Norfolk Voluntary Services
• Dinah Cox, executive director of Rosa
• Clare Dove, chief executive of Blackburn House and a social enterprise ambassador
• John Low, chief executive of Charities Aid Foundation

‘Not another public service delivery inquiry'

Ann Blackmore, the NCVO's head of policy, said that while the work would take in government grants and contracts, it will not be primarily focused on this, but more on other sources of funds.

"The last thing we want is for it to become another inquiry into public service delivery or contracts," said Blackmore. "Given that obtaining grants and contracts could become more difficult in the future, we want to look at what else is available to try and boost sustainability."

The NCVO began working on the concept in June, prompted by factors such as the forthcoming Big Lottery Fund review and the economic downturn. The Commission will seek to publish its findings in December this year, with wide-ranging recommendations about how to go forward.

Inform election manifesto

Blackmore said that while there were no preconceptions about what the recommendations might be, the expectation was that they would mainly be for the sector to act on, rather than the government. However, they could also inform the NCVO's General Election manifesto.

The Commission will hold an initial, informal meeting early next month, but its work will be officially launched at the NCVO's annual conference on 18 February with a consultation session where delegates will be invited to think about the issues the Commission could address.

Two more consultation events will be held throughout the year, and the Commission is scheduled to meet three times before December.

The NCVO's finance policy officer Louisa Darian, who led the umbrella body's recent work on gift aid and dormant bank accounts, will provide the secretariat to the Commission.

Blackmore said the NCVO hoped to publish a few articles by experts in the sector to inform the Commission's work, and has already commissioned one from consultant David Carrington.

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