What Stuart did for us

Ian Allsop talks to NCVO chief executive, Stuart Etherington.

Stuart Etherington received the outstanding achievement award at the Charity Awards 2005 last month for his hugely influential role at the helm of NCVO over the past decade and the commitment, shrewdness and eloquence with which he has discharged this. He has sat on numerous influential government and sector committees in that time and is currently a trustee of CAF, Business in the Community, CIVICUS and GuideStar UK. However, he also achieved a great deal prior to this when the sector was a very different place in which to work.

 His background is in social work, and he didn't come to the sector because he wanted to work for a charity but because of an interest in the work of one organisation around mental health policy. Good Practices in Mental Health started as a project of Mind and, in his three years as director up to 1987, it became established as a charity in its own right. It was only when he was doing it, he says, that he realised he was a voluntary sector manager. "I thought this is quite interesting, I think I like this. I liked the flexibility, innovation, and risk taking aspects and thought I would stick with it."

He then went to RNID as policy director which he says was a completely different experience but an inspiring place to be. Mike Whitlam was his chief executive and he remembers him as very entrepreneurial. When Whitlam left in 1991 he applied for the job and got it. He was 35 which was, and still would be, considered very young to be in charge of a major charity. He describes his time at RNID as "a turnaround operation for an organisation which was becoming staid". His chair was Winifred Tumin, who was later his chair at NCVO

He moved to NCVO in 1994 and has overseen an impressive 8-fold rise in its membership, currently around 3,800. He expects it to continuing rising but not as quickly. The changes the organisation has gone through in his time there reflect the great changes in the role of the sector generally over the last 10 years, many of which NCVO has played a key part in securing. "The sector has expanded enormously and professionalised greatly at one end. NCVO has more local members, so we are in touch with the national and local agenda. We have focused on generic issues. You have to resist getting pulled into thematic issues."

He attributes the victories that the sector has won such as the tax review, the Compact, and legal reform, as coming from the Deakin agenda, pitched into a political environment that was sympathetic to working with the sector both in terms of services but civil society and renewal as well. Professor Nick Deakin led the commission on the future of the voluntary sector, which published its blueprint in 1996.

He says it is good fun to be on the winning side but sees the major achievement as being prepared for the incoming Labour government in 1997 and being prepared to stay the course in pursuit of the public policy agenda. �The victories the sector has won in generic terms are down to that preparedness and sticking with it for a long enough period of time to seriously influence government policy.� He says that he has learnt that it can take up to ten years to see through such an agenda, and you cannot expect things to change overnight.

He feels that the policy space is more cluttered today. �There are think tanks all over the place. Twenty years ago there were only three public policy players; ourselves, the Volunteer Centre (now Volunteering England), and CAF. Now there are lots of organisations engaged in debate, some say too many, but I feel it�s a measure of success. The sector has grown so there is more interest and divergence of ideas. It makes it feel more competitive, but it�s a space in which ideas are being generated. The key issue is to pick right the ideas.�

He thinks the big residual challenge from the Deakin agenda is around indirect taxation, and the ever thorny issue of irrecoverable VAT. �If the sector wants its VAT back, it will have to mount a sustained and highly visible campaign, with a dedicated campaign unit for two or three years.�

He also talks of strengthening the Compact. �It is often misunderstood. People expect it to be the solution, but it is a way of constructing dialogue. Compact Plus is interesting and has potential.�

However, he identifies the major challenge now as how to marry together the public service delivery, and civil society and renewal, agendas. �People are beginning to make the mistake that there are two separate arguments. The way in which voluntary organisations deliver services should be unique or what�s the point. What is the source of the added value we can offer? We involve users, have volunteers, and build social capital. All these come from engaging people. We have got to ensure that the nature of the contractual process with the state does not drive out the very factors that it wants to purchase in the first place.�

He thinks that the government has nailed its colours to the mast on public service delivery, and sees it purely in terms of choice. �My own view is that it is not just about choice but about how citizens can influence the services they receive.�

Another area he sees as vital is trust and accountability. As you expand in terms of services or political influence, if you�re not open and accountable, people will question your legitimacy. This can come from proper research, and a membership that is consulted. You have to gain expertise in advocacy and representation, otherwise your accountability is challenged.� He sees it as a positive thing that voluntary organisations� legitimacy is being questioned. �It�s a sign of them having an impact.�

He also thinks that the sector should continue to invest in its basic ability to do the job and is keen to �bed down the development stuff�, especially the hubs, and get them working properly. �As organisations have expanded, they haven�t always invested appropriately in management skills. Are we investing enough in sector development?

Despite this he says that management in the sector is better than people claim. But he sees special challenges in managing staff and volunteers driven by a cause while at the same time maintaining a professional approach. It is for meeting these challenges so successfully throughout his career, as well as his undoubted role in increasing the prominence and political impact of the voluntary sector, that Etherington was honoured at the Charity Awards.