Kevin Curley, Navca chief executive, has used the launch of the membership body's Leadership Report to ask MPs to encourage local councillors not to cut funding to support organisations.
Speaking at the House of Commons yesterday Curley implored the audience to support the leadership of the sector:
"If you are an MP, please talk to your local authority’s leader and key councillors. Without strong leadership for the local voluntary sector, local charities and community groups cannot thrive. And without sustained local authority investment in support organisations like CVS and Volunteer Centres there will be no effective leadership of the local sector," he said.
He made the comments after outlining the organisation's own commitments for leadership support.
Last November Diane Dixon Associates conducted independent research on Navca's role as a voice for the sector and recommended that the body strengthen their leadership voice for "the new fiscal and policy reality".
Navca has responded by committing to improve the leadership of existing organisations by working with chief executives in a number of ways, including producing new leadership models for their organisations.
Speaking at the launch, Curley named a number of organisations he believed would struggle the most in "more challenging times", advising that the Localism Bill will provide both opportunity and challenge:
"The complex job of running a local support charity, such as a Council for Voluntary Service or a Rural Community Council or a Volunteer Centre, is going to get harder. The job will demand new skills in working with the private sector. New skills in using funding models such as community shares, fiscal sponsorship, social impact bonds. And more effective use of gift aid and payroll giving – both much neglected by local charities."
Navca's five-point strategy for improved leadership promises to provide peer support for every new chair and new chief executive of local support charities, not just its own members. A spokesman for Navca advised that this would be done by providing a brokerage service for leaders from existing charities to connect them with new charity leaders requiring help on either a paid-for or voluntary basis.
The plan also pledges to offer members opportunities to develop skills in governance, to consult with members on solutions to problems as they arise in the future and to provide local Navca leaders with opportunities to learn about new ways of generating funding and support for local voluntary action.
