Voluntary sector support body Involve Yorkshire and Humber is to close at the end of next month, resulting in the loss of five jobs.
The charity has seen its income drop from over £1m in 2012 to £700,000 in 2013 and then £500,000 in 2014, according to the Charity Commission website.
In a statement released on its website yesterday, its chair Jan Thornton said that trustees took the decision to close the charity last week “after months of uncertainty”.
Five members of staff will lose their jobs at the charity, which employssix people in total.
A spokeswoman from the charity said: "Five are losing their jobs. The other delivers the Yorkshire and Humber element of our national health work, which is continuing. She will probably move to be based in another infrastructure organisation in the region (details still to be confirmed)."
Thornton said that despite the charity's work being nationally recognised, its role has reduced and it has struggled to get funding.
She said: “Since the 2010 election and the subsequent loss of many regional structures and policy, our national role has been reduced. Our likely funders have moved on; local authorities became more insular; the sector at regional level has faded from view. However the need for our services and the demand has not decreased.
“Given this steady decline of resource, if not demand, trustees were keen to ensure we recognised the reality of our situation, so we took the hard decision, when the time was right.”
Thornton said that the charity is “adamant” that its current work will not be lost, “particularly regarding the role of the sector within devolution developments, however these play out in our region, and within health".
"As the pioneering work that we have been leading on the relationships between the sector and partners in health and social care takes root, we are keen to make sure nothing is lost,” she said.
“We are now working hard to ensure we depart well, with our resources properly distributed and our legacy and learning secured.”
In its most recent accounts filed with the Charity Commission, for the year ending March 2014, the charity said: “Infrastructure organisations such as Involve have had a hard time during 2013/14. Increasingly, funders say they want to fund front line direct delivery organisations and government seems to be less interested in support and development of the community sector.
"In this environment, Involve has to show how it is an essential cog in the mechanisms that make things work well.”
Karl Wilding, director of public policy at NCVO, said: “Involve Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the unsung heroes of the charity sector. They’ve worked quietly in the background to help charities make their money go further. They’ve provided training and support for people who have gone on and helped thousands of people across the region. And they’ve given a louder voice to communities who might not otherwise have been heard by the man in Whitehall.
“Infrastructure organisations like this are too important to let slip away. This is sad news for the staff and for those that they have supported and I would like to add my thanks for the things that they’ve achieved.”
Alison Haskins, chief executive of Nova, a local support agency for voluntary and community organisations in Wakefield, said: "As an invaluable advocate for the voluntary sector throughout Yorkshire, Involve has been a unique and vital link between local and national.
I am particularly concerned about the impact Involve's closure will have on the sector's ability to engage with, for example, the Leeds City Region and wider devolution agenda - smaller organisations simply haven't got the capacity to get involved.
"And Involve is the only organisation in the region doing high quality research and collecting data on the voluntary sector, such as the impact of welfare reforms on vulnerable people and communities. As the impacts of government cuts roll out, there will be nobody now tracking and campaigning on this for Yorkshire, which is very worrying."
