A third of charities that responded to the NCVO’s latest Charity Forecast Survey expect to increase their paid workforce over the next three months, the highest figure since the final quarter of 2008.
And correspondingly, the numbers of organisations that plan to cut staffing levels has fallen from 28 per cent three months ago to 19 per cent – the lowest figure for two years.
These encouraging results have come despite the fact that 94 per cent of respondents think that economic conditions within the voluntary sector will be negative over the next 12 months, just slightly better than the all-time low reached last autumn, when 98 per cent of respondents expected the economic environment to be tough.
The responses on staff numbers mean that net confidence in this area has risen into positive figures for the first time since May 2010. The NCVO said the improved confidence could be attributed to the start of the new financial year bringing in new funding for projects, or to increases in demands for services.
However, the answers on headcount proved to be the only beacon of light in an otherwise depressing outlook. Some 59 per cent of charities have seen the financial situation of their organisations worsen over the last 12 months, and there has been a big drop in the numbers of charity leaders that expect their financial situation to improve over the coming year, down to 13 per cent from 22 per cent the previous quarter.
In addition, the number of organisations that expect their charity’s financial situation to worsen have increased by seven percentage points to 59 per cent. These two factors have resulted in a substantial drop in net confidence, from -31 per cent in the first quarter of this year to -46 per cent this quarter.
Sir Stuart Etherington (pictured), chief executive of the NCVO, warned that the sector will “reach breaking point” if the gulf between demand and resource continues to widen.
“The sector is already doing a lot more with much less, and something has got to give eventually.”
The latest Forecast Survey polled 85 charity CEOs, trustees and senior managers. This is the 18th survey in the series.
The full report can be found here.
