The NCVO has admitted that the £200m ChangeUp capacity-building programme, for which the NCVO received the lion’s share of funding, missed the opportunity to make the sector’s infrastructure provision sustainable.

In its response to the government’s consultation Supporting a Stronger Civil Society, the NCVO said that previous attempts to build the sector’s capacity, “most notably the ChangeUp programme”, focused in specific themes and lacked a strong strategic focus that would enable the sector’s infrastructure to become self-sustaining.

“This must not happen again,” it stated. “What is needed is a coherent, shared strategy that addresses both the need for greater collaboration within the sector’s infrastructure and for sustainable funding for that infrastructure.”

The response suggested making greater use of the internet to provide support and advice and to build connections between individuals and organisations. However, it said the aim should not be a “single, all-purpose website for the sector”, but the building of a coherent network of support.

The submission also supported the establishment of more effective links between business and civil society, where civil society organisations are equal partners, not supplicants. It advocated that the sector must be full and equal members of Local Enterprise Partnerships – recent research by Capacitybuilders suggested that just 15 per cent of local voluntary and community sector support providers had been invited to work with their Local Enterprise Partnership.

The sharing of skills between large and small charities is the responsibility of the sector itself, rather than the government, the response said, but government must address the barriers that prevent organisations sharing services or back-office support.

It also highlighted the dearth of information available about the availability and take-up of pro bono services generally.

The NCVO recommended that a bursary scheme would allow frontline groups to select the support that is right for them, but clear criteria would need to be set to assess applications, and this should not be the only way that the sector can access support.

Closer collaboration between the different tiers of infrastructure – local and national, generic and specialist – is also desirable, the NCVO said. “This can only be achieved by a reconfiguration of existing provision, including mergers and/or formal partnership agreements. Locally there is scope for closer working between CVSs and volunteer centres, but also bringing in local branches of Business in the Community and Community Foundations.”  

NCVO advises reviewing existing support provision in order to strengthen the effectiveness and sustainability of the services available, stating that the sector should lead this process but government should help by “creating an enabling environment, for example by investing in change”.

The submission concluded that as more than half of all charities have turnover of less than £10,000 per year, infrastructure is unlikely to be entirely self-sustaining without some ongoing funding from the public sector.