NCVO has launched a review to find out how much membership of the European Union benefits the voluntary sector to inform David Cameron’s renegotiation and referendum debate.

In a blog on the umbrella organisation’s today, Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said that with a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union on the horizon it was important that civil society was a part of the debate.

“It may well be the case that constitutional affairs and Brussels are of interest only to policy wonks and political obsessives; but such matters are too important to be left to politicians or think tanks alone. I believe that the call for a constitutional convention, involving citizens and civil society more broadly, is correct,” he said.

Ahead of the General Election, Prime Minister David Cameron promised that he would renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership of the European Union and then hold an in/out referendum before the end of 2017. Chancellor George Osborne has already been meeting with other European leaders and it is widely expected that the referendum will be held in 2016.

To help shape this debate NCVO will produce a costs and benefits review of the European Union for the voluntary sector.

“This will look at the areas where voluntary organisations benefit or otherwise as a result of Britain’s membership of the EU, ranging from the value of programmes such as European structural and investment funds, to the impact of regulation,” Etherington said.

He added that his personal experience was that European institutions are “in need of reform” and NCVO has previously argued that the EU should be more transparent about its decision making processes.

“Any forthcoming renegotiation and referendum is an opportunity to press for reform in institutions, so I am keen that we identify and then press for change on issues pertinent to civil society,” he added.

NCVO will publish its findings this autumn.