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Our main grant programmes for 2010-2011 are all committed
Learning From Mergers
Capacitybuilders research shows support for collaboration and merger from public service commissioners.
Improving the quality of support available to social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups working across England
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Office for Civil Society has today announced £11m of savings from its 2010/11 resource budget - as part of wider package of savings across Cabinet Office. As a contribution to those savings, Capacitybuilders’ overall budget for 2010/11 has been reduced by £1.3m. Read more.
Capacitybuilders' existing grant holders will be unaffected by the cuts, and committed grants will continue to paid - as will bursaries awarded under the Volunteer Management Programme.
£1m will be saved by cancellation of further new awards. Programmes with uncommitted funding that will be affected by the reductions are the Regional Networks Fund, Social Enterprise support and remaining elements of ChangeUp programme.
A further £0.3m savings are being achieved from smaller under-commitments and underspend across all of Capacitybuilders’ current 2010/11 programmes and research budgets.
Research published by Capacitybuilders shows the majority of public service commissioners would like to see greater collaboration and merger between organisations that provide support and advice to civil society groups.
The findings of the report show that commissioners think mergers can deliver a positive impact across a range of areas including: simpler funding relationships and easier engagement with the voluntary and community sector. Support providers that have gone through a merger cite further benefits for themselves and for wider civil society, such as:
• increased job security for employees
• less confusion for frontline groups on where to access support
• improved consistency and quality of support services
• better able to represent civil society in their locality
• improved ability to secure public service contracts and other funding.
Jon Fox, Director of Strategy and Programmes at Capacitybuilders commented:
“Evidence shows that support providers are increasingly looking to merger and other forms of collaboration as a way of sustaining support provision during a period of increased demand for services and a tight public spending environment.
While the need to improve financial sustainability is a powerful and compelling motive, findings from this research suggest that merger is likely to present fewer challenges when organisations have a shared vision of improving the quality of support services as the primary driver.”
The full report is available here. A series of case studies looking at both successful and abandoned mergers between support providers will also be published shortly.
Survey findings released today show that demand from frontline groups is continuing to increase, while more support providers report a reduction in their income. Nearly half of all support providers stated that they are continuing to cope well. However, increasing numbers are planning merger or staff cuts.
Key findings of the survey include:
- Demand for support from frontline groups continues to increase (according to 78% of respondents)
- For the third survey running, more support providers have reported a reduction in their overall income for the previous 12 months (40%) – than those that have seen their income rise (34%)
- Despite this increase in demand and pressure on income, nearly half of all respondents stated that they are coping well (46%)
- Increasing numbers of support providers are now planning merger - up from 1 in 7 to 1 in 5 over the last 12 months
- A similar proportion are planning to cut staff numbers (20%).
Matt Leach, Capacitybuilders’ Chief Executive commented:
“Local support providers have a key role to play in delivering the Big Society. They are often the first place frontline groups go to for help in starting and running a community-based voluntary activity or enterprise, and they are an important source of support and advice when times are tough. Our latest survey shows that support providers are continuing to cope well with high levels of demand for their services. But many are expecting pressure on funding to continue into the medium term and increasing numbers are looking at merger as a means of reducing costs whilst maintaining services to frontline groups.”
This survey was conducted in April – May 2010. It is the third in a series of surveys commissioned by Capacitybuilders and is conducted at regular intervals to gather intelligence on how organisations that support the Civil Society affected during a period of considerable change and challenge.
To read the full report and previous reports please visit: www.improvingsupport.org.uk/buildingresilience
