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5. Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to undertake a review of the support available to the voluntary sector substantially focussing on five key areas:
- organisational development
- workforce development
- technical support
- income generation
- lobbying and networking support
The aims and broad objectives of the review relate to:
- Service provision (thematic and geographic), including identification of overlaps and gaps
- Access to support, including whether needs are being met by existing suppliers, and tools for prioritisation
- If rationalisation of support is required or if new ways of delivery are required and cost implications of this
- Added value of current support
- If, and how, support might be rationalised or at least delivered more effectively
- Assessment of effectiveness of public funds and how they can be used most efficiently
This section presents our conclusions in relation to these aims. This is based on our assessment of the vast amount of evidence gathered during the course of our investigations and summarised in this report.
5.1 Organisational Development
5.1.1 Capacity building for management committees and Boards
The need for high quality, fully functioning Boards and Management committees has been identified by all groups of stakeholders. As well as being a current need, it is identified as the highest future anticipated need in the whole survey, especially for organisations who are seeking to grow and develop. The responsibilities for a Board or management committee member are wide-ranging and require individuals to be knowledgeable and skilled in a number of areas; from strategic direction to staff management to assisting with income generation, etc. This review has highlighted a significant need for support in this area.
5.1.2 Greater business planning required
Many individuals (recipients and providers) have identified the requirement for voluntary organisations becoming more business-minded as being a challenge. Understanding and implementing business planning and processes is a new area for many organisations and they need support to work in this way. Assistance with marketing and change management were also highlighted as key support needs, both of which are necessary for overall business development. The emergence of the social enterprise agenda also puts pressure on voluntary organisations, which may not be social enterprises, to operate in this way.
This is an important area for development and local enterprise companies and Communities Scotland were not suggested by respondents as key support agencies. SCVO also scored lower than other providers in relation to quality of support in this area. This suggests that there are opportunities for both voluntary sector intermediaries and development agencies to improve the support they provide in relation to strategic business planning.
5.2 Workforce Development
5.2.1 Development of skills and knowledge
This is a current key need for staff as well as for Board/Trustees and it is anticipated that this will remain an important support need in the future. Participants recognised the ongoing requirement for organisations to remain abreast of new knowledge and develop skills necessary to provide effective and efficient services.
The unwillingness of funding agencies to allow applications to support these aspects (such as training, or attendance at conferences as a professional development opportunity) compounds the lack of development in this area. Some local authorities provide access to in-house training opportunities for voluntary sector partners and this was welcomed. However, in the main, lack of funding support for workforce development means that career planning and development for staff remains a relatively low priority and ensures that other employment opportunities with development opportunities, such as local authorities and health boards, will remain more attractive for staff.
Equalities did not rate highly in terms of need for support or anticipated future needs. It is unclear whether this is due to perceptions that voluntary sector do not need support in this area of it there is a lack of awareness of the importance of this agenda. Awareness of public bodies is quite heightened with new duties coming on board. This emerging agenda would suggest a support need, even if not anticipated by voluntary organisations. This has implications for development of support in relation to workforce development and also for funding as it is likely that organisations will be asked to demonstrate their awareness of these duties and associated action they have taken.
5.2.2 Use of specialist support
Thematic and generic intermediaries are highly rated for the workforce development opportunities they provide. They scored highest in terms of quality support in this area and focus group recipients mentioned the value of tailored support from an agency that understands their specific sectoral requirements, e.g. community care, children and young people.
A range of private companies were also used extensively in this area and the quality of this support was as highly rated as sector intermediaries.
5.2.3 HR and legal support
There is a clear need for access to support for human resource issues and assistance with understanding employment legislation. This relates to reactive support; when an issue presents itself and an urgent response is required as well as regular updates about implications of changes in legislation. Because of the increasing complexity and risk around employment and other legal issues, and new issues emerging, such as pensions legislation, the lack of affordable legal advice coupled with a lack of understanding of the specific issues facing the voluntary sector, ensures this area remains critical in terms of support.
5.3 Income Generation
5.3.1 Traditional approach
The majority of external support used by voluntary organisations has been used for very traditional income generation with the anticipation that this will remain a future support need over a range of activities including identifying funding sources and help with applications. The overall push for the sector to move towards an 'investment culture' is not manifest in this approach. Very few organisations reported support needs for trading activities, tendering and social business approaches. However, the new perceived focus on terms such as 'social enterprise' and 'full-cost recovery' means many organisations want to understand the terminology and its implications for their organisation but, as yet, have not made links between this and the resulting approach required. While organisations may not perceive a need for trading and tendering support, this may be due to underestimations of the growing need for this approach.
5.3.2 Loans
This traditional approach extends to the use of loans, which are not well understood or popular. There are several reasons for this, including the inability to make a surplus from which to repay a loan and the unwillingness of management committees to take on risk. This is reflected, for example, in the difficulties that loan funds such as Social Investment Scotland, Community Enterprise Ltd and Developing Strathclyde Ltd have had in gaining customers from the voluntary sector.
5.3.3 Support for income generation
The highest rated support in this area was that provided by voluntary sector organisations and survey respondents reported relatively little use of external support. The only exception to this was in the use of CVS where perceptions of quality were lower. This topic was seen as the most important in terms of support, especially in terms of future impact on organisations.
5.4 Technical Support ( ICT and Financial Management)
5.4.1 Support for ICT needed
Many organisations still feel digitally deprived; they lack functionality in lots of basic ICT areas, including development of websites. This impacts on many day-to-day functions including service delivery and has led to increased use of external support for a number of areas.
The lack of up-to-date software means that many organisations cannot access support available on-line. Significant resources have been spent developing on-line tools and participants reported that their systems are not advanced or quick enough to make it worthwhile to access these tools.
5.4.2 Management and performance systems
Organisations identified this as an important area in which they would require future support. They recognise the importance of monitoring and evaluation and can see the potential of ICT to assist in making these processes more efficient. However, few organisations organise their systems in this way.
5.4.3 Basic organisational requirements
Organisations report using generic intermediaries for support with annual accounts and payroll and anticipate this will be an ongoing requirement. The value of this support cannot be overestimated, as without it many organisations would cease to function and the valuable services they provide would be greatly affected. However this support rarely extends to more individualised support with management of accounts and associated policies.
Provision of accurate annual accounts is extremely important for organisations. The existence and reporting requirements of OSCR ensures this aspect remains a high priority for anticipated future support.
5.4.4 Costing services
Many organisations were worried about their ability to cost services in order to bid for contracts in the future. If organisations cannot cost their services, then the idea of 'full cost recovery' is of only limited value. The perceived lack of internal capacity suggests that this aspect is of some concern but has not yet received additional allocation of resources from organisations to address it. Nor is there strong evidence that organisations are using external support to fill this gap. This may be because of costs or because they feel the lack of sufficient expertise from external suppliers.
5.5 Lobbying and Networking
5.5.1 Importance of lobbying
The proportion of all organisations accessing external support in this area was relatively low. This was supported by focus group priorities. The allocation of internal resources to activities such as lobbying institutions and influencing political parties was low, representing the relative importance of traditional lobbying activities. It is unclear if this is related to capacity to undertake these activities or perception of the impact and value of such an approach.
5.5.2 Use of intermediaries
Smaller organisations tend to value the lobbying expertise of intermediaries, at both the thematic and geographic level, whereas larger organisations are more likely to have direct links with those they want to influence.
In many policy areas there is a wide divergence of views within the voluntary sector that cannot always be captured by a single intermediary. The 'representative' role of some intermediaries is a difficult role to play as many structures, such as local partnerships, require one voluntary organisation to 'represent' the sector.
5.5.3 Networking
Regardless of size, organisations find networks, either formal or informal, a valuable source of support and advice. Intermediaries also provided an important networking function for organisations. Sharing information was the main approach used by intermediaries to assist organisations.
Funders and non-voluntary providers often use networks to communicate policies to the sector. They also use this vehicle as a sounding board for development of new initiatives with a potential impact on the sector, or the theme they serve.
5.5.4 Local issues
Organisations recognised the importance of engaging with local planning structures, particularly community planning. This forum was seen as providing a critical entry point for connection to statutory agencies; with a view to establishing partnerships.
The ability of voluntary sector organisations to contribute effectively to partnership working is perceived to be hindered by the lack of recognition of the contribution made by voluntary organisations by statutory agencies. Voluntary organisations feel that it is difficult to participate on an equal footing when their statutory partners are also the agency who provides their funding. This may constrain the organisation's contribution for fear of offending an important funder. It is inevitable that organisations will be cautious of offending a funder in relation to a contract. However, the funding relationship also means that organisations feel inhibited in providing any feedback that may appear to criticise the statutory funder; i.e. are they biting off the hand that feeds them?
5.6 The Support Infrastructure
5.6.1 Joint working
Voluntary sector support providers report a significant amount of joint working. There are a few examples of where this involves sharing functions/activities or pooling resources but, in the main, collaboration is focused mostly around sharing information. This focus on information sharing is demonstrated by the importance placed on networks as vehicles for working together.
This may be exacerbated by the indirect, and direct, competition for resources between intermediaries and their members. This competition does not foster trust between intermediaries and their members; with many organisations suggesting self-interested behaviour from organisations that should be serving member interests. The membership fee does not seem to wield enough power to hold their intermediaries to account, i.e. by democratic process or withdrawing support.
There are even fewer examples of collaboration between voluntary sector providers and non-voluntary sector organisations. The emergence of new support bodies, based within the statutory sector, has not been initiated or developed by a collaborative approach.
The extension of joint-working arrangements to sharing of resources/facilities has the potential to add value and bring efficiencies. However, this was not offered as a suggestion by voluntary organisations as a way to improve support. There is some enthusiasm from central government to explore such arrangements in terms of Volunteer Centres and CVS. If support for such a measure is related to the fact that these organisations, in the main, have congruent geographical boundaries, then, the principles of rationalisation of voluntary organisations may be extended to other aspects of the infrastructure, e.g. local authorities and local Communities Scotland area offices.
5.6.2 Impact of support
There is a lack of systematic measurement of the impact of support across all providers. Many organisations rely on annual surveys or membership renewals as indicators of success. This does little to assist understanding of what the support has enabled voluntary organisations to achieve. The reactive nature of much of the support offered to organisations makes strategic planning and measurement more difficult.
Measurement of impact is a clear area requiring future support. The focus on direct delivery of services means many organisations do not create the time to introduce monitoring systems. Many staff do not have the in-house capacity to develop such systems and do not seem to link with organisations such as Evaluation Support Scotland who provide support in this area.
5.6.3 Cluttered landscape
Very few organisations reported gaps in the support infrastructure; rather, they identified a horizon with a range of organisations providing a variety of services. The structures are more fragmented with a lack of strategic overview of how provision and providers differ or complement each other. Greater clarity is required over the components of the support infrastructure for the voluntary sector. Voluntary organisations find it difficult to differentiate between support providers and are often unaware of the range of support available via generic and sector-specific support organisations.
Very few statutory providers have an identified person as a starting point for access to support, information and advice. The lack of clarity over provision of support means voluntary organisations are unable to capitalise on what is available. With both Scottish Enterprise Network and Highlands and Islands Enterprise questions arise about who does what and who is their main target audience. Also the provision of effective services and signposting are complicated by the Enterprise companies' relationship with Communities Scotland which is seen as dealing with the less commercial/business orientated end of the sector. Though progress has been made through Local Social Economy Partnerships, there is still an element of uncertainty on the part of voluntary organisations on where they ought to go.
5.7 Performance and Quality
The level of performance, identified by survey respondents and more qualitatively in focus groups, is highly variable across generic intermediaries, especially the CVS network. A number of organisations scored the support received from SCVO and CVS below other agencies. It is not clear if this support was provided free or at low cost and therefore perceptions of value may be affected.
With the exception of income generation and networking, private companies were the grouping used most for external support. They also scored consistently high in assessment of quality of provision. Participants identified the need for bespoke support and it is likely this is the reason private company assistance is valued; people buy exactly what they need.
The lack of monitoring systems for support providers makes it difficult to assess quality of support. Many consumers of support services access what they know, usually on the initial basis of proximity. The absence of a system to register achievement of quality thresholds means that consumers cannot compare the quality of what is available. This also has an impact on those who refer onto organisations for support. The importance of sign-posting has been highlighted as a key route through the terrain. This needs to be reinforced by confidence in the organisation being referred to. There is currently no systematic way to assess quality; creating difficulties for those who require national referral routes.
The need to build the capacity of boards and trustees, increasing the quality of support, has been identified as a key need. The complexity of issues faced by organisations necessitates support from a quality board with a range of skills and knowledge.
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