Impact report 2006/07 - Giving voice to civil society

Impact-report_06-07_cover NCVO's vision, mission and values

Introduction
Our members
Tailored membership packages and members'profile
Aims and achievements across our strategic themes
Values
Engaged citizens
Relationships
Governance
Resources
Our organisation
Financial highlights
Who's who at NCVO
Affiliate members
Acknowledgements

Introduction

2006/07 has been a busy and successful year for NCVO and for the sector. With the completion of the 1996 Deakin agenda, the Compact is in place, the Charities Act passed, the Office of the Third Sector established and the tax review complete. NCVO is entering the next era with a new management team and a sector-defined vision for working towards building a civil society at grassroots level.

This impact report reviews the 2006/07 year, reminding us of what we set out to achieve and giving us the opportunity to report back on whether or not we succeeded in meeting our targets. It also allows us to reflect on what we hope to achieve in the forthcoming year and these goals are summarised in this report.

Following the launch of our new strategic agenda, NCVO's Vision for the Future, last year - the result of extensive consultations with members, the wider sector, key opinion formers and other stakeholders - trustees and staff have been working this year on producing tangible, measurable work programmes to achieve the goals we identified within each of our strategic themes (values, engaged citizens, relationships, governance and resources). In February 2007, the Board approved a four-year strategic business plan encompassing activities in support of each strategic theme within the context of which we have developed annual operating business plans.

It is important to note that the strategic plan and themes will continually evolve to reflect the operating environment and key issues facing the sector, and NCVO's planning process will increasingly focus on outcomes reporting, to raise our awareness of the difference we are making to the sector and its beneficiaries, and tailor our services accordingly.

2006/07 saw the progression of the Charities Act through Parliament, towards which NCVO's Public Policy Department worked tirelessly. The hoped-for public benefit test and appeals system have not yet been introduced and, working with the Charity Commission, we will continue to define and progress this much needed area during 2007/08.

We launched NCVO's highly successful Policy Forum during the year. All events were sold out and received excellent feedback with a high level of participation from a wide range of individuals and organisations. Outputs are assisting NCVO to formulate its work with stakeholders and the meetings allow us to feed information back to the sector. We also launched our first international NCVO membership scheme.

NCVO continues to focus on influencing local as well as national government. Through extensive campaigning with our members, we ensured that the voluntary sector's funding from the Big Lottery Fund was protected from any further diversion to the 2012 Olympics.

Through our work on the Compact we have directly supported over 50,000 voluntary and community organisations. We have changed government practice in 50 areas of central government, made measurable practice change in over 25 local public bodies and helped the sector safeguard over £50m in funding.

Following a consultation with the full membership, NCVO's Local Government Network was relaunched in March 2007 with a series of events and with members of the policy team actively canvassing opinions nationwide and providing briefings and advice on the Local Government Bill.

Our research and policy teams continued to analyse areas of importance for the sector, including the dimensions of UK civil society, the evidence base on individual charitable giving, emerging trends and changes in the operating environment, civil renewal and active citizenship, and the role that faith-based organisations can play in civil society and promoting social cohesion.

Our media work has expanded into greater national print and broadcast coverage with appearances on BBC News 24 and Radio 4 as examples of our reach.

The national hubs of expertise continued to deliver against their objectives, and we have worked in partnership with a range of organisations to support and develop their work. In addition to providing publications, seminars, training and events throughout the country, each hub now has a well established, user-friendly website which links to NCVO's and other hub partners' websites and provides a wealth of information to support capacity building within the sector.

We were delighted to achieve a significant milestone in February 2007 with the recruitment of our 5,000th member (10Radio - a Somerset-based community radio station) and at year end our voluntary and community sector membership total was 5,113. I am particularly pleased that smaller organisations are taking advantage of our new free community membership package, with 885 organisations signed up as at May 2007.

In accordance with best practice, NCVO began a review of its governance during the year, with proposals to significantly reduce the size of the Board and separate the responsibilities of accountability and representation by the creation of a members' Assembly to debate and advise the Board on sector policy issues. Members and stakeholders have been consulted on these proposals and have shown overwhelming support. Final recommendations will be put to the AGM in November 2007 for approval, with implementation from the 2008 AGM.

16% of NCVO's income was generated from trading activities during the year. We created a new Enterprise department to augment and expand our diverse range of products and services to members and further increase the proportion of NCVO's earned income in order to ensure that our independence is maintained.

The past year has been an exciting one. We face new challenges over the coming year as we continue to deliver our strategy and work to ensure a positive future for capacity-building within the sector. The Board of Trustees, the Chief Executive, the management team and NCVO's staff have risen admirably to the challenges of the past year and I am confident they will continue to do so in the same vein in the forthcoming year. I extend my sincere thanks to them for their commitment and support.

Sir Graham Melmoth
Chair, NCVO

Our members

Our growing membership represents and reflects the huge diversity of the voluntary and community sector in England, giving us a firm basis on which to speak out on wider issues affecting the organisations we support, and ensuring our work is anchored in their learning and experience. As well as charities we also have community interest companies and social enterprises as members, and are proud of the work they do to improve the lives of the many different communities they support.

91% of our 5,113 members are registered charities, with an additional 27 community interest companies newly recruited into membership.
Nearly 40% of our members have a national remit and 60% work on behalf of, and provide support to, their local communities.
76% of NCVO's members have incomes of less than £500,000 per year.

In terms of representation just under 40% provide health and social services and 20% are involved in education, employment and training. The remainder work for a wide range of causes, from environmental issues to animal welfare.

Our members form an important and vibrant part of the social and economic fabric of our society. Between them, they employ over half of all paid voluntary sector workers in England - over 270,000 employees - and benefit from the support of an estimated 13 million volunteers. They also generate over 45% of the sector's £22.6bn annual income.

NCVO counts hundreds of national, regional and local umbrella bodies, resource agencies, associations, coalitions and networks among its members, large numbers of which pass on the information and advice we deliver to their own members and networks. It is estimated, from the data our members provide, that NCVO's total reach is in the region of 200,000 organisations.

You can find a complete list of all our members, including direct links to their websites for further information, read who are our members.

Tailored membership packages

By offering a range of membership packages tailored to meet the needs of both small and large voluntary and community organisations, we are now more representative of the sector than ever before.

Our membership fees are dependent on annual income, so the smaller your organisation the lower the fee. This has resulted in an increasingly diverse membership base.

You may be surprised to know that:

Over a third of our members (35%) have annual incomes lower than £100,000
Only 18% of our members have annual incomes greater than £1m.
Less than a third of our members are based in London
Over half of our members are based outside the London and South East.
One member in every six subscribes to NCVO membership free of charge.

To find out about our full range of membership packages and benefits visit our membership section or call the membership team on 020 7520 2414

Our members'profile

Members_Profile_graph06.07

Aims and achievements

NCVO fulfils its mission by undertaking a wide variety of activities covering a diverse range of topics. We work with and for the voluntary and community sector in England by providing advice, information and support, and by representing the views of the sector to government and policy makers.

The following pages provide an overview of some of our achievements over the last year and our key aims for the year ahead, across each of our strategic themes - values, engaged citizens, relationships, governance and resources.

Full details of NCVO's activities can be found on our website.

Values

We aim to bring about a comprehensive understanding of the distinctive value and values that the voluntary and community sector brings to society. Key activities include the creation of a world-class research base to underpin the work of the sector, and execution of a campaigning strategy and policy programme focused on the value of front-line activity and the sector.

Last year's aims included:

Develop a detailed understanding of the dimensions of UK civil society, by publishing the new UK Civil Society Almanac, an expanded and updated version of the UK Voluntary Sector Almanac 2006

PARTLY ACHIEVED - after a delay due to resource constraints, the UK Voluntary Sector Almanac 2007 was launched in June 2007. It shows that the sector continues to increase its income, and improvements to efficiency mean charities are reaching more people than ever. However the challenges presented by the economic and political environment are still important, particularly for the smallest charities and we will continue our work to address these issues. The UK Civil Society Almanac will be published in February 2008.

Launch a new Policy Forum, targeted primarily at members, building on feedback from our regional consultations on our future strategy

ACHIEVED - this newly formulated policy network now has over 200 members and has received excellent feedback with a high level of participation from a wide range of individuals and organisations. This helps NCVO to formulate its work with stakeholders and enables it to feed information back to the sector.

Develop a sector-wide alliance between the VCS and the wider third sector, including co-operatives, mutuals, social enterprises and others

ACHIEVED - the Third Sector Network was launched in March 2006, bringing together representative bodies from across the sector to promote their common concerns and demonstrate the value of a distinct and diverse third sector and the values that underpin it. Work undertaken so far includes a joint response to the Third Sector Review.

And this year we also:

Published UK Giving, a detailed evidence base on individual charitable giving in the UK designed to facilitate policy development, and worked with Southampton University on giving and gender
Continued excellent collaborative relationships with the Economic and Social Research Council and the Voluntary Sector Studies Network and ran a successful research conference
Made detectable progress against the 12 proposals in the 2005 General Election Manifesto, including campaigns around the Charities Act, the lottery, taxation, public service delivery and the European Union agenda

Our aims for the forthcoming year include:

Input into the manifesto development of each of the mainstream political parties
Establish a national campaign for an annual community-based bank holiday
Play a central role in the establishment of a giving research centre and undertake research to explore the links between giving and citizenship
Carry out research work on third sector statistics to extend the breadth and depth of quantitative analysis of the sector, including more focus on public services and more sub-sectoral analysis.
Continue to promote understanding of the sector's role in public service reform, including publishing a set of essays on issues emerging from public services, local government and community engagement.

Engaged Citizens

We aim to ensure that voluntary and community organisations and their users can play the fullest part in civil society and in building a diverse, tolerant, just and compassionate society. Key activities cover research, policy development and campaigning, particularly our Campaigning Effectiveness programme.

Last year's aims included:

Increase the understanding of the importance of the sector to a healthy civil society, including the role that faith-based voluntary and community organisations can play in civil society and in promoting social cohesion.

PARTLY ACHIEVED - research on the role of faith in rural voluntary action was completed and a study commenced on the role of faith-based organisations in taking forward civil renewal and active citizenship work.

And this year we also:

Launched our first political party conference bursary scheme to enable small organisations to attend a conference and meet senior politicians
Commenced work within the policy and research teams on the role of civil society, with planned reports and publications on faith groups and a Civil Society Almanac.
Completed the first full year of activity of the three-year Campaigning Effectiveness programme and made strong progress on the four high-level strategic outcomes.
Reached 25,000 readers with 10 issues of VS magazine, and created a new VS micro site
Governance and Leadership team established a Stategic Diversity Transformation Project (funded by Provident Financial) with its own web presence in partnership with Charity Trustee Networks and the Governance Hub. The aims of the group are to:
Raise awareness of the aims of the findings of the project
Promote the benefits of having a diverse board
To encourage funders to invest in board diversity infrastructure
To clarify the meaning of strategic diversity

Our aims for the forthcoming year include:

Carry out further research and policy work to begin to map out UK civil society to aid an understanding of the importance of the sector for social cohesion.
Focus our Campaigning Effectiveness programme on capacity building and research and development
Launch two publications from the Governance and Leadership team - Building Strategic Board Diversity and Governance, Diversity and User Involvement.
Progress our international civil society work, including networking, good practice and information sharing and a campaign for the EU Compact.

Relationships

We aim to redefine, develop and improve the relationships and partnerships within the voluntary and community sector and those with the other sectors and the general public. Key activities include the Compact programme and the work of the Collaborative Working Unit.

Last year's aims included:

Improve relationships within the voluntary and community sector, and between the voluntary and community sector and government at both a national and local level, through the effective implementation of the Compact Advocacy programme.

ACHIEVED - The Compact Advocacy programme has changed working practice at over 20 local authorities and safeguarded £50m pounds for the sector to date, supporting over 60,000 VCS organisations remotely with 200 organisations supported directly.

Ensure that through proposed primary legislation, a new distributor for lottery grant dispersal is established that preserves and protects a number of key principles and operates in the best interests of the wider voluntary and community sector

PARTLY ACHIEVED - We are collaborating with the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) on the lottery campaign, so far gaining a commitment that the voluntary and community sector's funding from the Big Lottery Fund will be protected.

Focus on achieving an improved understanding between local government and the voluntary and community sector.

ACHIEVED - following a consultation with all members on its development, NCVO's Local Government Network was relaunched with a series of events and with members of the policy team actively engaged around the country canvassing opinions and providing briefings and advice on the Local Government Bill.

And this year we also:

Passed a significant milestone in February with the recruitment of our 5,000th member (10Radio - a Somerset-based community radio station) and at year-end the voluntary sector membership total was 5,113.
Received 47,233 visits to the Collaborative Working Unit website, and signed up 895 organisations to the mailing list
Through our Compact Voice team, encouraged national voluntary and community organisations to re-engage with the National Compact and support local affiliates to use Local Compacts; supported and promoted effective Local Compacts. 80% of Local Strategic Partnerships are now signed up to Local Compacts and Local Compact Voice membership increased from 225 to 285.

Our aims for the forthcoming year include:

Increase our voluntary sector membership base to 5,350
Provide information and advice on all forms of collaborative working including mergers, through the work of the Collaborative Working Unit within our leadership and governance team.,
Strengthen, via our Compact team, the voluntary and community sector's representation on Compact issues at national and local level, with the aim of supporting over 60 local and national cases and develop an interactive toolkit to enable self advocacy.

Governance

We aim to ensure that an organisation, at whatever stage in its development, can access appropriate information, advice and models of good practice easily and quickly. Key activities include the capacity building programme of the Governance Hub (for which NCVO is the accountable body), and NCVO's own leadership and governance services.

Last year's aims included:

Ensure the creation of a modern and effective legal and regulatory environment for the sector through a new Charities Act

ACHIEVED - The Charities Act was passed in late 2006. The hoped for public benefit test and appeals system have not yet been introduced and, working with the Charity Commission we will continue to define and progress this much needed area during 2007/08.

Increase the access to, and understanding of, the range of different resources available to voluntary and community organisations and how to make best use of them, including developing an understanding of when organisations need support and what support they need.

ACHIEVED - through the ongoing work of the Governance Hub and NCVO's own leadership and governance team

And this year the Governance Hub also:

Completed and disseminated 10 pieces of research, covering topics ranging from the needs of boards and others involved in governance to the needs of voluntary and community organisations in relation to planning for and funding governance.
Reached over 280,000 individuals and organisations through the website, online and print publications and mailings.
Organised the Get on Board trustee recruitment campaign, in partnership with the Charity Commission and Volunteering England, which achieved a reach of 12 million in the media and registered 2,500 people with an interest in trusteeship.

And this year the Governance and Leadership Team also:

Organised the second largest event in NCVO's calendar, the annual Trustee Conference which attracted 450 delegates.
Held a leadership summit hosted by Barclays which was attended by 80 chief executives and chairs .
Launched two new publications - Good Governance: The Role of the Chief Executive (with the support of the Governance Hub) & The Honorary Treasurer's Handbook (with the support of UBS)
Attracted approximately 90,000 visits to trustee and governance pages of website and with theTrustee Bank receiving approximately 800 of visits per month

Our aims for the forthcoming year include:

Continue to develop our Governance and Leadership team, focusing on strengthening the skills of trustees and staff with leadership roles within the voluntary and community sector, collaborative working and other leadership services
Ensure that the Governance Hub continues to deliver against its objectives, including raising awareness of trusteeship, recruiting new board members and developing and promoting further learning schemes for people involved in governanace.

Resources

We aim to ensure that voluntary and community organisations have access to the resources and personnel they need to achieve their mission and to make the most effective use of these resources. Key activities include the capacity building programmes of the ICT, Performance and Workforce hubs, the work of the Sustainable Funding Project, the production and dissemination of information and publications, and the work of the membership and marketing functions.

Last year's aims included:

Further develop our website as a resource for our members and the wider voluntary and community sector

ACHIEVED - our new website was launched at our annual conference in February 2007. New services include webcasting the conference live, a new members' only area with a wide range of content, and an online version of the consultants' directory.

Evaluate the newly launched free community membership scheme to improve our understanding of the needs of these members

ACHIEVED - we now have over 1,000 community and community plus members (organisations with annual income of less than £50,000), a fifth of our total membership.

Continue to work with the hubs of expertise, developing their services, promoting their work and ensuring the best long-term future for capacity building

ACHIEVED - all hubs have delivered on their business plans this year and continue to do so in 2007/08.

Examine skills gaps and shortages in the voluntary sector and provide a nationally representative survey to aid understanding of this issue.

ACHIEVED - our Labour Market Information research programme was established and systems set up for analysis of Labour Force Survey data. We completed the analysis of 10 years' data, commissioned a large-scale survey of skills needs and a salary survey. This will better enable the workforce hub to develop policy and practice.

Inform voluntary and community organisations of emerging trends and changes in the operating environment to facilitate better planning.

ACHIEVED - we received excellent feedback on our strategic analysis which was distributed to members and more widely to the sector, and held four hothouse seminars on strategy

Continue to provide relevant, accessible events and publications to help our members achieve the highest standards of practice and effectiveness

ACHIEVED - key publications included The Good Investment Guide, the Voluntary Agencies Directory and the Approved Consultants Directory 2007. We ran many successful events, including the 2007 Annual Conference - Inspiring Leaders: Connecting Communities which sold out with over 90% of delegates evaluating the event as 'Good or 'Very Good'.

And this year we also:

Continued the work of our highly successful sustainable funding project with newsletters, toolkits, pocket guides and publications backed up by a series of events, workshops and conferences reaching an audience of over 1,000 organisations. Funding was secured from the Big Lottery Fund during the year to continue the project for a further three years.
Maintained and enhanced our suite of discounted services.
Achieved a 60% increase in number of calls to our helpdesk compared to previous year.

Our aims for the forthcoming year include:

Ensure that the hubs continue to deliver in accordance with their business plans, and supporting Capacitybuilders to ensure that the transition from hubs to national support services occurs to the best advantage of the sector's beneficiaries.
Deliver an integrated members' service encompassing online, publications and the helpdesk.
Run a recruitment and retention campaign to increase voluntary sector members, improveour affiliate membership schemes, and provide marketing support for the sector.

Our organisation

We seek to meet the highest standards in how NCVO works as an organisation, both in developing and motivating our staff and volunteers, and responding to the diverse needs of those who visit our building. During the year, our internal services continued to provide high quality support for the organisation throughout a period of growth and change.

Last year's aims included:

Obtain rerecognition in the Investors in People standard

ACHIEVED - we were re-accredited with the Investors in People Standard and performed very positively against the Investors in People Profile (an optional more detailed assessment). Feedback from the assessors on our people management and development structures was extremely favourable.

Investigate the opportunities offered by the new Investors in Diversity standard

ACHIEVED - we have been working with the National Centre for Diversity and hope to attain the Investors in Diversity Standard during 2007/08, one of the first voluntary sector organisations to do so.

Complete our work towards, and achieve, RNID's Louder than Words Charter

ACHIEVED - we successfully attained this charter in December 2006, which recognises the commitment the organisation is making towards deaf and hard of hearing customers and staff

Benchmark our rewards package

PARTLY ACHIEVED - we commenced this later than anticipated due to a review of our HR function and should complete it during the 2007/08 financial year

And this year we also:

Commenced a best practice review of our governance
Created a new Enterprise department to augment and expand our diverse range of products and services to members and further increase the proportion of our earned income in order to ensure that our independence is maintained
Signed up to the Every Action Counts initiative to implement a sustainable development strategy in the voluntary and community sector

Our aims for the forthcoming year include:

Attain the Investors in Diversity Standard
Pilot outcomes-focused reporting throughout the organisation
Implement a new customer relationship management culture and system
Improve our internal communications
Manage the transition to the new governance structure
Complete the benchmarking of our rewards package

Financial highlights

The following information is derived from the full audited financial statements, copies of the which can be obtained from:
The Company Secretary,
NCVO, Regent's Wharf,
8 All Saints Street,
London N1 9RL.

Download Financial highlights details: Total incoming resources 2006/07 and income and expenditure categories 2006/07 (PDF 32KB)

Toal_incoming_resources_06-graph

Impact reportsource_of_income_0607_graph

Impact_report_expenditure_mix_0607

Who's who at NCVO

Governance

Patron

Her Majesty the Queen

President

Baroness Rawlings of Burnham Westgate

Chair

Sir Graham Melmoth

Vice-Chair

Jane Slowey

Honorary Treasurer

Helen Verney

Elected Trustees

Jo Ash
Karen Bollan
Carole Davidson
Erica De'Ath OBE
Jenny Deeks
David Emerson
Dominic Fox
Jonathan Isaac
Clyde Job
Graeme King
David Locke
Jonathan Moore
Doreen Osbourne
Heather Petch OBE
Anne Pridmore
Anne Robinson
Alison Roylance-White
Robin Simpson
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe

Co-opted Trustees

John Knight
Clare Thomas
Jo Williams

Ex-officio Trustees

Graham Benfield OBE
Lord Simon Cairns CVO CBE
Tom Jones OBE
Seamus McAleavey
Anthony Rogers
Martin Sime
Professor Joan Stringer CBE
Robert Stronge

Staff

Chief Executive: Stuart Etherington

Deputy Chief Executive: Ben Kernighan
Head of Workforce and Skills: Janet Fleming
Head of Sustainable Funding: Leesa Herbert
Head of Governance Hub: Jolanta Lasota
Head of Governance and Leadership: Anne Moynihan
Head of Performance Improvement: Richard Piper
Head of ICT Development: Nicky Thompson

Director of Enterprise: Richard Williams
Head of Information and Publications: Emma Moore
Head of Membership and Marketing: Martin Nee

Director of Planning and Resources: Lynne Gregory
Head of Information Technology: Simon Bishop
Head of Central Services: Tracy Kiernan
Head of Finance: Oliver Sladen
Head of Human Resources: Barbara Waugh

Director of Public Policy: Liz Atkins
Head of Policy: Ann Blackmore
Head of Campaigns and Communications: Helen Donohoe
Head of Campaigning Effectiveness Programme: Chris Stalker
Head of Research: Karl Wilding

Affiliate members

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our many supporters, funders, sponsors and partners, whose help enables us to deliver a wide range of services and represent voluntary and community organisations' interests effectively.

Advice UK
BBC
BDO Stoy Hayward
C3 Imaging London City
CAF
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (funder)
Capacity Builders
CaSE Insurance
Centre for Charity Effectiveness, Cass Business School, City University
Centre Point Software
Ceridian
Charity Business
City Bridge TrClass Telecommunications
Click Now
Comet Business Services
Commission for Rural Communities
Community and Voluntary Forum for the Eastern Region (COVER)
Consortium (The)
Corel
Danwood
Datek Solutions Ltd
Deloittes
Engage East Midlands
Friends Provident
GBS Corporate Training Plc
Grass Roots
Guidestar UK
Linking Up
London Voluntary Services Council
LSI (Utility Broker)
Microsoft
Phoenix Software
Prospectus Ltd
Pugh Computers
QA-IQ
Regional Action and Involvement South East (RAISE)
Regional Action West Midlands (RAWM)
Sector Skills Development Agency
South West Forum (SWF)
Standard Life
ThirdSectorJobs
Vodafone UK Foundation
Voluntary Organisations Network North East (VONNE)
Voluntary Sector North West
Voluntary Sector Studies Network
Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Forum

Note

This publication can be made available in large print and alternative formats on request. Please contact NCVO on 020 7713 6161 for more information.

NCVO's vision is of a society in which people are inspired to make a positive different to their communities; our mission - a vibrant voluntary and community sector deserves a strong voice and the best support. NCVO aims to be that voice and support by providing:

Advice, information, education and training for voluntary and community organisations on a wide range of issues

Sector research and analysis

Development of policy positions on key issues, in consultation with voluntary and community organisations

Development and implementation of campaigns which affect policy and practice to benefit the entire sector.

Members of NCVO enjoy access to all of these as well as enhanced networking opportunities and a range of discounted products and services. To find out more about becoming a member, browse our membersip pages or please contact NCVO's membership team on 020 7520 2414, email Membership.