Structured markets

Whilst opportunities to secure grants for your organisation are likely to be decreasing - or, at best, remaining static - over recent years the voluntary and community sector has been able to take advantage of many opportunities to contract - usually to deliver public services.

Public Service Delivery is an important strand within the Sustainable Funding Income Spectrum. Contracts are earnt income - normally secured as a result of a tendering process. They have legal obligations and need to be entered into with proper consideration, however they can be a great way to fund your work where appropriate opportunities exist.

Get involved

The Public Service Delivery Network (PSDN), run by the Sustainable Funding Project at NCVO, is a great way to get involved with the issues surrounding contracting. It brings together voluntary and community organisations with statutory sector bodies to improve the relationship between the two sectors.

Learn more

Our Public Service Delivery pages  are managed by the PSDN and give more information about how to go about securing contracts and what you need to be aware of. Topics include:

Moving from grants to contracts

Local authorities and statutory agencies are increasingly moving from giving grants to commissioning services under contract. This section looks at what is a grant in this context and how you can manage the move from grants to contracts.

You can also find out more about grants separate to statutory services in our introduction to grants. 

Commissioning and procurement, step by step

An introductory guide to commissioning and procurement for those who are new to the process or would like a refresher.

 In context

Alternatively, you can continue to explore other income opportunities, take some time out to analyse your organisation's income or see how sustainable you are with our Sun Tool. Download Sustainable Sun Needs-Analysis Tool (PDF 236Kb)