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Development

The Labour government's ChangeUp strategy, a 'capacity building and infrastructure framework for the voluntary and community sector', was published in June 04. It only applied to England, focused on 5 key areas: Performance improvement, Workforce development, ICT, Governance, Financing voluntary and community sector activity. It isn't of great relevance since May 2010. Some information may still be on the Cabinet Office pages (Office of Civil Society).

NCVO has a Voluntary Sector Infrastructure section on its web site.

RSA Project 2001 This ran pilot projects in Yorkshire and London, supporting voluntary organisations "in providing a quality learning experience for volunteers, committee members and staff". The resulting report Making it Work - Learning and Accreditation in the Voluntary Sector, (Mar 01) costs £5 inc p&p from 020 7451 6833.

Research Bodies

• ARVAC (Association for Research in the Voluntary and Community Sector) aims to increase effectiveness through research, and provide researchers with a supportive network. Aacts as a resource for people interested in research in or on community organisations.

• CAF Research Programme Has Charity Trends website, with research and analysis of data on the sector. This includes: payroll giving, gift aid, income from central government and health authorities, trends in individual giving, local/community income. Free printed copies from CAF Research, phone 01732 520125, email: research@caf.charitynet.org
  
  CAF does/supports various other research. Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4TA, phone 01732 520000.

• Centre for Civil Society at LSE closed September 2010, but some of its extensive list of publications is still available. The connected Centre for the study of Global Governance, which produces a Global Civil Society Yearbook, also closed July 2011.

• Centre for Government and Charity Management, London South Bank University. Extends to social enterprise; current and recent masters dissertations on various charity topics available.

• Centre for Nonprofit Management - Trinity College, Dublin.

• Centre for Voluntary Action Studies, University of Ulster.

• Centre for Voluntary Sector Research, Sheffield Hallam University. Undertakes contract research for organisations.

• DANGO (Database of Archives of Non-Governmental Organisations) was tackling the availability of records relating to non-governmental organisations and pressure groups active in the UK since 1945, to help assess the impact of such bodies on society. Ended 2007 - see NGOs in Britain below.

• EMES European Network studies third sector, social enterprises etc.

• The Evidence Library has been set up by Scottish umbrella body SCVO to "provide a resource for discovering new research, finding out the latest facts and figures and stimulating ideas".

• The Galileo Group (not the international investment company) is an independent scholarly community of academics and practitioners whose main interest is to explore the way in which theories can be developed and applied to problems of organisation and management in the voluntary sector.

• Institute for Jewish Policy Research has undertaken studies on governance, resources etc. within jewish voluntary sector.

• Institute for Voluntary Action Research, an independent, charitable research institute, has been developed out of Aston Centre for Voluntary Action Research, Aston Business School.

• Institute for Volunteering Research Connected with Volunteering England. Quite a lot of research activity, own journal and Research Briefings online.

• nfpSynergy, a commercial business, aims to "provide ideas, insights and information to help not for profit organisations thrive in a changing world."

• NCVO produces a regular updates.

• NGOS in Britain (Non-Governmental Organisations UK 1945-1997 - also this link) at Birmingham Centre for Contemporary History. Project was due to run to 2011.

• Third Sector Development Group, University of Teesside.

• Third Sector Research Centre, established with government funding 2008.

• The Royal Irish Academy did have a Third Sector Research Programme but no sign on the website from spring 2013.

• UK Voluntary Sector Research Group (UKVSRG) brings together the researchers of the four national sector bodies (see Support Bodies page). Wales - WCVA supports sector research and networking. Scotland - try SCVO's Evidence Library.

• Voluntary Action History Society aims to advance the historical understanding and analysis of voluntary action, charitable and voluntary organisations and to build a network of academics, students and practitioners working in this field.

• Voluntary Sector Research Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University.

• Voluntary Sector Studies Network "provides a virtual and actual meeting point for scholars and researchers both outside and within the voluntary (third or non-profit) sector(s), with a shared analytic interest in this set of institutions."

• There is a move to producing regional statistics on the sector. See our Local/Regional contacts page.

International (mainly US)

• ARNOVA (Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action) is the American equivalent of ARVAC but has got much more on its web site. They sponsor Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

• Centre for Voluntary Sector Research and Development, in Canada, merged with Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, Aug 2011. Still worth a look?

• Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy (CNP), part of Urban Institute. Projects include the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) and Research Initiative on Nonprofit Advocacy.

• International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) has an academic journal Voluntas, and occasional issue-based reports.

• Johns Hopkins University hosts the ISTR (above) and the Centre for Civil Society Studies. They have run Comparative Non-profit Sector Project for some years, which looks at how the sector differs across countries.

• Nonprofit Sector Research Fund Another American outfit.

• Literature of the NonProfit Sector A search facility geared to finding particular papers (probably academic in nature).

Research Projects and Reports

Charity Law and Policy Unit, University of Liverpool. Some publications:

• Charities and the Contract Culture. Report, July 99, on a year-long research project to identify problems of a legal nature which have arisen for charities as a result of the 'contract culture'.
• Legal Issues in Charity Mergers Report, Jan 01, on a year-long research project to identify the legal issues arising in charity mergers and the different responses to them, and to consider the most appropriate solutions to commonly experienced problems.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation carries out some research of relevance. Published 12/3/01: 'The role and future development of black and minority ethnic organisations'. This mapping exercise looks at the role of black and minority ethnic-led voluntary and community organisations in England and Wales.

Public Management Foundation Wasted Values: harnessing the commitment of public managers (Nov 99), available from their online bookstore. A report on research into the goals and motivations of senior public managers. It concludes that public sector managers and their private sector counterparts are motivated by very different things. In June 99, the Foundation undertook a nationwide survey of 400 of the UK’s top public, private and voluntary sector managers. Asked about their goals and about what motivates them to do their job well, managers in the three different sectors gave some revealingly different replies. Voluntary sector managers show a mixture of public and private sector views. See our News Review.

Also see Training - professional development as most of the higher education establishments listed run research programmes to some extent.