VCSE Barometer Reports | VCSE Observatory

Posted on behalf of Daniel King, Professor of Organisation at Nottingham Trent University:

Thank you for the time and input you have given to the VCSE (Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise) Observatory over the last 6 months.

The Observatory’s main initiative now is the VCSE Barometer: a quarterly ‘temperature check’ of the sector, which we are using to highlight real-time issues and trends with our partners in regional and national VCSE infrastructure, and with colleagues in government at Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport. In February we provided data to government colleagues within hours of the closure of the Wave 2 survey, and we believe the information we provided formed part of the picture that contributed to the decision to include an allocation of £100m to the VCSE in the Spring Budget.

Over 3,000 organisations and groups have interacted with the Observatory thus far. Whilst it is still early days, our medium-term aim is to work towards building good relationships with those who participate in our surveys. Your valuable contributions help us to capture a picture of current issues and challenges, and by building trust, we hope also to build confidence in the accuracy of our findings.

With the support of Lloyds Bank Foundation, we are improving the design and delivery of the Barometer, to make it more user-friendly and to maximise its usefulness for everyone who has an interest in data-led decision-making. Linked to this, we are delighted to be collaborating with three local infrastructure organisations to better understand how the Barometer can play a role in helping them to capture and interpret their local data.

‘Running Hot, Burning Out‘ and ‘Lights Out‘ are the two Barometer reports published thus far in partnership with Pro Bono Economics, and links below to dashboards which summarise the data collected, and to the media coverage the surveys have attracted:

• The findings of Wave 1 were covered by News at Ten on BBC 1, on Radio 4’s Six O’Clock News and in The Independent;
• Wave 2 attracted trade press coverage, including Charity Times, UK Fundraising, Third Sector and Civil Society News, as well as a TV news item on BBC Look North, featuring Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield and an interview with Pro Bono Economics’ Nicole Sykes. 

Our next survey will go live on Tuesday 9 May and its theme will be volunteering. We hope we can count on your support again in this third wave of information gathering.

I would be pleased to hear from you if you would like to discuss any aspect of the Observatory or the Barometer, so please do not hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].