Strengthening relationships with policymakers and businesses could enable charities to unleash their full potential, a landmark report has argued.
Unleashing the Power of Civil Society calls on the government, private sector and charities to work together to bring mutual benefits and tackle society’s biggest problems.
Meanwhile, at the report’s launch, civil society minister Stuart Andrew pledged to “ensure that civil society organisations have a seat at tables right across Whitehall”.
The Law Family Commission’s final report is the culmination of two years of research into the role of civil society and what needs to be done to ensure it can thrive and support economic and social wellbeing across the UK.
Business support is ‘valuable and underused’
The report said that businesses are a “valuable and underused” source of funding and skills for civil society.
It is estimated that business donations of funds and services total £2.4bn a year, but amount to just 0.06% of charities’ income, and an average yearly business contribution of just £450 to small charities.
The report is calling on charities and businesses to form more partnerships and take action to better understand their respective roles to benefit wider society.
“Businesses are a strikingly underused source of funding and skills for the charity sector. It’s especially important to tap into this source given current pressures on other sources of funding, with public donations expected to be affected by the cost-of-living squeeze and economic downturn and government finances under strain,” it said.
“More charities should prioritise identifying and cultivating opportunities to tap into the business sector, with charity umbrella bodies supporting them to access opportunities to do this.”
Government must play a greater role
The report said policymakers have a “critical role” to play to facilitate greater cooperation between the private and charity sectors but also achieve social and economic progress in the country.
The Commission found a “strong bedrock of engagement and respect between charities and policymakers, as well as appetite among every group of policymakers to increase and improve relationships”.
However, it pointed out that nearly half (45%) of civil servants have no contact at all with the charity sector.
“This means that a large segment of those developing, assessing and recommending policies are missing out on the insights and evidence that charities can bring to their work. It also means that many of the people who play an enormous role in shaping the environment in which charities operate are doing so without input from the organisations and volunteers whose vital work they might be helping or hindering”.
It concluded that both policymakers and charities need to create more opportunities to “work together and develop mutual understanding”.
Civil society is ‘less well understood’
Despite combining some of the features of the public and private sectors, people tend not to grasp the unique nature and role of civil society, the report said.
Like the public sector, it is concerned with providing public goods rather than generating profit. Like the private sector, it is dispersed, agile and driven by individuals and communities rather than constructed to a centralised plan.
“This combination of characteristics enables civil society to play multiple roles both in local communities and national life – spotting problems and opportunities; innovating to meet them; driving social change; enabling communities to take action to improve their area; and reaching groups often marginalised in both the political and commercial realms.”
However, the report added, a lack of a controlling central hand as can be found in the public sector through democracy and a lack of a price mechanism that exists in the private sector, “creates the risk in civil society of efforts being inadvertently and inefficiently replicated in some areas, while other areas are left without the necessary services and capacity that civil society can provide”.
“Large swathes of the benefits created by civil society also go unrecorded in financial terms, meaning that it tends to be undervalued and can easily be overlooked when policies are being developed and decisions made.”
Minister pledges to ‘bring in sector’s expertise’
Speaking at the report’s launch in London today, Andrew said: “We want to connect civil society to key government priorities, bringing in the diversity and expertise of the sector.”
“We will do more together when we continue to harness knowledge and share our expertise.
“We will continue to build bridges between the sector and the government and ensure that civil society organisations have a seat at tables right across Whitehall.”
