A consultancy has announced it has left a project to support small charities run by NCVO, describing a “tricky” working relationship.
Fair Collective worked on the umbrella body’s Power of Small project, which focuses on the future of infrastructure support for charities with an income of below £1m.
NCVO launched the project as part of a series of initiatives following the closures of the Small Charities Coalition in 2022 and the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI) last year.
It commissioned Fair Collective to carry out research into the needs of small charities from May to July this year before beginning a “testing phase” in September.
In a social media post this week, Fair Collective said it had “decided to walk away from a dream gig” as its experience working on the Power of Small project had not aligned with its values.
However, NCVO said the consultancy had completed the work it had been commissioned to undertake.
‘Very tricky’ working on project
Fair Collective’s post reads: “Some of our core values are meaningful collaboration, acknowledgement and sharing of power, co-production and total openness.
“And in this spirit of total openness, we want to share that we’re stepping away from this project because we have found working on it very tricky for a number of reasons.
“Most fundamentally though, because our experience of working on this project has not aligned with the values we've listed above.
“We’re as committed as ever to supporting the small charity sector and will continue to do so, in our own way, on our own terms.
“Your contributions to this project have been invaluable to our learning and we are keenly watching on to see how NCVO will use our recommendations off the back of this research to go on to help small charities.
“It’s scary to do this, to step away from something we care deeply about and to do so publicly, but it's important to us to maintain our integrity and hold true to our values.”
NCVO ‘grateful’ for consultancy’s work
An NCVO spokesperson said: “NCVO commissions a number of external commercial organisations to help support the delivery of important projects designed to support the charity sector to deliver more impact.
“Much of our work is funded and involves collaboration with other partners, which requires us to deliver a wide programme of work, with multiple delivery partners against specific project requirements and objectives.
“Fair Collective tendered to deliver a part of this programme of work and have completed it. We are grateful for their work on this project, and value the wider contribution they make to the sector.
“We remain committed to working with our other partners to continue this important project, and look forward to seeing the lasting impact it will have for small charities across the country, as they work tirelessly to meet the growing needs of the communities and people they support.”
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