latest

general election

Ed Miliband, minister for the third sector, May 2006 – July 2007

much more focused and a more centrally- driven programme, based on contracts. There’s still an issue around the capacity of our sector and they were right to earmark money but the way it worked out was not good.” Boswell adds: “I think the main lesson for me about the dear old Hubs was that government should not try to impose structures on the sector that are artificial. Creating false alliances and collaborative working that are purely about chasing pots of money is going to end up with those bodies putting their own self-interest before the outputs and input they are likely to have.” Debra Allcock Tyler, chief executive

of the DSC since 2001 says: “There are one or two regional Hubs that have done quite well and some good stuff came out of it actually, but they singularly failed to run it properly. The idea was flawed in the first place because it was based on the premise that the infrastructure for the voluntary sector wasn’t good enough. Where they got that premise from I’ve absolutely no idea, as I’ve never been able to see any proper research or evidence to say that the infrastructure doesn’t work.” She adds: “What they failed to understand is infrastructure bodies that serve others in the sector survive if they can sell themselves effectively to their members or funders, and if you’re not doing a good job you don’t

24

Charity Finance April 2010

Phil Hope, minister for the third sector, July 2007 – October 2008

get membership fees and don’t get funding. What they did was distort the marketplace by creating this programme so one or two organisations got loads and loads of money, who are now going to find themselves in terrible trouble because, let’s face it, the money’s not going to be there come 2011, having done a shedload of work that has disappeared into the ether.”

We’ve shoved shedloads of money

into these volunteering schemes that just aren’t paying off

It falls to Etherington to defend the

Hubs, as NCVO led the way in organising and administering four of them. “They weren’t given much time; that was the problem. They were shot at immediately as they were established. Those that benefit from them are not very vocal, and although we did try to pull people in, those who didn’t feel they were getting adequate resources themselves began shooting at them straight away. They were reviewed within about a year of operation and I think at that time the leadership of Capacitybuilders was

Angela Smith, minister for the third sector, June 2009 – now

particularly weak. I think some progress has been made at a local level, in pulling consortia together, but I do think the existing way in which we provide infrastructure support local or nationally needs a pretty major overhaul.”

Volunteering

Another area which has seen significant funding is volunteering,with organisations such as v, Volunteering England and CSV receiving tens of millions of pounds of government funding between them each year. Some observers, such as Allcock Tyler, question the effectiveness of this funding. “What a waste of money to young people volunteering. Young people between the ages of 16 and 24 generally don’t volunteer, frankly for good bloody reason. They’re finding their own lives, building their own ways, and yet we’ve shoved shedloads of money into these volunteering schemes that just aren’t paying off. I can’t see evidence that young people are volunteering more that can’t necessarily be put down to a recession where they’re desperate for jobs.” Boswell praises the money that has

gone into volunteering, but says that it highlights a lack of investment in fundraising. “If you look at the amount of money and investment put into volunteering, it is at least ten times the amount that has gone into supporting fundraising. And there is almost a block

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