Community Foundation shares its Impact Report

The latest impact report from Northamptonshire Community Foundation can be found here: IMPACT REPORT FINAL 22.06.2022.pdf (ncf.uk.com)

Page 18 of the report (entitled voices from the sector) echoes many of the issues reported to VIN on a regular basis.

Sustainability moving forward is a real issue for our sector, with many smaller charities digging deep into their reserves to survive or at the point of closure. An increasingly competitive funding market makes it harder to access and maintain funds. Fewer funders now fund core activities and there is still the issue of funding short termism rather than funding longevity which gives organisations an opportunity to rebalance following COVID. The nature of volunteering is changing, with more volunteers attracted to short term campaigns or appeals rather than longer term commitments. With the cost-of-living crisis ever present, people at work are having to work harder for longer with little extra time to volunteer. Staff and volunteer fatigue within the sector is an ever present, as is the skill drain to other sectors exacerbated by the range of pressures on family household incomes.

VIN will continue to work with NCF and other funders in an attempt to draw these issues out and raise their profile. As we move into an Integrated Care System (with its emphasis on People and Places) VIN will work tirelessly to ensure the new constructs of Local Area Partnerships are the right vehicles for the work, properly represented with the ability to make changes at a local level which involves communities.