15 mins with Vicky Browning, CEO of Acevo

Vicky Browning is chief executive of Acevo, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations. She talks to New Start about how local government can unlock the potential of the third sector

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How can third sector organisations empower communities?
I don’t think it’s helpful to see third sector organisations as being separate to local communities. There are over 160,000 charities, the vast majority of which are incredibly small and volunteer-led. From these, all the way up to what we consider major charities such as Age UK, the third sector is working within local communities to help meet the needs identified by individuals on the ground. In essence, charities and social enterprises are a representation of communities empowering themselves – whether it’s to run a service or campaign against an injustice. 

Has the track record of third sector and community groups in delivering services made the case for more involvement around the country?
The role of charities in delivering services has certainly helped them ramp up their involvement across the board. This isn’t a recent phenomenon by any means. If you go back to the early 20^th century, most of what we now consider ‘public’ services were run out of the third sector. But I think the government is starting to wake up to the potential of charities and social enterprises – not just for delivering contracts, but taking the initiative and setting up new schemes.

What are the barriers holding third sector organisations and community groups back from further involvement?
The main issue is always funding. All charities have something that they’d love to start doing, but just can’t afford to. With the push towards government efficiency over the last few years, we’ve heard a lot of Acevo members say that – where they do have a relationship with government – the funding simply isn’t enough to justify their involvement any more. But also, I think some charities are worried about what happens to them if they start delivering contracts for government. You don’t want to be dictated to by the terms of an agreement, especially if you don’t think doing so would be in the interests of your beneficiaries.

Should more voluntary organisations take over the running of community centres and libraries?
This is an area where there is potential for charities and social enterprises to work alongside local authorities. The benefits of having education charities, or ones that work with disadvantaged young people, embedded in these services cannot be overstated. But it is important that local authorities don’t just see us as a blank cheque. If funding is withdrawn from these services, charities can’t be relied on to fill the gap.

What do you see as the main benefits of allowing not-for-profit groups to deliver local services?
Charities and social enterprises are often working ‘on the ground’ with the most vulnerable in our society already. Their considerable experience of delivering services to these groups can make a huge difference to local authority services. They also benefit from having relationships in communities, which go far beyond contractual terms. For charities, it’s not just about the pay cheque – charities are driven by values, not profit. Their whole reason for being is to help people and deliver the change they exist to create. Where this coincides with a local service, then you get a provider who is doubly motivated.

What could the government do to support voluntary organisations?
That’s a big question. To start with, level out the contract market. Too many charities never even get their foot in the door because of short tendering periods, burdensome reporting requirements or just not enough money. This isn’t a simple issue, and there’s no silver bullet. At the same time, the decline of grant funding has really hit some charities, who aren’t able to come up with innovative new ideas within the envelope of service contracts. Beyond this, there are issues around regulation of the sector and restrictions on our right to campaign. What all of this boils down to is taking the sector seriously, and listening to our concerns. There’s a huge amount of potential in charities and social enterprises, and government needs to show it is serious about unlocking this.

Are local authorities engaging with the voluntary sector enough?
There’s no such thing as too much engagement. There will always be someone else whose expertise could be accessed. I can’t speak for all local authorities – or all charities – but it seems that they’re often better than central government! If local authorities want to really unlock the potential of the third sector, then they need to rethink the way they engage – and commission services – from the ground up.