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Giving White Paper

• Context
• Content
• Funding
• Other Announcements
• Research & Evaluation
• Sector Response
• Reflections

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Context

On 23 May 2011, the Cabinet Office published a White Paper on Giving. This intended to offer a framework by which to ‘stimulate a step change in giving’, including both charitable donations and volunteering. It also builds upon the range of tax incentives announced in this year’s budget, as well as the recent proposals of the Hodgson Report on Red Tape, and the previously announced Community First Fund. In the Cabinet Office’s own words, this ‘marks the beginning of a process of engagement, not the end of one’.

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Content

The content of the Giving Paper is made up of a mixture of more traditional approaches (e.g. tax incentives, funding, and regulation) with “soft” approaches (e.g. use of social networks and public acknowledgement). Significantly, the Giving White Paper was accompanied by the announcement of £40m in new funding. This supplements the £42.5m Volunteering Infrastructure fund and £80m Community First fund previously announced in the Green Paper consultation on Giving.

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Funding

A £10m Social Action Fund will be launched to develop new ways of incentivising Giving. Significantly, a proportion of this will support proposals to train voluntary volunteer managers. One such proposal is the use of “self-managed volunteer pilots” whereby potential volunteers sign-up to activities planned around their working lives. Another idea is for ex-civil servants to be trained as volunteer managers. The Social Action Fund will also be used to cover post-National Citizen Service schemes which support young people’s continued involvement in social action projects. Finally, the Social Action Fund will be used to reward the best solutions for a series of volunteer challenges, especially those that target underrepresented areas or groups.

A £30m Local Infrastructure Fund will be launched to support volunteering in localities with ‘significant deprivation and low social capital’. This funding will be delivered by the Big Lottery Fund and will support the development of local hubs to offer integrated support services for frontline civil society organisations, with support for an effective online resource bank for frontline civil society organisations. The Local Infrastructure Fund will also be used to develop support for staff training and the purchasing of expert advice and support, including resources for training volunteer managers.

Further details of the Community First Fund were also announced in the White Paper. This will include a £30m Neighbourhood Match Fund and a £50m Endowment Match Fund. The Neighbourhood Match Fund will be used to provide resources for community-led projects in specific locations. Communities will be required to identify projects and provide match funding, including volunteer time, cash, goods and services. The Endowment Match Fund will build local endowments through donations with the intention of creating sustainable income streams.

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Other Announcements

Further points of interest in the White Paper included the following:

• A promise to explore ‘how to make impact reporting simpler, easier, and cheaper’ with strategic partners, charities, voluntary organisations, social enterprises, trusts and foundations, the private sector, investors and public service commissioners.
• The announcement of a Giving Summit to be held in the autumn of 2011 which will bring together businesses, social enterprises, charities, community groups, academics and government.
• Financial support for online giving platforms. The Do-It website will receive £1m of funding to provide a national database of volunteering opportunities. The Association of Charitable Foundations and the Community Foundation Network will receive £700,000 funding to develop the Philanthropy UK service to offer free and impartial advice to philanthropists.

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Research & Evaluation

The White Paper notes that respondents stressed the need for ‘better data, measurement, and a sustained programme of research into giving preferences’ in order to encourage greater levels of giving in the future. However, in the paper’s Appendix it states that ‘Government does not believe that giving is an area where the state itself should conduct an extensive research programme’. Instead, charities, foundations, academic bodies, and think-tanks are encouraged to facilitate, convene and share information on giving.

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Sector Response

Reactions to the White Paper across the sector have been mixed, as detailed below:

• ACEVO have called for Government to “fill in the gaps” on measurement and accountability, pointing to the recommendations of their recent Big Society Commission report.
• The Charities Aid Foundation broadly welcomed the “excellent ideas” contained in the paper but called for more work to be done on lifetime legacies.
• The Community Foundation Network pointed to the lack of attention given to neighbourhood charities as 90% of the fundraising market currently goes towards only 10% of charities.
• DSC have argued that the lack of measures to improve company giving is a “glaring omission” that needs to be addressed.
• The Institute of Fundraising have claimed that Government “missed a golden opportunity” to do more to invest in the fundraising profession.
• NAVCA have expressed “delight” at the announcement of £30m extra funding for local infrastructural organisations.
• NCVO have called for government investment in robust research and analysis to ensure that future policy on giving is based on evidence.
• The Social Enterprise Coalition have responded that Government needs to do more to open up social investment and engage with businesses rather than rely on “ordinary people facing tough times”.
• Volunteering England have broadly welcomed the paper, in particular the new funding for local infrastructure. This is seen as vital to support sustainable and effective networks of Volunteer Centres.

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Reflections

We welcome the publication of a White Paper on Giving as a signal of the Government’s commitment to this area. In addition to this, the announcement of further streams of funding to support the activity of voluntary organisations is greatly appreciated at a time when the voluntary sector is struggling financially. There is a danger, however, that these new funding streams will be an inadequate means to cope with the loss in local government grants and the withdrawal of centrally-driven capacity building programmes.

As the ‘beginning of a process of engagement’ there is much to commend within the White Paper, however the following areas may require greater attention in future:

Volunteer Management: It was good to see that volunteer management was referenced throughout the paper. Nonetheless, the White Paper seemed to indicate that this would be a role carried out primarily by volunteers themselves or as part of the professional development of civil servants. Whilst many organisations do employ voluntary volunteer managers, it is frequently part of a paid job role or an occupation in itself, especially when responsible for managing large numbers of volunteers.[1]

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