Press Story

The government should therefore boost giving in areas where the private sector is weaker by pledging to match a proportion of business donations for a fixed period.

The report - Can the Big Society be a Fair Society? - argues that areas with a weaker private sector are also where voluntary and community organisations are more reliant on public funding. The proportion of voluntary and community organisations in receipt of public funds is:

43 per cent in the North East
42 per cent in the North West
39 per cent in Yorkshire and Humber
38 per cent in the East midlands
38 per cent in the West Midlands
37 per cent in the South West
34 per cent in the East of England
33 per cent in London
33 per cent in the South East

Spending cuts and a move to greater reliance on business donations could therefore doubly disadvantage organisations in the North unless the government provides innovative forms of finance.

To help vital services offered by voluntary and community organisations survive spending cuts and make the Big Society in their areas flourish, the report recommends:

the Big Society Bank should offer products that are accessible to small and large organisations and should support a range of forms of finance;
the Transition Fund should provide 'seed corn' grants to help voluntary and community organisations to become more enterprising to make them more sustainable;
commissioning should be reviewed so that VCS organisations, social enterprises and service users are involved in identifying need and shaping services;
a strongly branded local community fund should be established in priority areas, backed by a government pledge to match a proportion of business donations for a fixed period in order to strengthen relationships between the VCS and private sector.

Ed Cox, Director of IPPR North said:

'Our research shows that the Big Society will not be a fair to the North without changes to government support for philanthropy and charitable giving. Good will is beginning to wear thin as people in the voluntary and community sector try to deal with budget cuts, and organisations in the North cannot turn to big corporate or high value donors to make up the gap as London-based organisations can. We need to target what little money there is to organisations that struggle to find it elsewhere. Less attractive organisations that lack donor appeal or those operating in areas where business or corporate gifts are hard to come by should be a priority.'

Notes to editors:

This research has been made possible by support from the Policy and Representation Partnership, which is funded by the BIG Lottery Fund.