By Vivienne Russell | 8 January 2013
Small community groups are being excluded from ‘Big Society’ funds as money is reserved for charities providing major public services, a think-tank has warned.
IPPR North called for some of the government’s Big Society Capital funding to be reserved for ‘microfinance’ for community groups and small neighbourhood charities. Councils should also find ways to encourage residents to donate to local causes.
IPPR North director Ed Cox said: ‘We know that small community groups play a vital role in supporting the social and economic health of poor neighbourhoods – they’re the youth clubs giving young people places to go and support groups for people going through a difficult time in their lives. Yet it is these organisations that are being hit hardest in the areas that desperately need their support.
‘Where richer communities are better able to rely on volunteers and local philanthropy to see them through this lean period, the so-called Big Society finds it harder to survive in the communities that need it most.’
Earlier this week, a senior third sector leader warned the prime minister that the Big Society concept was ‘effectively dead’.
In a letter to David Cameron ahead of the coalition’s mid-term review, announced yesterday, Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, said the potential for charities to transform public services remained largely untapped. He slammed the ‘glacially slow’ pace of reform.
‘Charity leaders feel frustrated and demoralised at this lack of progress,’ Bubb wrote in the January 4 letter.
‘The Big Society is a strong concept, even if Whitehall has struggled to communicate it or implement it consistently – but now the phrase is effectively dead.’
The letter said the reality for many charities was one of ‘crippling spending cuts’.
Bubb added: ‘Most Acevo members whose funding is being cut have had to respond by reducing the services they provide.’
Small community groups are being excluded from ‘Big Society’ funds as money is reserved for charities providing major public services, a think-tank has warned.
IPPR North called for some of the government’s Big Society Capital funding to be reserved for ‘microfinance’ for community groups and small neighbourhood charities. Councils should also find ways to encourage residents to donate to local causes.
IPPR North director Ed Cox said: ‘We know that small community groups play a vital role in supporting the social and economic health of poor neighbourhoods – they’re the youth clubs giving young people places to go and support groups for people going through a difficult time in their lives. Yet it is these organisations that are being hit hardest in the areas that desperately need their support.
‘Where richer communities are better able to rely on volunteers and local philanthropy to see them through this lean period, the so-called Big Society finds it harder to survive in the communities that need it most.’
Earlier this week, a senior third sector leader warned the prime minister that the Big Society concept was ‘effectively dead’.
In a letter to David Cameron ahead of the coalition’s mid-term review, announced yesterday, Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, said the potential for charities to transform public services remained largely untapped. He slammed the ‘glacially slow’ pace of reform.
‘Charity leaders feel frustrated and demoralised at this lack of progress,’ Bubb wrote in the January 4 letter.
‘The Big Society is a strong concept, even if Whitehall has struggled to communicate it or implement it consistently – but now the phrase is effectively dead.’
The letter said the reality for many charities was one of ‘crippling spending cuts’.
Bubb added: ‘Most Acevo members whose funding is being cut have had to respond by reducing the services they provide.’
