What happens next?Following third sector organisations

in an age of austerity

Dr. Rob MacmillanThird Sector Research Centre

University of Birmingham

TSRC London seminarNCVO

16th November 2011

In summary

1. Two moments in civil society…

2. About the ‘Real Times’ study

3. What happens next?

4. The overall story so far

5. Reflections on a dynamic civil society

Two moments in civil society…

‘Larch’• Deprived ex-mining village – housing and community-

based regeneration• Heritage Centre, Youth Club, Village Hall, successful

community shop/café, new social enterprise• An uneven landscape of participation, e.g. ‘Brown hair

turning grey’

‘Birch’•Secure local advice agency growing through local authority funding and additional contracts•Annual surplus to ‘weather the storm’ and for service development•Anticipating possible outsourcing opportunities

The research basis for ‘Real Times’

• The third sector in transition – ‘shaking-out’ and ‘shaking-up’?

• A ‘field’ based understanding of the third sector – context, relation and the idea of ‘room’

• Taking time seriously – rhythms and change in third sector life

• Snapshots and moving pictures – the promise of seeing things differently

The third sector in transition

• ‘Shaking-out’ (and hollowing-out?)

• ‘Shaking-up’ (enterprise, demonstrating value and ‘reconfiguration’)

• ‘Room’ – enough for everyone?

Within the third sector Around the third sector

- division and polarisation…- competition and collaboration…- independence and the state...- modernisation...- rethinking finance… - value and distinctiveness…

- changing economic circumstances- changing political context

A crowded ‘field’...

• ‘Room’ is the ‘space’ for an organisation to operate in a given field, involving: – an acknowledged role and position, based on a context-

specific, ongoing, sometimes awkward and contested accommodation between similarly placed organisations operating in a given catchment area, and

– a capacity to continue its activities to pursue its aims

• Organisations might pursue ‘room’, but to create or preserve it, they need to attend to: – resources (economic and human capital)– relationships (social capital), and – regard (symbolic capital)

‘Real Times’ in a nutshell…

Overall aim

• To establish, maintain and analyse a qualitative longitudinal sample of third sector organisations, groups and activities

• Access and engagement - experiences and dilemmas

Research structure and timing

• Diverse set of 15 core case studies plus a range of related ‘complementary’ case studies

• Apr ’10 to Aug ’13 – now about half way through

Purpose and research questions

• Understanding how third sector activity operates in practice over time

• What happens, what matters, and understanding continuity and change

Four focal points

Fortunes

- What influences the fortunes of TSOs?- How do they judge their fortunes?

Strategies

- How do TSOs regard and negotiate the environments in which they operate?

Challenges

- What challenges do TSOs face? - How do they respond?

Performance

- How is the ‘performance’ of TSOs understood by different stakeholders?- How can we understand their achievements?

A diverse set of case studies

• A large national charity delivering services – anticipating a changing funding and policy environment, and preparing a cutback plan

• A specialist mental health charity – concerned to maintain its distinctive services amidst public spending cuts, the personalisation agenda and new models of intervention

• A new social enterprise – pursuing growth beyond its local community

• A co-operative sports club - trying to sustain initial enthusiasm and impetus

• A local support project for teenage mothers – surviving an internal crisis, preparing for longer term sustainability

• A parish plan action group – seeking to implement ‘quick wins’ in the village

Two moments in civil society…

‘Larch’• Deprived ex-mining village – housing and community-

based regeneration• Heritage Centre, Youth Club, Village Hall, successful

community shop/café, new social enterprise• An uneven landscape of participation, e.g. ‘Brown hair

turning grey’

‘Birch’•Secure local advice agency growing through local authority funding and additional contracts•Annual surplus to ‘weather the storm’ and for service development•Anticipating possible outsourcing opportunities

A Question of Sport: what happened next?

Discuss in small groups what you think happened next

Choose your feedback persona – Bill Beaumont, Willie Carson, Phil Tufnell, Matt Dawson…

Then feedback, I’ll be Sue Barker and we’ll see...

What happens next?

‘Larch’ (then)

• Deprived ex-mining village – housing and community-based regeneration

• Heritage Centre, Youth Club, Village Hall, successful community shop/café, new social enterprise

• An uneven landscape of participation, e.g. ‘Brown hair turning grey’

‘Larch’ (now-ish)

• Unsuccessful funding bids – youth club closes

• Utility bills and winter damage - Heritage Centre closing down

• Contracting infrastructure support

• Shop/café and new social enterprise still developing

What happens next?

‘Birch’ (then)

• Secure local advice agency growing through local authority funding and additional contracts

• Annual surplus to ‘weather the storm’ and for service development

• Anticipating possible outsourcing opportunities

‘Birch’ (now-ish)

• LA reviews provision and cuts basic funding, pending re-commissioning

• Birch forced to consider closing services in hiatus

• A debate on tactical responses

• Reprieve, redundancies and re-organising structures and services

The overall story so far

A picture dominated by cuts for some…

• From anticipatory anxiety (Spring 2010) to the experience of public spending cuts (Spring-Summer 2011)

• Restructuring and redundancies • Campaigning, influence and reputation• Ongoing uncertainty about the scale and scope of cuts, and emerging

policy agendas

But not for all…

• Organisations planning growth • Re-positioning and the development of new ventures and services• Relative insulation from the changing context

Analytical approaches

Narrative profiles and ‘process tracing’

Cross-cutting themes and ‘storylines’e.g.• ‘Who’s in charge?’ – governance and leadership• ‘Central and local relationships’ – support, control and independence• ‘Us’ and ‘them’ – boundaries, identities and ethos in the third sector• Exploring and explaining the origin and development of social ventures• The value and cost of space

Internal dynamics“hold on a moment…..who’s ‘we’?”

“we’re talking about the closure of all [offices], that’s what we’re talking about, so I don’t see any point in having discussions where there is nothing on the table…I’m seen as being a bit of a maverick and a bit of a street fighter…. because they’re all bloody lily livered wussies, honest to God, they wouldn’t say boo to a goose. It does irritate the life out of me. They’re frightened of their own shadow.

I come from a campaigning background really, you know, that you stand up for what is right and obviously [the national organisation] comes from, you know, ‘oh can’t we have a cup a tea and just all be happy together’, you know, sort of thing, so we are at odds – I am seen as being a gob-shite because I speak my mind”.

Reflections on a dynamic civil society

• ‘Shaking up’ and ‘shaking out’

• What influences the ‘room’ for civil society?

• Civil society in motion - what happens next and why?

“You beat your wings all your life, but in the end the wind decides where you go”

Further information

• ‘Real Times’ is being undertaken by a team of five researchers at TSRC:Rob Macmillan, Andri Soteri-Proctor, Simon Teasdale, Rebecca Taylor and

Malin Arvidson

• Macmillan, R (2011) Seeing things differently? The promise of qualitative longitudinal research on the third sector

TSRC Working Paper 56, March 2011

• Forthcoming: First Impressions: introducing the ‘Real Times’ third sector case studies