1. The Compact Jess Crocker National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Compact Advocacy Programme
(voluntary organisations = NGOs)
15 Minutes talk:
About the NGO sector in the UK and government funding arrangements
What is the Compact and how did it happen?
Making the Compact Matter
What next for the Compact?
The European Dimension

2. The UK context Historically strong sector Tradition of donating money
Stronger state
Service delivery
Close relationship between state and sector
More professional sector
Independence at risk?
Organised charity – whether orientated towards philanthropy or mutualism – has a long tradition in Britain.
The sector has grown rapidly over the last decade, in terms of the number of organisations and revenues generated. As you will be aware, this is a common feature in most developed economies. ( ALMANAC)
Influence over government policy is growing. Strong Campaigning tradition.
Increasingly delivering public services – creating some challenges for the independence of the sector. (Payment for services has increased from £5 billion in 1995 to £15 billion in 2005)
Trend: Smaller organisations losing money, bigger ones are gaining it…
Public support for charity remains strong – New ways to give money are developing.

3. NGOs in England 500,000 organisations (164,415 ’charity’ status)
611,000 paid employees
37% of the population volunteers at least once a week
Total income of £26.3 billion (€39.3b)
(38% from government sources)
Average proportion of the population giving in any one month was 67.3%
(CHARITY: This includes all registered charities but excludes universities, independent schools, organisations that are regulated by Government, housing associations and mutual bodies, and those organisations whose benefit is solely for private gain or promotion, such as religion.  )
The Almanac shows that grants represented 52% of government funding to charities in 2001/02, but only 38% in 2004/05.  Contracts, on the other hand, have increased from 48% in 2001/02 to 62% in 2004/05 but government funding to the voluntary sector has only increased by 1.5% since 2001.
Larger organisations appear to have benefited most from the switch to contracts, with 37% of government funding to charities going to organisations with incomes of over £10 million, compared to 0.4% going to organisations with incomes of up to £10,000.  This period has also seen the emergence of the 'premier league' charities, 18 charities that generate one eighth of the sector’s income. Smaller organisations, however, are struggling to keep pace. The total amount generated by organisations with incomes of up to £10 million actually fell during 2004/05.  86.8% of organisations have incomes of less than £100,000, but generate less than 7% of the sector’s income.

4. Government funding for NGOs
What: Grants and contracts, loans, project, development and strategic funding…
Who:
Government departments and local councils
NHS and local PCTs
Other statutory bodies, the EU and NDPBs
(National Lottery)
(Capacitybuilders)
(Futurebuilders)

5. The Compact The Deakin report - 1996 The Compact - 1998
5 Codes of good practice
95% of councils have a local Compact
Compact Advocacy Programme
Deakin Commission 1996 into future of the sector, recommended a Compact.
Took only one year to create the Compact but codes took until 2004
(Funding, Consultation, Community groups, BME and Volunteering)
They give NGOs enforceable rights like 12 week consultation periods and full cost recovery, proper commissioning process, etc.
Government formally recognises NGO independence and right to campaign without risking its funding.
Compact Advocacy Programme is one of various bodies, they help with breaches...

6. Funding and Procurement Code
Programme design
Clear application processes
Full-cost recovery
Risk management
3-year funding
Advance payments
Proportionate monitoring
Performance management
3-months’ notice

7. Strengths Independence of voluntary sector
Not legally binding (changing culture)
Rights (and responsibilities)
Annual meeting with ministers
Wide political support at senior level
Connection between local and national
A Compact way of working
A tool to manage conflict
75% of organisations work locally so local Compacts are very important
Compact is not just rules but a way of working that will benefit government and sector and users!

8. Weaknesses No connection to EU Lack of awareness of Compact
Weak on implementation
Not legally binding
Competing policies/attitudes in government
Limited use by voluntary organisations – not a “usable” document (solution: Compact Advocacy Programme…)
EU money – does Compact apply? Organisations lose out...
Conflicts around the Compact:
- Not strong on specific enough
- Not legally binding
- Who does it apply to? Non-departmental public bodies?
As I indicated before, perhaps the biggest drawback of the compact is its lack of legal status.
In addition to this, we h)ve noticed that some government departments are more aware of it than others and in some ministries, people at different hierarchies have different levels of awareness. This can produce a complicated picture.
The compact itself consists of 5 compact codes and as such a long body of work it can be difficult and time consuming for some smaller organisations to assess if they think they have been subject to a breach of the compact in their dealings with government
To combat, just these kinds of drawbacks, “Compact Advocacy” has been established. This is a project based in NCVO which:
Takes cases and to establish case law
To provide information to voluntary organisations on their rights
To negotiate on their behalf
To promote within government and the sector
Give examples of cases we work with...

9. Key learning Two-way relationship - ’win-win’
Get wide political support
Make it a document that can grow
Ensure local and international connection
Make it specific!
KEY LEARNING:
- Agreement across the voluntary sector as to what it wanted from a relationship with government;
- Recognition that both parties could gain from the process - the development of a ‘win win’ situation which in this case was achieved through the identification of shared principles and values;
- Acceptance that such a process required support from all concerned and could not be just top down - widespread and open consultation was important
- Sponsorship of the process at a high level in government; - Understanding of the limitations that both sides faced; - Ensuring that the outcomes could be measurable; - Each piece of research carried out revealed a clear need for Compacts to be closely monitored and scrutinised in order to ensure Compacts were being implemented
- The establishment of a full two-way relationship, with obligations on the sector as well as on government