Gov.UK have shared reports from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF) Grantholder Learning Hub, which was open to all recipients of the CCSF and National Lottery emergency funding during the pandemic.
The Learning Strand of the CCSF evaluation was a new way for the National Lottery Community Fund to create, share and facilitate learning from a major programme of funding for voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations during a crisis.
The Learning Hub reports contain the reflections of 3,200 organisations and highlighted areas of improvement for the sector as a whole.
Building organisational resilience for the future shares the ways grant holders built their resilience in the face of uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how this can help others plan for the future.
Key Findings
For VCS organisations
• Grantholders recognised that the context for the people they support continues to change. Therefore, VCS organisations need to continue to listen to people. Gathering evidence and integrating new learning remains central to driving improvements in service design and delivery. While these activities can take time away from providing direct support, they will help staff reflect on their organisation’s practices, strengths and where they need more support.
• A strong network is an important resource in times of uncertainty and change. VCS organisations should continue to seek out opportunities to build and strengthen partnerships.
• VCS organisations should undertake a financial health check. This can help identify over-reliance on risky or potentially unsustainable sources of income. It can also help to think creatively about new ways of generating income. A robust and diversified financial strategy is also crucial for organisations contemplating scaling up or replicating their services. This can help manage the risks of delivering in new ways or in new places.
For funders
• Funders can support VCS organisations to reflect on their strengths and where they need more support by communicating the value of this, offering support to do so and signposting organisations to freely available resources.
• Funders and commissioners can help sustain the shift among VCS organisations from competition to collaboration providing funding and connections to different organisations to bring people together around common causes.
• Where deeper relationships have been built between funders and VCS organisations during the pandemic, this presents an opportunity for providing longer-term, sustainable ‘trust-based’ funding.
For public sector organisations
• Shared vulnerability across the public and VCS sectors allowed greater scope for collaboration, leading to deeper relationships. Some relationships between public sector and VCS organisations developed into strategic partnerships, where VCS organisations are brought into planning and developing local services based on their knowledge and expertise of local communities. The task now is to focus on ensuring these collaborations continue for the longer-term benefit of communities across the UK.
