Christmas, for me, is always a time for looking back and taking stock, and with the New Year comes a chance for looking to the future. I thought it would be an opportune time to reflect on my first seven months in the voluntary and community sector and what I’ve learned.
I started as Deputy CEO at CVS Cheshire East in May 2024 after 15 years in students’ unions. Most students’ unions are charities in their own right, with turnovers in the hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds. They deliver vital services to promote belonging and community on campus; advocate for students’ rights in university boardrooms, in Parliament and on the streets; support students’ mental health and wellbeing; offer skills development and leadership opportunities; and much more. I’m proud to have been Made in SUs (incidentally, a great new campaign the National Union of Students is running to highlight where former students’ union officers end up), and my next career step was always going to be to a similarly values-driven organisation.
I came to CVS knowing there would be some similarities to my previous roles: after all, I’d run a charity, worked closely with Boards of Trustees, negotiated budgets, developed services, held Annual General Meetings, all the fun stuff a charity leader can expect. Seven months in, I can say that there are many differences, but also some surprising similarities between SUs and the broader voluntary and community sector.
Funding is a huge issue for both sectors right now. University budgets are in serious trouble, and many students’ unions are seeing cuts to their block grants and falling commercial income as students stay home because of the cost of living crisis. However, universities have a statutory duty to ensure that their students’ union operates effectively: as (usually) their main funder, this includes a certain level of resource to ensure the charity remains a going concern. Most charities do not have funders with a duty to keep them going, and this year we have seen several charities fold due to a challenging and scarce funding environment. Budgeting for most small charities is an exercise in extreme uncertainty, and heavily reliant on external grants and service contracts that too often won’t cover core costs such as management, administration and communications. Many walk a difficult line balancing the needs of their funders with their organisation’s purpose and values, and many are making hard choices about how they operate and considering ways of doing things differently. Both students’ unions and other charities are exploring models such as outsourcing, shared back office functions, co-location and even mergers (although rare in the SU sector): I think there is scope for charities of all types to come together to think differently and navigate a difficult funding environment collectively.
One reason I loved working in students’ unions was the ethos of collaboration, and the feeling of being part of a bigger “student movement”. This is something I also feel in the voluntary and community sector: at CVS, we work closely with other local infrastructure organisations and charities, and regional and national representative organisations such as NCVO and NAVCA do a great job bringing people together and advocating for our sector. However, that collaboration can sometimes have an edge of competition, as charities are often competing for the same limited pots of funding or vying for influence in the same pool of decision-makers. I think there is scope for more to be done to improve collaboration in the third sector: at CVS, for example, we are starting conversations about collective procurement, encouraging charities to work together to deliver services and submit joint funding bids. We are also establishing the Cheshire East VCFSE Alliance, which has great potential to strengthen the voice of the VCFSE sector and improve the way our organisations work together locally.
One similarity I did not expect was the strong emphasis on partnership in both students’ unions and the broader VCFSE sector. Students’ unions have been advocating for students to be treated as equal partners in decision-making for decades, and this is very much the narrative for VCFSE organisations and the public sector. There are similar power dynamics at play: universities and public sector organisations hold the money and the decision-making power, and SUs/VCFSE organisations often struggle to be respected for their expertise, trusted to deliver, or sometimes even to be invited into the room. Students’ unions have made some headway in that their engagement with Universities goes beyond personalities: students’ unions are usually invited into the right meetings by virtue of their representative role. The VCFSE sector does not have a similar “right” to be represented in all the fora they would like: it is often a struggle to identify the meetings, bodies or people making decisions that affect the sector, and sometimes difficult then to gain access. The government’s proposed Civil Society Covenant is a welcome national step in the right direction, and we have emphasized the importance of trust, mutual respect, transparency and equal partnership in our response to the consultation.
One last reflection is on the importance of relationships. Effective students’ union CEOs understand the importance of building and maintaining relationships with University colleagues, demonstrating impact, securing influence, and working in partnership. It’s no different in the VCFSE sector, but the pool of stakeholders is much larger! There are also organisational politics to navigate, which can be present to an extent in University departments but are much more evident when you are working across local authorities, multiple NHS trusts, and charities with different aims and priorities. The principle remains the same, though: build these relationships and maintain them; identify shared goals and alignment of priorities; and work together in partnership.
I moved into the voluntary and community sector during a challenging time, and recognise that people and organisations are struggling. However, I remain cautiously optimistic: the work of third sector organisations is more crucial than ever, and if conversations with local and national decision-makers about the value of the sector and working in partnership are more than warm words and begin to bear fruit then I think we are in a time of opportunity. This coming year will not be easy, but holding our values close and continually championing the transformative power of the voluntary and community sector will help us all to thrive in 2025.
On behalf of CVS, we wish you all a merry and restful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
