There is a growing demand for services that support patient referrals into non-medical, community or social health programmes, and ultimately go beyond ‘signposting’ or ‘linking’. In north Cumbria, the third-sector referral coordinator (TSRC) team is an example of such a service. This article presents the findings from an evaluation of the TSRC team, which utilises a person-centred approach to achieve a holistic care model, and promotes greater networking between the third and health sectors.
This article explores how volunteer leaders enable organisational change in the voluntary sector, using a case study of a Samaritans branch introducing night shifts to meet caller demand. Drawing on change management frameworks (Kotter; Fisher), relational leadership approaches and intrinsic motivation theory, the article takes a pragmatic, theory-informed approach. Flexible and consultative strategies, including a points-based system, directed support and leadership role-modelling, improved shift coverage and operational flexibility. However, findings also highlight resistance, uneven engagement and the limits of peer-led influence. The study demonstrates that relational, values-based leadership can support change where organisational goals align with varied volunteer motivations. It concludes that volunteer-led change requires adaptable, versatile approaches, recognising that resistance and attrition should be expected when engaging in change in voluntary organisations.
Small voluntary organisations play a growing role in community asset development but often operate under conditions of limited capacity, financial precarity and uneven power. This article examines how voluntary organisations engage in co-production with academic and institutional partners through the collaborative development of a neighbourhood transformation planning tool. Drawing on co-production inputs from 28 stakeholder organisations, interviews with ten community leaders and reflective analysis by the four authors/project team members, the article explores the relational and organisational conditions that shape co-productive practice. It identifies four key cross-cutting factors - trust, outcomes focus, positionality and power - that influenced experiences of co-production. While existing co-production frameworks offer valuable structure, they are less attentive to the practical and political realities facing small voluntary organisations. The article therefore contributes a practice-informed extension to existing models, highlighting the contextual factors that shape how co-production unfolds in resource-constrained settings.
This study explores the government failure theory by showing how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed institutional voids within welfare and emergency governance. The shock created pressures that public authorities struggled to absorb, making the mobilisation of civil society organisations (CSOs) potentially crucial for crisis response. Using a panel data of Italian provinces, we find that CSO density is negatively associated with excess mortality, but only where institutional quality is weak. This indicates a nuanced state-civil society relationship: in poorer institutional settings, CSOs appear to compensate for governance shortcomings. A complementary survey of CSOs reveals varied experiences regarding the interactions with public authorities, highlighting inconsistent institutional openness across territories. Overall, the positive potential of CSOs during the pandemic was only partly realised, as public authorities did not systematically involve or support them.
Third sector organisations (TSOs) are an important component of health and social care provision in high-income countries. However, TSOs’ involvement in and use of collaborative research is limited. We conducted a scoping literature review to identify examples of TSOs’ involvement in collaborative research, and facilitators and challenges to this involvement. Twenty-three of 9,119 studies were included in the analysis. Facilitators to collaboration included: relevance of research, pre-established relationships, positive outlook on research and social change, collaborative knowledge production, prioritising relationship building, ensuring mutually beneficial outcomes and building organisational capacity. Challenges to researcher collaboration included: differences in expectations and priorities, differences in values and perceptions, issues of power imbalances, limited research knowledge and skills in TSOs, and limited resources. To address these challenges, we suggest looking to the model of Integrated Knowledge Translation, reflecting a set of practices that promote knowledge co-production by researchers and knowledge users throughout the research process
Latino volunteering in ‘new destination states’ remains underexplored, limiting understanding of its role in social integration and well-being. This knowledge gap matters because volunteering can foster resilience and belonging, yet structural barriers and cultural norms shape participation in ways that are underdocumented. Using concepts of formal plus informal volunteering and well-being, this mixed-methods study combines survey data (n = 192) and interviews (n = 20) to examine organisational settings, volunteer hours, and psychosocial outcomes among Latinos in upstate South Carolina. Findings show that formal volunteering is positively associated with autonomy and self-acceptance, while informal volunteering enhances life satisfaction. However, cross-cultural informal volunteering is linked to emotional strain. Qualitative results reveal well-being as relational, emphasising family, community, and spiritual balance. These insights reframe volunteering as a culturally embedded phenomenon and provide new evidence on how different forms of volunteering shape Latino well-being in an area experiencing recent, rapid Latino population growth.
How can researchers expand methods to match their organisations’ practices, rather than forcing fixed procedures? We show how we used narratives to gain new vantagepoints towards developing shared knowledge, or what Gadamer (1991) would call ‘a fusion of horizons’. Our emergent process involved: (1) in-text questioning, editing, and orally discussing circulated stories to reveal narrative-derived knowledge; (2) writing individual stories around shared observations and connecting stories with respondents to promote narrative reassembly; and (3) applying and testing developed knowledge through narrative experimentation. We illustrate this process of developing collective understanding using our collaboration on three case studies of organisations that support members with mental illnesses in three countries (US, Belgium, and Japan).
Drawing on a scoping review and practice reflections, this article reframes justice in philanthropy as a set of four problem spaces that need addressing: just and sustainable systems change, equitable resource distribution, inclusivity and empowerment, and contextual sensitivity. We show how ambitions collide with portfolio realities, allocation rules, retained authority, and context-blind metrics, and encourage a tripartite focus on maintaining, relinquishing, and aligning to facilitate reflections and engagement with the area.
Grant-making foundations have recently gained importance as funders of non-profit organisations in many Western countries. Yet, risk-taking behaviour or, more generally, grant-making strategies are a comparatively less well-researched topic. This article analyses how income growth and income volatility of a charity are associated with the likelihood to receive a grant. We investigate whether different types of grant-making foundations have different strategies in their decision-making behaviour. We analyse a unique data set that matches foundation grant data with charity information for the years 1997-2015 with detailed financial information from 5,693 charities' annual returns. The results indicate that larger organisations and organisations with a more positive growth trend are more likely to be funded. Additionally, especially in the case of non-lottery funders, income volatility reduces the probability of funding. These results could reinforce the trend that the share of larger organisations grows, and that (riskier) innovative programmes are avoided.
This collection of papers combines practitioners' responses to the Ten Talking Points (Saunders and Roth, 2026). Neate (Shelter) reflects on practices like subversive humanitarianism, useful for rebuilding trust in charities. Kogbara (Place Matters) discusses the role of formal institutions in social change ecosystems and highlights the need for hope. McCallum (Greenpeace) focuses on the diversification and localisation of Greenpeace's activist base, which affects its decision making. Saunders and Roth reply to the issues raised by the practitioners.
The scale of faith-based charity in the United Kingdom is immense, encompassing 35,000 organisations and 200,000 trustees, contributing to 10 per cent of all charitable income to the sector. In recent years, UK Muslim charities have grown in response to the increasing needs, hardships and sufferings of societies, alongside the generosity of British Muslims. This article explores the extent to which good governance plays a significant role in Muslim charities' pursuit and motivation to provide care and support, and to carry out charitable works. It set out to investigate the relationship between adherence to regulatory frameworks and accountability to donors and the public, and how this relates to Muslim charitable organisations' views on professionalisation - particularly in fundraising and funding. The incorporation of faith and morality in their work is central to amplifying the sector's impact on local and global welfare and development agendas, alongside the urgent need for professionalisation the sector.
This article summarises the opening plenarytalk presented at the Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Network conference (September 2024). It takes practical lessons from Organising For Change (Bristol University Press), by the authors, and presents them as Ten Talking Points easily accessible to practitioners. It positsthat careful resourcing, collaboration and multipronged tactical approaches are coconstitutive and crucial for deliveringdesirable, or preventing undesirable, social change. Panel respondents' perspectives are presented in an accompanying article.
This research note presents preliminary evidence of an increasing level of volunteering in food support organisations from a qualitative study in Scotland, which appears to go against the trend of declining numbers reported nationally and in other countries. However, the small-scale nature of the study means that definitive conclusions cannot be drawn and that further research is required. It concludes by suggesting a research agenda that could establish if rates of volunteer recruitment and retention are higher in food support organisations than those reported in other large-scale surveys and, if so, to shed light as to why. The results of this research could produce findings that could inform social policies and volunteer recruitment and retention strategies in other organisations in Scotland and beyond.
Governments are increasingly reducing funding for (arts) non-profits or attaching conditions to access public support. Consequently, arts non-profits seek to advance their artistic and social missions while increasing financial independence. The literature is divided on whether these objectives complement or substitute for each other. We analyse this relationship using an earned revenue embeddedness framework that assesses earned income activities based on their connection to an organisation's core mission. Using data from 100 financial statements of 24 Dutch dance non-profits, we examine the relationship between earned revenue embeddedness and financial independence from government grants. We find that the level of earned revenue embeddedness matters: higher levels of embeddedness have a positive impact on financial independence, implying that mission and money are mutually reinforcing. Commercial activities embedded within the mission strengthen both organisations' missions and financial independence. We introduce three real-world indicators of financial independence that capture subtle distinctions of commonly used measures.
Digitally mediated engagement has impacted how charity professionals experience and manage donor relationships, particularly around trust, emotional connection, and presence. This phenomenological study, based on in-depth interviews with 14 UK-based non-profit professionals, explores how staff interpret and respond to the relational dynamics of digital fundraising environments. Although digital tools offer logistical advantages, they can also impact the depth of connection that is at the core of engagement with donors. The study introduces a phenomenological model of digitally mediated fundraising work, organised around three interrelated dimensions: experiencing presence, redefining relationality, and navigating trust and authenticity. These dimensions reflect the tensions that staff negotiate between continuity and transformation, efficiency and emotional resonance, and immediacy and mediation. The findings contribute a people-centred perspective on digital transformation, highlighting how charity professionals construct relational practices within digitally mediated contexts.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of the third sector and mutual aid in supporting vulnerable populations through crisis response.This study asks how community resilience (mobilising resources to cope with crises) is enabled by third sector and mutual aid responses in the United Kingdom. We conducted a realist review of UK peer-reviewed and grey literature using stakeholderagreed search terms. Of 366 records identified, 55 contained sufficient explanatorydetailto develop and test programme theories. Iterative analysis refined initial propositions into three overarching theories, represented through three Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations. Findings emphasise the importance of community solidarity through shared adversity, adaptive capacity drawing on specialist knowledge, cross-sector collaboration and trust-based networks that enable rapid scaling. Collaborative roles were often temporary; without formal recognition and longer-term governance infrastructure, crisis response may remain fragile and fragmented. These theoretical models provide transferable explanations to inform crisis preparedness, adaptation planning, and resourcing of community-based responses.
