Paul Streets, Chief Executive of the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, has written a column for Third Sector, the UK’s leading publication on the voluntary and not-for-profit sector. Paul shares his thoughts on understanding what the true value of small charities is.
Last year the Lloyds Bank Foundation went out to tender for independent external research to understand what the true value of small and local charities is, both socially and economically; research that would ask whether other organisations could do the same or better more effectively, whether the direction public service commissioners have taken (large contracts and large providers) is actually cost-effective and whether the large providers, such as Serco, G4S and large charities, that move into this space can deliver the same quality of provision.
The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University will be leading the research in partnership with The Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership at The Open University Business School, the Institute for Voluntary Action and Sheffield Business School.
Updated November 2020
This research project is now complete and the final report can be downloaded here.