Third Sector Survey

The National Survey of Third Sector Organisations was conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Office of the Third Sector in late 2008. The survey was designed to support evidence gathering for National Indicator 7: An Environment for a Thriving Third Sector, and to gain a much better insight into the views and issues experienced by the Third Sector.

The National Survey of Third Sector Organisations gained 48,939 responses (47% of those asked to take part). A sample of Third Sector organisations were chosen from each of the 149 upper tier local authorities in England. Key findings for Shropshire are included below and the full Shropshire report is attached.

Shropshire Results: Key Findings

Sample characteristics

The Office of the Third Sector commissioned BMG Research and GuideStar Data Services to establish a total population of third sector organisations for each Local Authority area. It is reported that Shropshire has 1,369 third sector organisations (this is based on available registers of third sector organisations such as the Charity Commission register and information provided by Companies House).

Of the estimated 1,369 third sector organisations in Shropshire, 549 took part in the survey providing a response rate of 60%.
Shropshire has a large number of Third Sector Organisations in comparison to other areas within the region. Shropshire has the 5^th highest number of Third Sector Organisations in the region, with considerably more than similar areas such as Herefordshire.
The Shropshire Third Sector Organisations that took part in the survey predominantly focus their work on wider groups including the general public, children and older people (much smaller proportions worked with more specific groups such as homeless people, faith communities and ethnic communities).
The service provision areas of culture and leisure, and education and lifelong learning, were the two categories in which most of Shropshire's survey respondents categorised themselves.
The vast majority of survey respondents appear to be smaller groups and organisations. Table 1 below provides more detailed information but key points to note are that:
- 69% of the respondents are from third sector groups with no full time equivalent employees.
- 43% of the respondents have 10 or fewer volunteers including Board members.
- 46% of Shropshire's Third Sector Organisations involved in the survey have an income of less than £10,001.

Table 1 Characteristics of Shropshire's Survey Sample

Annual Income	%	Number of FTE employees	%	Number of volunteers	%
No income	3	None	69	None	5
£1 - £2,000	13	1	7	1 to 10	43
£2,001 - £5,000	17	2	4	11 to 20	28
£5,001 - £10,000	13	3 to 5	9	21 to 30	8
£10,001 - £25,000	15	6 to 10	2	31 to 50	7
£25,001 - £50,000	8	11 to 30	4	51 to 100	4
£50,001 - £100,000	6	31 plus	2	101 plus	3
£100,001 - £500,000	8	Not stated	4	Not stated	2
More than £500,000	4
Not stated	13

Note: FTE = Full Time Equivalent, Volunteers include Board/Committee Members
Source: National Survey of Third Sector Organisations, Cabinet Office and IPSOS MORI 2009

Capacity

91% of Shropshire's respondents felt they had been either very successful or successful in meeting their main objectives over the last 12 months.
55% felt they had sufficient resources over the last 12 months to meet their main objectives.

Local funding

36% of Shropshire's survey respondents stated they currently received funding from the County Council or their District/Borough Council (the survey was completed prior to Unitary Authority status).
20% were dissatisfied with the range of grants available through local funding (19% were satisfied).
17% were dissatisfied with the process of applying for local funding or bidding for contacts (13% were satisfied).
Overall, 17% were satisfied with local statutory grant funding/contract bidding arrangements (13% were dissatisfied).
Satisfaction levels concerning questions related to local funding/income appear higher than the satisfaction levels obtained for questions related to national funding/income.

Advice and Support

19% were satisfied with the help, advice and support provided by statutory bodies when applying for grants/bidding for contacts (14% were dissatisfied).
The survey results show that there are significant levels of dissatisfaction around issues such as long term funding and full cost recovery.
Despite dissatisfaction in relation to some funding issues, the majority of survey respondents were satisfied with timely payments by statutory bodies.
30% were satisfied with the overall support they are offered in their local area (17% were dissatisfied).

Relationships and Partnerships

Overall, 19% of Shropshire's Third Sector Organisations are satisfied with their ability to influence local decisions that are relevant to their organisation. A higher proportion, 23% are dissatisfied.
Table 2 provides more information concerning the views of survey respondents when considering relationships and partnerships. Overall the responses suggest there is a considerable level of improvement needed in the relationship between Shropshire's statutory bodies and Third Sector Organisations. Survey respondents report particularly low levels of satisfaction in feeling informed, consulted and involved. It is also evident that survey respondents do not feel that the statutory bodies in their area act upon their opinions or responses to consultation.

Table 2 Views of the Third Sector concerning relationships with local Statutory Bodies

Local statutory bodies in your local area...

	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Don't know	Not applicable	No answer
...value the work of your organisation	11	34	12	7	3	14	16	3
...understand the nature and role of your organisation	8	36	13	10	4	10	15	3
...respect your organisation's independence	12	36	15	5	2	11	16	3
...inform your organisation on issues which affect you or are of interest to you	7	25	18	13	8	8	17	4
...consult your organisation on issues which affect you or are of interest to you	5	20	20	16	8	8	19	3
...involve your organisation appropriately in developing and carrying out policy on issues which affect you	3	17	18	17	10	9	23	3
...act upon your organisation's opinions and/or responses to consultation	2	16	21	14	8	11	24	3

Source: National Survey of Third Sector Organisations, Cabinet Office and IPSOS MORI 2009

Table 3 shows the results for National Indicator 7: Environment for a Thriving Third Sector. This score is based on those feel statutory bodies have a positive or negative influence on their organisation/group. The higher the score the better the performance. Table 3 shows that Shropshire's result is better than the national and regional averages. 10% of Shropshire's Third Sector Organisations felt that statutory bodies in the local area have a negative or very negative influence - the vast majority of respondents felt that the statutory sector had neither a positive nor negative influence.

Table 3 NI7 Results: National, Regional and Shropshire

	National	West Midlands	Shropshire
NI 7 Score	16.2%	15.8%	16.9%
Very positive influence	1%	2%	1%
Positive influence	15%	14%	16%
Neither positive nor negative influence	51%	50%	57%
Negative influence	9%	11%	6%
Very negative influence	5%	6%	4%
Don't know/ No answer	19%	17%	16%
Number of respondents	48939	4826	549
Response rate	47%	47%	60%
Total number of registered third sector organisations	170552	15453	1369

Source: National Survey of Third Sector Organisations, Cabinet Office and IPSOS MORI 2009

More detailed information on theThird Sector Survey is available by downloading the following attachments:

pdf Shropshire Results Third Sector Survey (71.73KB)

pdf Third Sector Survey Report (192.7KB)




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