NCVO, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, has published figures which show that the voluntary sector has lost £1.3 billion in funding from the government in the last year (link below). The gap was filled by a rise in private donations from individual people.

NCVO’s figures of income for the third sector started being collected in 2000/01, and this year just finished is the first since then where the income from government grants and contracts has fallen.

I wonder how these figures would compare with the 1980s? In 1988 the Commission for Racial Equality commissioned GMCVS to produce a paperback guide on funding for BME groups. It was my pleasure to write that book. Below is a link to a PDF copy.

OK, it was qualitative not quantitative – the book listed all the sources, not the amounts available. But it listed a wide range of central and local government sources of funding, including government agencies such as the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Manpower Services Commission, the various urban Task Forces, the strands of the Urban Programme, and many more.

So I personally would not be surprised to be told that, in real terms, there was more funding for the voluntary sector from all government sources in 1988 when compared with 2014. Have a look for yourself.

BOOK: FUNDING – a handbook for ethnic minority groups in North West England – 1988 – ISBN 0-9513921-0-7

News item: NCVO: http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/go/news/article/1288858/latest-uk-civil-society-almanac-shows-voluntary-sector-shrinking/