Getting to know your
local voluntary and
community sector
Developing voluntary and
community sector profiles
Appendices
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
APPENDIX 1:
Registration form for a database
of voluntary and community
organisations in the local area
Who we are
SURVEY ORG: Introduce yourself by providing information about what
type of organisation you are (a Council for Voluntary Service or a Local
Strategic Partnership or a Community Network, etc.); whether you are
working in partnership with or on behalf of other organisations (name
them); whether you/other members of the partnership have collected
information for a database before or whether this is the first time.
Why we are creating a database
We are gathering information about all the groups, clubs and
organisations that make up the voluntary and community sector in
NAME OF SURVEY LOCAL AREA (LA). We are doing this for a
number of practical reasons:

to help members of the public find voluntary and community
organisations - get involved as volunteers, give money, apply for
jobs, engage in activities and use services

to help voluntary and community organisations find each other – to
share information and skills, form partnerships and lobby for change
NAVCA 2006

to help government bodies find voluntary and community
organisations – to provide funding, consult on developments of
policies and programmes and improve the quality of public services

to take an overview of the local voluntary and community sector –
its strengths, weaknesses and support/development needs - and to
recognise its contribution to people’s quality of life.
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
We will hold the information you provide on this registration form for up
to two years from the date of collection SURVEY ORG: AMEND AS
APPLICABLE. We will use it in three different, but related, ways:

to compile a database of all voluntary and community organisations
operating in NAME OF LA: in this database we will set out basic
information about each organisation SURVEY ORG: PROVIDE
INFORMATION AS APPLICABLE and will make it available to
members of the public on our website, in print at our office or over
the telephone SURVEY ORG: AMEND AS APPLICABLE.

to map the voluntary and community sector in NAME OF LA: we will
analyse the information provided by you and other organisations in
order to understand the local sector as a whole; with the exception
of the information set out in the database, we will treat the
information provided by you and other organisations as confidential;
this means that it will not be traceable to any individual organisation

to facilitate additional research and/or consultations: in the future we
may carry out more detailed research and/or consultations with
some or all of the organisations operating in NAME OF LA; for
example, we may select a representative sample of organisations
and ask them about certain issues in greater detail.
Your organisation will control the way we use the information you
provide. You have a number of options and should fill in the
appropriate boxes at the end of this registration form.
Option 1: If you would not like your organisation to appear in the
database, please tick the “database” box at the end of this form. If you
tick this box, we will use the information you have provided for
analytical purposes only.
Option 2: If you would like your organisation to appear in the database
but do not wish to be contacted directly, please tick the “alternative
contact details” boxes at the beginning and end of this form. If you tick
these boxes, we will use the information you have provided in the
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
database and for analytical purposes. SURVEY ORG: ADD
INFORMATION ABOUT ARRANGEMENTS YOU HAVE MADE FOR
ALTERNATE CONTACT DETAILS (VIA OTHER LOCAL
ORGANISATION OR BOX NUMBER)
Option 3: If you do not wish your organisation to be contacted in the
future for additional research or consultation, please tick the “additional
research” box at the end of this form. If you tick this box, we will not ask
you to participate in any future research.
SURVEY ORG: You should decide which information you will make
publicly available (just contact details only or these plus additional
information such as function and type of clients, as suggested above).
The confidentiality statement at the end of the form and the text above
should reflect your decisions. You can present less but not more
information than that referred to in confidentiality statement.
Voluntary and community organisations: a note about definitions
As you may know, there are lots of ways of describing organisations
that are not private sector organisations and not government
organisations – “groups”, “clubs”, “charities”, “general charities”,
“housing associations/registered social landlords”, “industrial and
provident societies”, “friendly societies”, “voluntary organisations”,
“community organisations”, “non-profit organisations”, “third sector
organisations” or “civil society organisations”. Although for
convenience’s sake we are using the term “voluntary and community
organisations” (abbreviated to “organisations”) throughout, we are
taking a very broad view about which sorts of organisations are “in”. If
you are not a private sector organisation and if you are not a
government organisation and if you think that you are a voluntary or
community organisation (broadly defined), then we want to hear from
you.
If you are an informal, small, user-led, volunteer-run or sparsely staffed
organisation and if you have little or no income, then we particularly
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
want to hear from you. Organisations like yours are the heart of the
voluntary and community sector, but, unless you register in databases
like this and participate in subsequent research based on such
databases, your activities will not be recorded and your contribution will
not be recognised.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
Section A: Your organisation’s contact details
A1
Name of organisation as you would
like it to appear in the database
A2
Formal name of organisation, if
different, as it appears in your
organisation’s constitution, registration
documents, etc.
A3
Other name(s) or initials, if any, your
organisation has been known by in the
last two years
Contact details of organisation as you would like them to appear in the
database
A4
Address
Address 1
Address 2
City or Town
County
A5 Postcode
A6 Telephone number
A7 Fax number
A8 Minicom number
A9 Email address
A10 Website address
Contact details of contact person (will only be made public if you tick the box
below)
A11 Name of contact person
A12 Address
Address 1
Address 2
City or Town
County
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A13 Postcode
A14 Telephone number
A15 Fax number
A16 Minicom number
A17 Email address
A18 Website address
A19 Indicate here if you have any
additional communication needs (text
phone, sign language, language other
than English, etc.) WRITE DETAILS IN
BOX
A20 Indicate here if you give consent to our
making public your personal details
(A11 to A19) in connection with the
database. TICK FOR YES
A21 Indicate here if you would like
SURVEY ORG to provide anonymous
address for contact with members of
public (e.g. “care of” or box number)
TICK FOR YES; ALSO TICK
ALTERNATIVE DETAILS BOX AT
END
Questions
Section B: Date of establishment
B1 In what year was your organisation established?
WRITE IN YEAR
Section C: Type of organisation
C1 Is your organisation....?
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
An independent/stand-alone organisation (not a member of a group
and not a branch of a larger organisation)
Part of a group structure
Branch of a larger organisation
IF YOUR ORGANISATION IS PART OF A GROUP STRUCTURE OR A BRANCH
OF A LARGER ORGANISATION, PLEASE ANSWER THE REST OF THE FORM
ON BEHALF OF YOUR PART/BRANCH ONLY.
C2 Does your organisation have full control of its budget (that is, does your
organisation have a budget independent of that of the larger organisation/ group
structure or a budget over which the larger organisation/group structure has
delegated control to your organisation)?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Yes
No
C3 Is your organisation registered with the Charity Commission?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Yes, registered with the Charity Commission
No, not registered with the Charity Commission but exempt* or
excepted** status
No, not registered with the Charity Commission but in the process of
applying
No, not registered with the Charity Commission
*”Exempt charities” are those that are not allowed to register with the Charity Commission and do not
come within its supervisory jurisdiction. They include industrial and provident societies, friendly
societies, universities and many of the major museums and art galleries.
**”Excepted charities” are those that have low incomes and insignificant assets. They are allowed, but
not required, to register with the Charity Commission. Whether they register or not, they are subject to
the Commission’s supervisory jurisdiction. They include some scouts and guides units, religious
charities, and charities for the armed forces.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
C4 If your organisation is registered with the Charity Commission, what is its
registration number?
WRITE IN NUMBER
Section D: Area of operations
D1 In what sort of area does your organisation carry out its activities?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Local neighbourhood
London borough or metropolitan district council or non-metropolitan
district council or unitary council
County council
Intermediate (bigger than a county council, smaller than a region)
Region*
Multi-region (more than one region, smaller than England)
England
England plus another part of the UK (Northern Ireland and/or Scotland
and/or Wales)
International (outside the UK only)
UK and international
*”Region” means government office region – East of England, East Midlands, London, North East,
North West, South East, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber.
D2 In SURVEY LA in which wards does your organisation carry out these activities?
SURVEY ORG: PROVIDE NAMES OF WARDS
TICK ALL BOXES THAT APPLY
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
All wards
Ward 1
Ward 2
Ward 3
etc
Section E: Main function
E1 What is your organisation’s main function?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Providing advocacy, advice and information
Providing activities for members and users
Providing buildings and/or facilities (community centres, village halls,
religious buildings, etc)
Providing finance and/or other resources (training, consultancy,
volunteers)
Providing representation (campaigning, lobbying, etc)
Providing research
Providing services (housing, health care, community safety, etc)
Section F: Main type of beneficiaries/clients/tenants/users
F1 Who or what are the main beneficiaries /clients/tenants/users of your
organisation?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
People (individuals and groups joined by place or interest)
Other organisations or institutions in the government sector
Other organisations or institutions in the private sector
Other organisations or institutions in the voluntary and community
sector
Animals
Environment
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F2 If the main beneficiaries/clients/tenants/users of your organisation are people,
what sorts of people are they?
PLEASE LOOK AT ALL THE OPTIONS SET OUT BELOW AND TICK BOXES
APPROPRIATELY. IN MANY CASES YOU WILL TICK THE “ALL PEOPLE”
OPTIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, IN DESCRIBING THE CLIENTS OF AN
ORGANISATION THAT PROVIDES HOUSING AND SUPPORT FOR HOMELESS
TEENAGERS IN RURAL AREAS, YOU SHOULD TICK THE “ALL” CATEGORY IN
A, B, C, E, F; TICK “YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 12-16”, “YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 1718” AND “YOUNG ADULTS AGED 19-24” IN D; TICK “PEOPLE WHO ARE
HOMELESS/IN HOUSING NEED” IN G; TICK “PEOPLE FROM RURAL AREAS” IN
H; AND TICK “HOUSING” IN I.
F2a Number/type of household: TICK ONE BOX ONLY
All people
Single people
Families/households without children
Families/households with children
F2b Gender: TICK ONE BOX ONLY
All people
Women
Men
Transgender people
F2c Sexuality: TICK ONE BOX ONLY
All people
Heterosexual people
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people
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F2d Age: TICK ALL BOXES THAT APPLY
People of all ages
Children under 5 years
Children aged 5-11 years
Young people aged 12-16 years
Young people aged 17-18 years
Young adults aged 19-25 years
Adults aged 26-64 years
Older people aged 65 years and over
F2e Ethnic group: TICK ALL BOXES THAT APPLY
People from all ethnic groups
Members of ethnic groups (unspecified)
All White people (including White British, White Irish, and any other
White background)
All Black or Black British people (including Caribbean, African and any
other Black background)
All Asian or Asian British people (including Indian, Pakistani,
Bangladeshi, and any other Asian background)
All Mixed people (including White and Black Caribbean, White and
Black African, White and Asian, and any other Mixed background)
All Chinese and other ethnic groups (including Chinese and any other
ethnic group)
Members of ethnic groups (specified) WRITE IN
F2f Faith group: TICK ALL BOXES THAT APPLY
People from all faiths/multi-faith/inter-faith people
Christian (including Church of England, Catholic, Protestant and all
Christian denominations)
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
Buddhist
Hindu
Jewish
Muslim
Sikh
Animist
Pagan (including witchcraft)
Humanist
Agnostic/atheist/no religion
F2g Needs group: TICK ALL BOXES THAT APPLY
All people
People who have disabilities (unspecified)
People who are housebound
People who have physical disabilities (excluding sensory disabilities)
People who have sensory disabilities (sight, hearing, etc)
People who have learning disabilities
People who have mental health problems
People who have terminal illnesses
People who have specific medical conditions/diseases
People who are socially excluded/isolated/lonely
People who are homeless/in housing need
People who are unemployed
People who are in financial need/poor
People who are bereaved
People who are “at risk”
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People who are leaving care/long-stay institutions (excluding prisons)
People who are asylum seekers/refugees
People who are offenders/ex-offenders
People who are travellers
People who have substance abuse/addiction problems (alcohol, drugs,
gambling, sex, etc)
People who are victims/survivors of physical/sexual/emotional violence
People who are victims/survivors of crime
People are victims/survivors of man-made and natural disasters (war,
famine, floods, fires, etc)
People who are students
People who are carers
People who are service/ex-service personnel
People who are from specific occupational/professional/trade groups
WRITE IN OCCUPATION/PROFESSON/TRADE
F2h Locality groups: TICK ALL BOXES THAT APPLY
People from all localities
People from rural areas
People from “deprived areas”
People from specific named/defined local areas
WRITE IN NAME OF AREA
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
F2i Service or activity areas: TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Animals
Special breeds of animals, animal rescue services, guide dogs
Arts, culture, sport and recreation
Arts organisations, centres and festivals; musical organisations,
centres and performances/festivals; museums and galleries; zoos and
aquaria; literature organisations (including book groups), theatres,
drama societies and festivals; cinemas and cinema clubs and cinema
festivals; sports organisations and clubs; social clubs; other
recreational and leisure organisations
Economic, social and community development
Economic development, planning, regeneration, rural development,
urban development, promotion of individual industries, social
enterprise/community businesses, credit unions
Education and research
Pre-school play groups, childcare groups/nurseries, after-school
groups, organisations in support of primary and secondary education
(PTA, school governors), organisations in support of universities and
other further/higher education bodies, adult education organisations
and groups (WEA, U3A), culture and language associations,
independent research organisations
Employment and training
Lifesaving, safety training for workplace and community, IT training,
skills training, training for workplace
Environment
Natural environment, built environment, recycling, pollution
Health
Primary health care, hospital care, continuing care in the community,
continuing care in nursing homes or residential facilities, hospice care,
palliative care, emergency services, health promotion and education,
complementary medicine/alternative health care
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
Housing
Housing associations, tenants and residents associations,
homelessness, hostels/refuges, almshouses/sheltered
accommodation, home improvements/adaptations/repairs
International
Promotion of overseas development, international relations,
international disaster relief, international exchanges
Law, crime, human/civil rights and information
Legal services (law centres, citizens advice bureaux), financial/debt
advice, crime prevention (neighbourhood watch), citizenship, advocacy
rights, general advice/information, equal opportunities, racial harmony
Religion
Religion and religious culture (non-welfare)
Social services
Day care, continuing care in the community, continuing care in nursing
homes or residential facilities, adoption, support for families and
children, support for carers, income support and maintenance,
disaster/emergency prevention and control, counselling, mediation,
lunch clubs
Transport
Transport planning, community transport, transport provided by
volunteers, shopmobility
Voluntary and community organisations
General development of voluntary and community organisations,
grantmaking organisations, umbrella/infrastructure organisations,
promotion of volunteering, promotion of giving
Section G: Income
G1 In which month does your organisation’s financial year end?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
G2 For which financial year does your organisation have the most up-to-date
information about its total income from all sources?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Financial year ending month indicated above in
2003
2004
2005
2006
The rest of the questions will be about this financial year (“your last financial year”)
G3 In your last financial year what was your organisation’s total income from all
sources.
PLEASE EXCLUDE VAT OUTPUT FROM INCOME, INCOME FROM ANY
TRADING SUBSIDIARIES, GIFTS IN KIND, HOUSING BENEFIT AND RATE
RELIEF. WRITE IN FIGURES TO NEAREST POUND; IF NO INCOME, WRITE IN
ZERO.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
Section H: Employees
H1 How many employees did your organisation have at the end of your last financial
year? How many full-time equivalent employees did your organisation have on this
date? In your organisation how many hours per week equals full time employment?
FOR FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES ADD PART-TIME EMPLOYEES TO
MAKE APPROXIMATE FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS AND ADD SECONDEES
(BOTH PAID FOR BY YOUR ORGANISATION OR PAID FOR BY ANOTHER
ORGANISATION).
WRITE IN NUMBER
H1a All employees
H1b Full-time equivalent employees
H1c Number of hours per week that
equals full-time employment
Section I: Volunteers
I1 How many volunteers did your organisation have on its management committee or
board at the end of your last financial year? And how many other volunteers did your
organisation have on this date?
WRITE IN NUMBER
I1a Volunteers on management
committee or board
I1b Other volunteers
I1c Total volunteers (I1a + I1b)
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
Section J: Members
J1 How many members did your organisation have at the end of your last financial
year?
WRITE IN NUMBER
Section K: Change
K1 How much have your organisation’s activities changed in your last financial year?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Increased a lot
Increased slightly
Stayed about the same
Decreased slightly
Decreased a lot
K2 How has demand from beneficiaries/clients/tenants/users for your services or
activities in your last financial year?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Increased a lot
Increased slightly
Stayed about the same
Decreased slightly
Decreased a lot
K3 How has your organisation’s total income from all sources changed in your last
financial year?
PLEASE EXCLUDE VAT OUTPUT FROM INCOME, INCOME FROM ANY
TRADING SUBSIDIARIES, GIFTS IN KIND, HOUSING BENEFIT AND RATE
RELIEF
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Increased a lot
Increased slightly
Stayed about the same
Decreased slightly
Decreased a lot
K4 How has the number of your organisation’s employees’ changed in your last
financial year?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Increased a lot
Increased slightly
Stayed about the same
Decreased slightly
Decreased a lot
K5 How has the number of your organisation’s total volunteers (volunteers on
management committee or board and other volunteers) changed in your last
financial year?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Increased a lot
Increased slightly
Stayed about the same
Decreased slightly
Decreased a lot
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
K6 How has the number of your organisation’s members changed in your last
financial year?
TICK ONE BOX ONLY
Increased a lot
Increased slightly
Stayed about the same
Decreased slightly
Decreased a lot
CONFIDENTIALITY – DATA PROTECTION
The information that you have provided about your organisation’s contact details
(excluding the names of individuals), main function and type of clients will be
accessible to members of the public, unless you indicate that you do not want this to
happen. All other information that you have provided (including names of individuals)
will be treated by us as confidential and will not be released to members of the public
or used for any purposes other than for additional research and/or consultation by
NAME OF SURVEY ORG and ANY OTHER ORGANISATION WITH WHICH
SURVEY ORG INTENDS TO SHARE INFORMATION. SURVEY ORG: AMEND
ACCORDINGLY RE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION (IF DIFFERENT THAN
SET OUT ABOVE AND IN INTRODUCTION) AND ANY OTHER ORG WITH WHICH
YOU INTEND TO SHARE INFO – UNLESS YOU NAME AN ORG WITH WHICH
YOU INTEND TO SHARE INFO HERE, YOU CANNOT SHARE THIS INFO AT A
LATER DATE.
OPTION 1: APPEARANCE IN DATABASE
If you would not like your organisation to appear in the database, please tick this
box. If you do so, we will use the information you have provided for analytical
purposes only.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
OPTION 2: ALTERNATIVE CONTACT DETAILS
If you would like your organisation to appear in the database but do not wish to be
contacted directly, please tick the “alternative contact details opt in” box at the
beginning of this form and/or this box. If you tick this box, we will provide alternative
contact details for your organisation in the database.
OPTION 3: PARTICIPATION IN ADDITIONAL RESEARCH
If you do not wish your organisation to be contacted in the future for additional
research or consultation, please tick this box. If you tick this box, we will not ask you
to participate in any future research.
DATA PROTECTION STATEMENT
Data Protection Act 1998. The information provided by you in this registration form
will be held and analysed by SURVEY ORG: INSERT NAME OF ORG as data
controller and NAME OF PARTNER ORG/S IF APPLICABLE on computer. The
forms will be kept manually by SURVEY ORG: INSERT NAME OF ORG; DELETE IF
NOT APPLICABLE. The information will be used by SURVEY ORG: INSERT NAME
OF ORG/S AS APPROPRIATE for the monitoring and promotion of the voluntary
and community sector in SURVEY ORG: INSERT NAME OF LA. The organisation’s
contact details (name, contact address, telephone number, e-mail and website
address) and information about its main function and type of clients SURVEY ORG:
AMEND ACCORDINGLY will be published on SURVEY ORG INSERT NAMES AS
APPLICABLE website. Information, apart from this information, will not be passed on
to a third party without permission.
The data may be considered sensitive personal data when the data and/or the
organisations is involved with matters relating to race, ethnic origins, politics, religion
or similar belief, physical or mental health or sexual life.
This registration form should be signed by the lead contact for the organisation.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 1
I declare that the information I have given is correct and authorise you to hold this
information on your database and use it in ways that are in line with your aims and
the ways indicated by the data protection options selected above.
Name
Signature
Date
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 2
APPENDIX 2: Working timetable
Running time (weeks)
Tasks
1. Developing a
database of voluntary
and community
organisations
operating in the local
area
(23 weeks)
Advertising the project,
including advance
notice of mail out of
registration form
(newsletters, website,
meetings, etc.)
Identifying and
collecting databases
that already exist locally
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 2
Running time (weeks)
Tasks
Obtaining database of
registered charities
operating locally from
GuideStar/Charity
Commission
Agreeing the design of
the master database
Adding all databases
together to create the
master database
Cleaning the master
database (correcting or
discarding obviously
incorrect information,
removing duplicates,
etc.)
Filling gaps by locating
organisations not
otherwise listed in the
master database
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 2
Running time (weeks)
Tasks
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Finalising master
database and preparing
labels for mail out
Running time (weeks)
Tasks (weeks)
2. Surveying the local
voluntary and
community sector
using core Qs from
the registration form
and any additional Qs
(37 weeks)
Advertising the project,
including where to get
registration form and
return date for form
(newsletters, website,
meetings, etc.)
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 2
Running time (weeks)
Tasks
Consulting/agreeing/
piloting design of
registration form,
including core and any
additional questions,
and covering letter
Printing registration
form and covering
letter; preparing reply
paid envelopes
Mailing of registration
form (first)
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 2
Running time (weeks)
Tasks (weeks)
2. Surveying the local
voluntary and
community sector
using core Qs from
the registration form
and any additional Qs
(continued)
(37 weeks)
Advertising publication
date of report, key
findings and availability
(how to get copies)
(newsletters, website,
meetings, etc.)
Mailing of registration
form (second)
Chasing nonrespondents by email,
telephone, etc.
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28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 2
Running time (weeks)
Tasks
Inputting information
from registration form
into database
Cleaning information
(discarding obviously
incorrect information,
removing duplicates,
etc.)
Analysing information
Drafting top-line report
of findings
Consulting/agreeing
report
Printing/electronic
formatting report
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 2
Running time (weeks)
Tasks (weeks)
41
42
43
44
45
46
46
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
3. Carrying out
additional research to
collect more
information interviews with key
informants and/or
focus groups and/or
surveys (sample
based on database)
(10 to 37 weeks)
Postal surveys
(timetable as above)
allow 37 weeks from
consulting/agreeing/
piloting survey design to
printing/formatting
report; may commence
at any time from Week
41 onwards
NAVCA 2006
->
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 2
Running time (weeks)
Tasks
Focus groups allow 10
to 16 weeks; may
commence at any time
from Week 41 onwards
Selecting key
informants or
representative sample
of organisations in the
database
Consulting/agreeing list
of topics
Mail out of invitations
(lead time)
Holding events
Preparing transcripts
(optional)
Preparing feedback
reports
NAVCA 2006
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 3
APPENDIX 3:
Advantages and disadvantages of five
options for choosing an appropriate
database
Option 1: Build on what you have – upgrade to a new version or redevelop the
existing system
Advantages
Disadvantages
Users are familiar with the existing system
System was not (or may not be)
designed to do what you are now
planning
May be cost-effective to develop
Depending on the system, could be
expensive to change
May already link to existing systems
Option 2: DIY – developing a simple system yourself or with help from volunteers
Advantages
Disadvantages
Low cost apart from staff time to develop
or volunteer time to manage
Unlikely to link to other systems
Good for interim solution
Limited access
Can be done quickly
Limited capability
Good for basic data management
Limited in terms of multi-users
Skills likely to be available in-house
May be unstable
Easy for others to understand and use
Not good for large volume of data
May be difficult to get complicated
reports out of it
Data held internally
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 3
Option 3: Off the shelf – buy a system off the shelf and use it as it is
Advantages
Disadvantages
Can be low cost
May not link to other systems within the
organisation
Info can be shared across the organisation
Relatively new system
Can be accessed from different sites
Needs time and planning to set up
Easy to use
Needs time and planning to get users
trained up
Has reports already set up
Works the way it works – may be
impossible to customise
Data held internally or externally
Might lock you into the supplier (i.e. you
may need to buy upgrades every few
years)
Few hassles to get it up and running
May be difficult to share information
with other systems
Option 4: Assisted development – work with specialists to plan, design and develop
a new system
Advantages
Disadvantages
Can get system built around your needs
Greater cost
Can be involved in design and planning
May not be satisfied with end result
Tailored and specific
High impact in terms of development
and implementation
Can fit around your data structure
Limitations of system in which it is built
– can be overcome
Can be as simple or complex as you like
Data likely to be held internally
Long development cycle
Could take time to import your data
Option 5: Off the shelf customised package – buy a system off the shelf but tweak to
your own requirements
Advantages
Disadvantages
Can get system adjusted to fit needs
High cost
Can be involved in design
May not be satisfied with end result
Stable system
High impact in terms of development
and implementation
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 3
Data can be hosted internally or externally
Dependent on framework of original
system
System likely to develop to meet users’
needs
Could take time to import your data
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 4
APPENDIX 4:
Relevant database systems in the UK
Product
What is it?
More information
ACT
A standard contacts and
customer relationship database
for recording transactions with
people and organisations.
www.act.com
CiviCRM
Open source and freely
downloadable constituent
relationship management
solution.
http://www.openngo.org/
eVol
Contacts management system
for CVSs (originally developed
for voluntary and community
sector in Wales).
www.seniorict.co.uk
Goldmine
A customer relationship
management system.
http://tinyurl.com/syqkp
Guidestar
National database of registered
charities, looking to develop
localised database solutions.
www.guidestar.org.uk
KISS Contacts
Contacts management
software.
www.kissoftwaresolutions.com/
Lamplight
Records service users, the
work done with them, and
produces detailed monitoring
statistics. Deals with outcomes
as well as outputs. Functions
for second tier organisations
have been added and used by
small number of CVSs.
www.lamplightdb.co.uk/
Merlin
Developed for CVS in South
East but now has wider
availability.
http://tinyurl.com/hreaw
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 4
Microsoft CRM
Customer relationship
management system.
www.itforcharities.co.uk/ic/mscr
m.htm
ThankQ
Modular charity and fundraising
management software solution.
Increasing use across
ChangeUp partnerships and
also used by NAVCA.
www.thankq.org.uk/
Uniservity
Community Manager is a webbased community management
system for infrastructure
organisations (e.g. CVS). Used
by a number of CVS.
www.uniservity.co.uk/
VBASE
A contacts database focused
on volunteer management.
Works for managing
organisation details and
reporting on activities. Used
throughout volunteer centre
network and in some CVS. In
development for Version 3.
www.v-base.org
VolBASE
Database designed for CVS
and others to manage networks
and memberships. Provides
additional management
functionality. Used in individual
CVS and across some
partnerships.
www.volbase.co.uk
JustCRM
Web based contacts
management system.
http://www.justware.co.uk/
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 5
APPENDIX 5:
Sources of support and further
assistance
(1) Sources of strategic advice, forums, training and knowledgebase resources

A guide to developing IT-based outcome data management:
www.lhf.org.uk/IMPACTProgramme/IMPACTthroughOutcomes.

Buying a database for your organisation:
http://www.lasa.org.uk/knowledgebase/pages/databasebuy.shtml

Change Management – Making ICT changes work:
www.preponderate.net/resources.htm

ChangeUpICT - e-list for infrastructure organisations and ChangeUp ICT
consortia: http://lists.lasa.org.uk/lists/info/changeupict

Computanews (jargon-free magazine on the use of IT in the voluntary and
community sector): http://www.lasa.org.uk/computanews/ -

Database conference for the voluntary sector:
www.paulticher.com/conference

Database planning guide from TechSoup:
http://www.techsoup.org/products/downdetails.cfm?downloadid=67

Details on how databases are used in fundraising and managing relationships:
http://www.fundraising.co.uk/forum/forum.php?id=12

General introduction and resources from VolResource:
http://www.volresource.org.uk/swit/miscsw.htm

ICT Hub discussion forum: www.icthub.org.uk

ICT Hub knowledgebase: www.lasa.org.uk/knowledgebase

ICT Hub services for infrastructure organisations: www.icthub.org.uk

ICT Hub website: the lead body for ICT in the voluntary and community sector
at www.icthub.org.uk
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 5

ICT strategists (people who help plan ICT’s relationship with any
organisations activities and explain what it can and cannot do): See NCVO
Approved Consultants Directory below.

Information overload (a thoughtpiece):
http://www.preponderate.co.uk/databasedilemmas.htm

IT Development workers: generally available through your local CVS or
contact the ICT Hub for further information

Leading the Way to ICT Success: http://www.lasa.org.uk/it/ictsuccess.pdf

Simple guide to information and knowledge management:
http://www.volresource.org.uk/briefs/infomgmt.htm

Taxonomy (guide): http://www.volresource.org.uk/moreres/taxonomy.htm

Whatis.com (database of technical ICT terms): (http://whatis.techtarget.com/)

Working with external consultants: www.preponderate.net/resources.htm
(2) Sources of developers and suppliers

GuideStar UK (source of information on registered charities and able to
provide pre-populated data and functionality for local and regional database
systems): www.guidestar.org.uk

ItforCharities: http://www.itforcharities.co.uk/dbsoft.htm

LASA: http://www.lasa.org.uk/knowledgebase/pages/databasedevelopers.pdf

NCVO Approved Consultants Directory: http://tinyurl.com/m27w5

Sources of volunteers: www.it4communities.org.uk

VolResource: http://www.volresource.org.uk/swit/miscsw.htm

ICT Hub Approved Consultants Directory (to be launched July 2006):
www.icthub.org.uk
(3) Help with technical issues and peer support

CITRA (technical issues): http://www.citra.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums

ICT Hub helpdesk (referrals): tel no. 0800 652 4737
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 5

ITNet (for IT workers in CVS):,
http://www.NAVCA.org.uk/NAVCA/networking/networks/itnet.shtm

UKRiders (e-list for circuit riders and those with an interest in the development
of the circuit rider movement): http://lists.lasa.org.uk/lists/info/ukriders
(4) Specific advisers with a track record in voluntary and community sector
databases (planning, advising, supporting, evaluating)

Charity Technology Trust: www.ctt.org

Infoworks: www.infoworks.org.uk

Ivan Wainewright (IT4Charities): www.it4charities.co.uk

John Howes (VolResource): www.volresource.org.uk

LASA: www.lasa.org.uk

Paul Ticher: www.paulticher.com

Simon Davey (preponderate.net): www.preponderate.net
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 6
APPENDIX 6:
An outline project plan for developing
and procuring a database system
1
Project Leadership Appoint someone as project sponsor (lead, decision
maker, budget holder who can make things happen);
appoint someone as the project manager (day-to-day
control and involvement); get a user group together
early; inform other potential users what you are doing
and why. Start change management here!
2
Business case
Agree why you are you doing this. Be clear, explain the
benefits, explain the quick wins (the differences that you
will see soon, not just in two years’ time).
3
Business analysis
What is the organisation/partnership doing? How do all
of the elements of the work fit together? The more
detailed this is, the easier it is to spot the gaps and
weaknesses in a plan before it is too late. Be clear how
you will want to use and present the information.
4
Requirements
analysis
The detail of what you ‘require’ the system to do. Should
be specific not vague. There is no place for “recording
contact data”, you need to be clear about what contact
data is (line by line). Should also be clear how you will
want to output the information and in what format.
5
ICT strategy
You have a business plan for developing and running
your organisation. You should have an ICT strategy.
Databases do not operate in isolation. You need
systems to run them on. You need ways of sharing
information in your organisation. If the database is to be
most effective, it needs to link in with your other
information and the rest of your ICT. Of course, your ICT
strategy needs to link in with your business plan.
6
ICT infrastructure
The cornerstone of any system. What are you going to
run the database on? A PC, a network, over the web? Is
your internet connection fast enough? Do your
computers allow you to share information? Have you
had an ICT healthcheck?
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 6
7
Available of
database systems
and platforms
What is out there? Will it run on your computer system?
Who else is doing something similar? What can you
learn from them? What developments are planned for
the future? Do you want to use a brand new system or
do you want something which has been tested and
refined? Are your needs really so specific and unique
that you need something from scratch?
8
Budgeting
It always costs more than you think and the software (or
development cost) is never the most expensive aspect.
Factor in time for planning, testing, training, seeing
different systems in action. Remember that once you
have installed the system, you still need to get all your
information in and skill up all your users.
9
Fundraising/
paying for it
How are you going to fund the project? How will you
fund the changes in ICT infrastructure? How will you
fund the time you and your staff need to invest? These
costs are greater than the cost of the software.
10 Commissioning
Are you going to commission someone to project
manage the new system? Will this be build or buy? How
much time will be needed from your organisation (or
your partnership of organisations?
11 Procurement
Buying a system. What do you need vs. what can you
afford? Do you need help with purchasing (how
confident are you around people selling expensive ICT
systems)?
12 Design
How do you want it to look? How will you get data into
the system?
13 Development
Building the database
14 Testing
There are three phases of testing: product testing, user
acceptance testing and implementation testing. All are
important but the more problems you solve in the first
phase, the less hassle and expense in the last one.
15 Data cleansing
and transfer
You need to get data out of your old system into your
new one. At the same time, it is a good idea to clean the
data and make sure it is still relevant and up to date.
16 Training
Make sure your staff and users are trained up and
confident BEFORE they need to start using the system
in a live environment.
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 6
17 Final
redevelopments
prior to release
You have tested it, you are trained on it and you have
transferred the data. Now is the time to make sure that it
really works before you use it in a “real” situation.
18 Implementation
Putting the system in and making it ready for use.
19 Sign Off
Make sure someone signs off the system at some point.
No one expects it to be perfect, but it should work and
do the things it was brought in to do (assuming they
were realistic in the first place). If you are using assisted
development, expect to keep making minor changes for
at least a few months.
20 Ongoing support
and system
management
Databases do not look after themselves. They have a
fairly long shelf life but you should keep your data clean
and ensure that you have enough storage space on your
ICT systems, that your computers are powerful enough
to run it smoothly, and that users are added (and taken
away when they no longer need access). You will also,
no doubt, want to change things as you go along: add
new dropdowns, new forms, new reports. Do you have
the skills or money to keep the system in shape?
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 7
APPENDIX 7:
Checklist of organisations that are likely to hold databases
of voluntary and community organisations in the local area
The purpose of this checklist is to remind you of those organisations or parts of organisations that may hold databases of voluntary
and community organisations operating in NAME OF LA. This is a working document, so please feel free to customise it - delete
lines or add extra lines as appropriate.
Name of organisation, name of contact
person, telephone number, etc., of contact
person
Org
involved in
local
strategic
partnership
(Y/N)
Voluntary and community sector
Local intermediary/
infrastructure/umbrella bodies

Councils for Voluntary Service
(CVS)

Rural community councils (RCC)
NAVCA 2006
Org
contacted
Org has
database
(Y/N)
(Y/N)
Copy of
database
obtained
(Y/N)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 7

Volunteer development agencies
(VDA)

Community foundations
Local voluntary and community
forums/networks (amenity,
disability, mental health, tenants
and residents, etc.)
Local housing
associations/registered social
landlords
Regional intermediary/
infrastructure/
umbrella bodies (e.g. regional
networks)
National intermediary/
infrastructure/
umbrella bodies (e.g. national
networks)
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 7
Regional/national organisations
with local branches (e.g. Age
Concern, Mind, Neighbourhood
Watch, Sport England, YMCA)
Faith bodies (Christian, Hindu,
Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, etc)
Government
Parish councils
Local authorities (London
boroughs, metropolitan district
councils, non-metropolitan
district councils, unitary councils,
county councils) as relevant

Compact co-ordinator

Contact in each of the authority’s
functional departments (Finance,
Social Services, Education,
Leisure, Youth Services, etc)

Contact in local libraries
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 7
National Health Service

Strategic health authorities

NHS trusts

Primary care trusts
Police authorities
Fire authorities
Learning and Skills Councils
Regional government

Government offices

Regional development agencies
Central government programmes
with local administration (e.g.
SureStart, Connexions)
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 7
Hybrid/partnership organisations

Area based initiatives e.g. New
Deal for Communities, Single
Regeneration Budget
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 8
APPENDIX 8:
Form for recording information about existing
databases of voluntary and community organisations in
the local area
The purpose of this form is to record standard information about each of the databases of voluntary and community
organisations operating in NAME OF LA that you have obtained. Please fill in a form for each database.
Name of organisation holding database
Address of organisation
Phone number
Email address
Website address
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 8
Does organisation provide access to database on
website? (Y/N)
Number of organisations in database
Geographical coverage of database: e.g. Kings Cross,
London Borough of Camden, London Region, etc.
Type of organisations in database/organisations eligible
for inclusion: e.g. disability organisations, sports
organisations, all organisations in local area, etc.
Type of organisations, if any, excluded from database:
e.g., church groups, housing associations, public schools,
universities, political parties, organisations not registered with
Charity Commission, etc.
Format of database: e.g. index cards, print-out, publication,
electronic directory, etc.
If in electronic format, what software is used: e.g. Access,
Excel, VolBase, VBase, etc.
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 8
Date database was compiled/last revised
Is database regularly updated? (Y/N)
If regularly updated, how often?
Fields of information held: e.g., contact details, purpose of
organisation, number of staff, number of volunteers, etc: list all
headings under which information is held
Any data protection issues affecting organisations in the
database: e.g. did organisations make any conditions about
sharing information when they signed up (Y/N)
If yes, what are they?
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 8
Any data protection issues affecting sharing the database
for this project (Y/N)
If yes, what are they?
Has the organisation prepared/published any report(s)
about the voluntary and community sector or its parts?
(Y/N)
When was this report prepared/published?
Who wrote the report: e.g. local government officer,
academic researcher, research consultant?
If report available, has a copy been obtained? (Y/N)
General comments/observations
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 9
APPENDIX 9:
Profiling the voluntary and
community sector: a note about
research
There are many profiling studies of voluntary and community
organisations in different neighbourhoods or parishes, different local
authorities, different sub-regions (mainly counties), different regions,
England and the UK. When the Home Office commissioned a review of
this profiling literature some years ago (unpublished and undertaken by
CAF in 2003), it found 69 studies, and, doubtless, more have been
written since this time. These studies provide useful and interesting
information. But they focus on different aspects of the voluntary and
community sector, use different research methods, and produce
different results. It is, therefore, impossible to recommend “perfect”
studies that you should emulate in every detail.
This note suggests some further reading, which you may find helpful.
Research methods: general
Fielding, J. and Gilbert, N. (2000) Understanding Social Statistics.
London: Sage.
Local Authorities Research and Intelligence Association (LARIA)
Managing Research in Local Government: A Good Practice Guide.
London:. Available at: http://www.laria.gov.uk
Local Authorities Research and Intelligence Association (LARIA) and
Local Government Association (LGA) (2005) Creating effective
research in local government: A toolkit. Available at:
http://www.lga.gov.uk/Publication.asp?lsection=0&ccat=28&id=SXA0F2
-A7834B14
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 9
Miller, J.E. (2004) The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers.
Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Office for National Statistics (2006) Survey Charter. London: ONS.
Available at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/ons/survey_charter.asp
Pawson, R. and Tilley, N. (1997) Realistic Evaluation. London: Sage
Publications.
Social Care Institute for Excellence (2005) How to Produce Information
in an Accessible Way. Available at:
http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/misc/accessguidelinespublications.pdf
Research methods: voluntary and community sector
Anheier, H.K. and Carlson, L. (2002) Civil Society: What It Is, and How
to Measure It. London: Centre for Civil Society, London School of
Economics
Association for Research in the Voluntary and Community Sector
(ARVAC). (2001) Community Research - Getting Started: A Resource
Pack for Community Groups. London: ARVAC.
Blackburn, S. et al. (2003) Rural Communities and the Voluntary
Sector: A review of the literature. Newton Abbott: University of
Plymouth for DEFRA.
Chanan, G. (2004) Measures of Community: A study for the Active
Communities Directorate and the Research, Development and
Statistics Directorate of the Home Office. London: Community
Development Foundation. Available at:
http://www.cdf.org.uk/POOLED/articles/bf_docart/view.asp?Q=bf_doca
rt_124514
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 9
Collis, B. et al.(2003) Measuring Impact: Case-studies of impact
assessment in small and medium-sized voluntary organisations.
London: NCVO.
Elsdon, K.T., Reynolds, J. and Steward, S. (1998) Studying Local
Voluntary Organisations: Purpose, Methods and Findings. London:
Community Development Foundation.
Goodall, R. (2002) How many?! The RAISE voluntary sector baseline
research. Guildford: Regional Action and Involvement South East.
Available at:
http://www.raise-networks.org.uk/inform/docDisplay.cfm?iDocID=180
Marshall, T. (1997) Local Voluntary Activity Surveys (LOVAS)
Research Manual. London: Research and Statistics Directorate, Home
Office. Available at: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/lovas1.html
Russell, H. (2005) National Evaluation of Local Strategic Partnerships Issues Paper: Voluntary and Community Sector Engagement in Local
Strategic Partnerships, Local Authorities and LSP Stakeholders.
London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Available at:
http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1162334
Scott, D. and Russell, L. (2005) Researching Voluntary and Community
Action: The Potential of Qualitative Case Studies. York: Joseph
Rowntree Foundation.
Wainwright, S. (2003) Measuring Impact: A Guide to Resources.
London: NCVO.
Examples of profiling studies
Alcock, P., Mason, P. and Wilding, K. (2003) Mapping the contribution
of the Voluntary & Community Sector to the Economy of the West
Midlands. Birmingham: Regional Action West Midlands (RAWM).
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 9
Home Office. (2004) News from the Panel, No.1. London: Home Office.
Available at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/sosp.html
Marshall, T. et al (1997-98) Local Voluntary Activity Surveys (LOVAS)
Sweep 1 Reports [Accrington; Alcester and Bidford; Alnwick; Billericay;
Cresswell, Whitwell and Clowne; Gosport; Great Missenden;
Hammersmith and Fulham; Huddersfield; Northwich; Norwich;
Richmond-upon-Thames; Rushcliffe (Radcliffe-on-Trent, Shelford and
Newton, and East Bridgford); Torrington]. London: Research and
Statistics Directorate, Home Office. Available at:
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/lovas1.html
Nicholls, J. et al. (1999) Local Voluntary Activity Surveys (LOVAS)
Sweep 2 Reports [Ashby-de-la-Zouch; Babergh; Bolton; Central
Rotherham; Enfield; Grantham; Guildford (8 urban wards); Poole;
Smethwick; South Shields; Spennymoor; Thanet; Thornbury;
Whitehaven]. :London: Research, Development and Statistics
Directorate, Home Office. Available at:
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/lovas1.html
Ponikiewski, N. and Passey, A. (2000) The London Voluntary Sector
Almanac. London: NCVO.
Ponikiewski, N, and Passey, A. (2000) London Local Area Studies: A
survey of voluntary and community sectors [Islington, Richmond-uponThames, Southwark]. London: NCVO.
Suffolk Commission on the Voluntary Sector. (2000) Report into the
Voluntary Sector in Suffolk, its scope and contribution to live in the
County. Ipswich: Suffolk Commission on the Voluntary Sector/Suffolk
Association of Voluntary Organisations (SAVO).
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 9
Wilding, K. (2000) North West Local Area Studies: A survey of
voluntary and community sectors [Knowsley, Manchester, South
Lakeland]. London: NCVO.
Wilding, K. and Passey, A. (2000) The North West Voluntary Sector
Almanac. London: NCVO.
Wilding, Karl et al. (2002) Mapping the Rural Voluntary Sector [East
Northamptonshire and Teesdale]. London: NCVO.
Wilding, Karl et al. (2006) The UK Voluntary Sector Almanac 2006: The
State of the Sector. London: NCVO, NICVA, SCVO, WCVA.
Research methods: information management
Burrows, R. et al. (2005) Neighbourhoods on the net: The nature and
impact of internet-based neighbourhood information systems. York:
Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Available at
www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/0405.asp
Law, H. and Hudson, P. (1998): Local Voluntary Activity Surveys
(LOVAS) of the community and voluntary groups – User
Documentation/Technical Report for the Conversion of the Standard
Data to a Common Format. London: Research, Development and
Statistics Directorate, Home Office. Available at:
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/lovas1.html
Ticher, P. (2002) Data Protection for Voluntary Organisations. London:
Bates, Wells & Braithwaite.
Ticher, P. and Powell, M. (2000) Information Management for
Voluntary & Community Organisations. London: Directory of Social
Change
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
APPENDIX 10:
Template for producing report based
on core information from the
registration form
1.
INTRODUCTION
You have gathered information. Now you should make this information work for you.
This appendix will help you to do this. It provides some basic guidelines about good
practice and shows how you can apply these guidelines to writing a report based on
the core information in the registration form. You could equally apply these
guidelines to writing a report based on any additional information you have collected
or will collect.
The toolkit sets out two main approaches to profiling the local voluntary and
community sector. The first is developing an overview of the characteristics of the
local sector. The second is assessing the impact of the sector. For the first you need
to use as an absolute minimum the core information set out in the registration form
(Appendix 1). For the second you need to use core information plus additional
information from existing reports, and/or interviews with key informants and/or focus
groups with a sample of organisations and/or additional and more detailed surveys.
Good practice in report writing is good practice, whatever the subject matter of the
report in question. The most important thing to remember is that you should clearly
and fully describe the products of your research in a way that both ordinary people
and professional researchers can understand. This does not mean that you have to
be overly technical in your approach or use fancy language, but it does mean that
you should follow a few basic rules for analysing and presenting information.
One of the aims of the toolkit is to produce information that can be compared from
area to area and can be stacked up to provide a bigger picture at county, regional
and national levels. If you calculate your figures in one way and your counterparts in
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
other areas do so in a different way, then no one but you will be interested in using
your information.
Appendix 9 signposts further reading about research methods in general and
methods for researching the voluntary and community sector in particular.
This is a Word file, and you can, if you wish, copy it and use the text from Section 5.3
onwards as a template for writing your report. You can drop your information into the
tables and add text as appropriate.
2.
GOOD PRACTICE IN REPORTING RESULTS
2.1
“Valid” responses
Generally, in analysing information, you should report only “valid”
responses. That is, you should exclude “don’t knows” and other
missing values (no answers, illegible answers, and obviously wrong
answers). These non-answers normally constitute a small part of all
responses. However, if many respondent organisations decide not to
answer “sensitive” questions and the proportion of non-answers is high,
then you should state that this is the case and report all answers,
including non-valid answers. This should not happen very often.
2.2
Number of organisations that answered a particular question
You should always introduce a section or topic by stating how many
organisations answered this particular question and what percentage of
the total this represents. If you do not do so, readers will assume that
all of the organisations that participated in the survey answered this
question. In some cases all organisations answer all questions, but in
most cases they do not.
EXAMPLE: “Of 2,000 respondent organisations, only 500 or 25%
provided information about their total income.”
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
The smaller the proportion of organisations that answered a question,
the smaller the weight you should give to your findings, unless you are
sure that this proportion is representative of all organisations.
2.3
Distinguishing the part from the whole
You should be careful not to confuse proportions of the whole with
proportions of a part of the whole. You should say:
EXAMPLE: “Sixty-seven per cent of respondent organisations in
LOCAL AUTHORITY involved volunteers in their activities. Of those
organisations that involved volunteers 75 per cent had volunteers on
their management committees or boards.”
You should not say:
BAD EXAMPLE: “Seventy-five per cent of respondent organisations in
LOCAL AUTHORITY involved volunteers on their management
committees or boards.”
The proportion of all respondent organisations that involved volunteers
on their management committees or boards is, in fact, 50% or 67% [of
respondent organisations] x 75% [of respondent organisations that had
volunteers on their management committees or boards].
2.4
Single vs. multiple response
The registration form clearly states what sorts of answers are required
for each question – whether respondent organisations should supply
one answer only (“TICK ONE BOX ONLY”) or a maximum number of
answers (“TICK UP TO THREE BOXES”) or as many answers as are
necessary (“TICK ALL THAT APPLY”).
In general, single response questions provide clean and unequivocal
information, the proportion of all respondent organisations that chose a
particular option. In the case of single response questions the number
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
of respondent organisations choosing each option must add up to the
total number of respondent organisations, and the percentages of
respondent organisations choosing each option must add up to 100%.
Multiple response questions provide information that is harder to
interpret, the proportion of all responses represented by a particular
option. In multiple response questions the number of responses made
by organisations will add up to more than the number of organisations,
and the percentages of organisations choosing each option will add up
to more than 100%.
2.5
Presenting information in tabular or graphic form
Your aim in presenting information in tabular or graphic form is to make
your point more clearly than you could in words. Think before you
reach for the chart wizard!

You should number your tables and figures (pie charts, bar charts,
scatter plots, etc.) in sequence (separate sequences for tables and
figures). You can have one sequence for the whole report (if it is
relatively short) or a sequence for each chapter/section (if it is
longer).
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
You should use fully explanatory titles, so that casual readers
(those just flipping through the report) will be able to understand
immediately what the tables and figures are about. Readers should
not need to refer to the surrounding text for hints.

You should put titles at the top of tables and figures.

You should use table notes at the bottom of tables and figures to
set out the number of organisations that have answered this
question (the “base”) – for example: “Base = number of
organisations that provided information about the year in which they
were established; N = 500” or “Base = 500 organisations”.

You should also use table notes at the bottom of tables and figures
to set out any other pertinent information: “Percentages do not
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
equal 100% due to rounding” or “Percentages do not equal 100%
due to multiple responses”.

You should use tables rather than pie charts when there are more
than four or five elements of information (otherwise it is impossible
to see what is going on). In fact, always consider using tables first
and then only use pie charts, bar charts, etc., if the information is
suitable for such treatment.

When reporting information in bar charts, you should organise it
hierarchically – with the largest percentage first so that the bars
read incrementally from top to bottom or from left to right
(depending on whether you are working in portrait or landscape
page layout).

You should use “other” as a category in order to sweep up a
number of categories to which there were few positive responses.
The “other” category should not be greater than 10% of all
organisations that answered this question. Also “other” should
always come last before “total” – not in alphabetical or rank order.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
GOOD EXAMPLE:
Figure 1: Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organistions in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by service or activity area
Soc & com dev
Health
Social services
Education
Emp & training
Law, etc
Housing
Environment
Vol & com
Art, etc
Religion
Transport
International
Animals
0%
5%
10%
15%
25%
20%
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N=654
BAD EXAMPLE:
Clients/users
Religion
2%
International
0%
Art, etc
3%
Housing
5%
Soc & com
dev
24%
Animals
0%
Transport
1%
Law, etc
6%
Environment
5%
Education
11%
Health
18%
Emp & training
6%
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Social
services
15%
Vol & com
4%
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
3.
DIFFERENT WAYS OF ANALYSING INFORMATION
There are a number of different ways of analysing information.
3.1
Frequencies
These are counts of responses and simple proportions of the whole.
3.2
Cross-tabs
These provide more complex comparative information. They usually
require specialist software such as SPSS and should be done by
specialist researchers. In principle, you can cross-tabulate everything
with everything in order to see what pops out. However, this can be
time-consuming, confusing and, if you are paying for analysis by the
piece, expensive. Before you begin your analysis you might like to take
a view about what factors you think may be important.
EXAMPLE: The Home Office State of the Sector Panel uses as its
cross-tabs the following:

registered/not-registered with Charity Commission

region of headquarters/region of operations

income (banded: less than £10,000; £10,000 to £99,999;
£100,000 to £999,999; £1 million to £9,999,999; more than
£10 million)

service or activity area

special groups served (women, people from black and minority
ethnic groups; people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transsexual; people who are disabled; people who are asylum
seekers and refugees; children aged under 12 years; young
people aged between 12 and 16 years; young adults aged
between 17 and 24 years; older people).
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
rural/urban location

proportion of total income from government
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
You should not report the results of cross-tabulations if the number of
responses in most of the “cells” (categories of analysis or boxes below)
is less than 30 (among researchers this is the threshold of
“reportability”).
3.3
More complex analysis such as logistic regression
This digs deeper into the information on the basis of “all things being
equal” and taking all possible factors into account. This can provide
clearer information about how and why – for example, why women’s
organisations were less likely than other types of organisations to have
paid staff. This usually requires specialist software and should be done
by specialist researchers or statisticians.
3.4
“Grossing up”
The usual course in presenting information, even though you have
collected it from only a part (say, 25%) of the organisations that you
know exist in your local area, is to use this information to stand in for
the whole. Therefore you say, “The total income of the sector in LOCAL
AUTHORITY is £15 million”. Clearly, had you collected this information
from all the organisations that you know exist in your local area, this
figure would probably have been higher. In order to find out how much
higher, you can carry out an exercise called “grossing up”. There are
many ways of doing this – for example, by crudely multiplying by 4 to
take account of a 25% response rate or by estimating on subsets of the
information (the average income per organisation in each of the income
bands or the average income per organisation in each of the service or
activity areas). This is a very complicated process and should be done
by specialist researchers or statisticians, and in your report you should
describe the method you have used.
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4.
SIGNIFICANCE
For any analysis other than frequencies and simple proportions, it is necessary to
estimate the statistical significance of responses (that is, how valid they are). It is
customary only to report findings that are significant at 95 per cent level unless
otherwise stated. Significance testing is not for the faint-hearted amateur and should
only be carried out by specialist researchers or statisticians.
5.
WRITING THE REPORT
5.1
Introductory remarks
Before setting out your analysis of the information you have collected
you should first describe who you are, why you have collected this
information and how it will benefit local organisations.
EXAMPLE: “We are the council for voluntary service in LOCAL
AUTHORITY. We are a registered charity (registration number
XXXX), and we have been working for voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY since XXXX. In partnership
with the Local Strategic Partnership we are carrying out a major
project to collect high quality information about the sector - its
composition, activities, resources, strengths, weaknesses and
support/development needs. With this information we will be better
able to

signpost members of the public to local voluntary and
community organisations, so that they can get involved as
volunteers, give money, apply for jobs, engage in activities and
use services
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
help local organisations network with each other, so that they
can share information and skills, develop critical mass and
lobby for change

help government bodies recognise the contribution of local
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
voluntary and community organisations, so that they will
provide funding, consult on development and implementation of
policies and programmes and provide greater opportunities for
delivering public services

provide strategic leadership and support to organisations at a
time of change.”
Then you should provide information about how you carried out your
research:

method – e.g. postal survey; internet survey

period of fieldwork (from – to)

whether you sent out reminders by post or reminded organisations
over the telephone and, if so, how many times and when

number of organisations on mailing list

number of organisations that responded

number of valid responses (e.g. excluding duplicates, spoiled forms,
etc.)

response rate (number of valid responses/number of organisations
on mailing list)

any special characteristics of organisations that responded (for
example, low response from organisations in the fields of arts,
culture, sports and recreation or high response rate from
organisations in the field of religion; no responses from
neighbourhood watch or tenants associations).
EXAMPLE: “We used a postal survey (copy of survey form
attached). We carried out fieldwork between 11 September
and 13 November 2006 (9 weeks). We mailed out surveys to
1,000 organisations in our database (updated as at 4
September 2005), mailed out a second copy of the survey to
non-respondents, and then chased non-respondents via
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
telephone and e-mail. We received responses from 250
organisations. Our response rate was 25%, average for
research of this type. Respondent organisations were
generally representative of organisations in our database,
although housing associations, faith-based organisations and
organisations serving women were under-represented.”
Following these introductory remarks, you should then set out your
results.
5.2
Standard text
You should set out your results in a consistent fashion. Your text
should do three things:

introduce the information you are presenting: number of respondent
organisations; proportion of respondent organisations that
answered the question

set out your basic analysis: what respondent organisations told you

discuss points of interest arising from your analysis: what you think
is important about this information.
Section 5.4 below gives an example of standard text. When you are
writing your report you should follow this example when dealing with
each question or section.
5.3
Section B: Date of establishment
This question (B1) will give you a sense of whether your local sector
has grown organically over time or is enjoying mushroom growth.
You should begin by introducing the information you are presenting.
EXAMPLE: “Of 250 respondent organisations 200 (80%) provided
information about the year in which they were established.”
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Then you should present your results. You can do this in a number of
different ways:
 by using percentages
EXAMPLE: “Of these 24% were established before 1990, 19%
between 1991 and 1995; 21%, between 1996 and 2000; 35%,
between 2001 and 2005; and 1% in 2006.”
or

by using approximate proportions (in words)
EXAMPLE: “Of these about a quarter were established before 1990;
a fifth, between 1991 and 1995 and between 1996 and 2000,
respectively; a third, between 2000 and 2005 and the remainder, in
2006.”
So long as you present full information in a table, you can use either of
these, but you should not mix them. If you do not present full
information in a table, you should always use percentages, but you can
use both percentages and approximate proportions in words:
EXAMPLE: “Of these about a quarter (24%) were established
before 1990; a fifth (19% and 21%), between 1991 and 1995 and
between 1996 and 2000, respectively; a third (35%) between 2000
and 2005 and the remainder (1%), in 2006.”
This “combined method” is particularly useful when you have only a
few categories of information to describe and doing so is “not worth a
table”.
Finally you should describe why your results are interesting (if they
are).
EXAMPLE: “Compared to the voluntary and community sector in
NEARBY LOCAL AUTHORITY a smaller proportion of
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
organisations was established before 1990. This may be due to the
fact that NEARBY LOCAL AUTHORITY is a cathedral city and has
a large number of long-established organisations – some dating
back to the Middle Ages. In contrast LOCAL AUTHORITY is a postwar new town, and voluntary and community organisations were
established relatively late in the day and developed rather slowly.”
You can present this information in a table in the following way:
Table B1: Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by date of establishment
Date of
establishment
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Pre-1990
1991-95
1996-2000
2001-2005
2006+
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
5.4
Section C: Types of organisations
This section will enable you to take a bird’s eye view of the types of
organisations in your local sector.
The first two questions (C1 and C2) deal with the issue of “locus of
control”, whether organisations are independent/stand alone
organisations or parts of group structures or branches of larger
organisations and whether they have control over their budgets or not.
Depending on whether you want to present all the information and/or
highlight certain aspects, you can present this information in tables in
any one or more of the following ways:
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Table C1-2(a): Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by type
Type of organisation
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Independent/stand
alone
Part of a group
structure with full
control of budget
Part of a group
structure without full
control of budget
Branch of a larger
organisation with full
control of budget
Branch of a larger
organisation without
full control of budget
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
and/or
Table C1-2(b): Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by type (independent and part of group structure/larger
organisation)
Type of organisation
Number or
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Independent/stand alone
Part of a group structure
or a larger organisation
(last four categories
added together)
Total
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
and/or
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100
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Table C1-2(c): Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by type (with and without full control of budget)
Type of organisation
Number or
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Organisations with full
control of budget (first,
second and fourth
categories added
together)
Organisations without
full control of budget
(third and fifth
categories added
together)
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
The third question (C3) deals with whether or not organisations are
registered with the Charity Commission.
Depending on whether you want to present all the information or just
summarise it, you can present this information in tables in one or both
of the following ways:
Table C3(a): Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by registration/non-registration with Charity Commission
Status
Registered with the
Charity Commission
Not registered with
the Charity
Commission but
“exempt”* or
“excepted”**
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Number or
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Not registered with
the Charity
Commission but in
the process of
applying
Not registered with
the Charity
Commission
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
*”Exempt charities” are those that are not allowed to register with the Charity
Commission and do not come within its supervisory jurisdiction. They include
industrial and provident societies, friendly societies, universities and many of the
major museums and art galleries.
**”Excepted charities” are those that have low incomes and insignificant assets. They
are allowed, but not required, to register with the Charity Commission. Whether they
register or not, they are subject to the Commission’s supervisory jurisdiction. They
include some scouts and guides units, religious charities, and charities for the armed
forces.
and/or
Table C3(b): Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by registration/non-registration with Charity Commission
Status
Number or
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Registered with the
Charity Commission
Not registered with the
Charity Commission
(last three categories
added together)
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
Only about a third of voluntary and community organisations are
registered charities. If you find that the majority of your respondent
organisations are registered charities, then this means that you have
failed to contact sufficient non-registered organisations, mainly
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
community-based organisations, and that, in future, you should
increase your efforts to involve them.
5.4 Section D: Area of operations
The first question (D1) will enable you to take a view as to how “local”
your local sector is - how much of it is neighbourhood-based or localauthority based or based in a larger sphere (regional, national,
international). The local sector’s degree of “localness” will impact on its
operational ability – for example, its capacity to respond to
clients/users, to attract funding, to engage in partnership and
networking, and to deal with wider policy issues.
You can present this information in a table in the following way:
Table D1: Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by area of operations
Status
Local
neighbourhood
London borough or
metropolitan district
council or nonmetropolitan district
council or unitary
council
County council
Intermediate (bigger
than a county
council, smaller than
a region)
Region*
Multi-region (more
than one region,
smaller than
England)
England
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Number or
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
England plus
another part of the
UK (Northern
Ireland and/or
Scotland and/or
Wales)
International
(outside the UK
only)
UK and international
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
”Region” means government office region – East of England, East Midlands, London,
North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and
the Humber
The second question (D2) will enable you to dig down into “localness” –
by ward - and, hopefully, give you insights into how organisations are
distributing their services and activities - evenly or unevenly, equitably
or inequitably in terms of need.
You can present this information in a table in the following way (this is
a multiple response question):
Table D2: Distribution of activities of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by ward
Ward
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Ward A
Ward B
Ward C
Ward D
Ward E
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
Total number of responses is more than base
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
This question will produce clear information about where organisations
carry out their activities (because it asks this directly). If you did not ask
this question, you could as a proxy analyse the addresses of
organisations’ headquarters (by postcode). This will tell you something
about where their headquarters are (and the way local organisations
cluster near population centres, transport nodes or community facilities,
but it will not necessarily tell you about where they are active.
You might like to explore whether, taking account of where people live,
organisations’ activities are evenly distributed throughout the wards in
LOCAL AUTHORITY. The standard measure used for this sort of
analysis is the number of organisations per 1,000 people. You can
obtain population figures from the Office of National Statistics at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ and
http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination
You can present this information in a table in the following way:
Table D2: Distribution of activities of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY (number of organisations per
1000 people), by ward
Ward
Number of
organisations
Population*
Number of
organisations/
1000 people
Ward A
Ward B
Ward C
Ward D
Ward E
LOCAL
AUTHORITYl
N/A
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
Total number of responses is more than base
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses
*Population figures from ONS as at DATE.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Or you might also like to explore whether, taking account of economic
and social factors such as deprivation, unemployment, social housing,
etc., organisations’ services and activities are well targeted. You can
obtain information about a range of social and economic indicators
from the Office of National Statistics at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
and http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination
You can also map this information using Geographical Information
Systems (GIS). This should be done by specialist researchers. For
further information about GIS see the GIS website at:
http://www.gis.com/index.cfm and the ESRI (software) website at:
http://www.esri.com
5.5
Main function
This question (E1) will enable you to assess the functional strengths
(for example, strong representation of organisations in all functions)
and weaknesses (for example, very few organisations that provide
finance or other resources) of organisations in your local sector.
You can present this information in a table in the following way:
Table E1: Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by main function
Main function
Providing activities for
members and users
Providing buildings and/or
facilities (community
centres, village halls,
religious buildings, etc.)
Providing finance and/or
other resources (training,
consultancy, volunteers)
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Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Providing representation
(campaigning, lobbying,
etc.)
Providing research
Providing services
(housing, health care,
community safety, etc.)
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
5.6
Type of clients/users
These questions will enable you to build up a picture of local
organisations’ clients/users. This information is probably the most
important that you will collect and provides a platform for a better
understanding of the spread and depth of services and activities
provided by the sector.
These questions may appear to be complicated, but, in fact, they
simply cover all (or hopefully all) possible options in a logical and
consistent fashion. You can use them one at a time or together.
Suitably grouped, you can use them as cross-tabs for more
sophisticated analysis. The categories are mutually exclusive and you
should not mix them.
The first question distinguishes between people and other types of
clients/users. You can present this information in a table in the
following way:
Table F1: Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by main type of clients/users
Main type
People (individuals and
groups joined by place
or interest)
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Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Other organisations or
institutions in the
government sector
Other organisations or
institutions in the private
sector
Other organisations or
institutions in the
voluntary and
community sector
Animals
Environment
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
The next question, the “multicode”, is about the types of people who
are clients/users of local organisations. It has nine parts. You can
present this information in tables in two different ways. In the first you
can present results for all respondent organisations, and in the second
you can exclude the “all people” responses and concentrate on “hard
hits”, organisations that provided services or activities to specified
client/user groups.
You can use both ways of presenting results in text as follows:
EXAMPLE: “Of 500 respondent organisations, only 250 or 50%
provided information about the ethnic group of their clients/users. Of
these [that provided this information] around 20% had as their main
clients/users people from ethnic minority groups [one or more]. In
particular, 10% [of those that provided information] had as their main
clients/users black people; 5%, Asian people; 2%, mixed race
people; 2%, white people (Irish and Polish) and 1%, Chinese
people.”
You can present this information in tables in the following ways:
Table F2a(a): Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by number/type of household
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Number/type of
household
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
All people
Single people
Families/households
without children
Families/households
with children
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
or
Table F2a(b): Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by number/type of household
Number/type of
household
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Single people
Families/households
without children
Families/households
with children
Total
100
Base = All organisations that provided services to client/user groups based on
number/type of household; N = XXX
Both ways are equally valid, but the second way, by concentrating on
“hard hits”, provides information that is clearer and easier to use. The
tables set out in the rest of this section are based on “hard hits”.
Table F2b: Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by gender
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Gender
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Women
Men
Transgender people
Total
100
Base = All organisations that provided services to client/user groups based on
gender; N = XXX
Table F2c: Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by sexuality
Sexuality
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Heterosexual people
Gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transsexual people
Total
100
Base = All organisations that provided services to client/user groups based on
sexuality; N = XXX
Table F2d: Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by age
Age
Children under 5 years
Children aged 5-11
years
Young people aged 1216 years
Young people aged 1718 years
Young adults aged 1925 years
Adults aged 26-64 years
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Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Older people aged 65
years and over
Base = All organisations that provided services to client/user groups based on age; N
= XXX
Total number of responses is more than base
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses
This age breakdown differs from that recommended by the Office of
National Statistics, because it is has been designed to match people’s
key life stages (in terms of education and receipt of benefits) and
hence to describe the activities of organisations that provide
appropriate services. For National Statistics’ breakdown see:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/harmonisation/downloads/P2.pdf
Table F2e: Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by ethnic group
Ethnic group
(Census categories)
Members of ethnic
groups (unspecified)
All White people
(including White
British, White Irish, and
any other White
background)
All Black or Black
British people
(including Caribbean,
African and any other
Black background)
All Asian or Asian
British people
(including Indian,
Pakistani,
Bangladeshi, and any
other Asian
background)
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Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
All Mixed people
(including White and
Black Caribbean,
White and Black
African, White and
Asian, and any other
Mixed background)
All Chinese and other
ethnic groups
(including Chinese and
any other ethnic group)
Base = All organisations that provided services to client/user groups based on ethnic
group; N = XXX
Total number of responses is more than base
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses
One of the options was “members of ethnic groups (specified)”. Once
you have seen what respondent organisations have written in, you
should redistribute them to the appropriate main categories - for
example, “Somali” to “Black/Black British – African” and “GermanPakistani” to “Other Mixed background”. If there are any responses that
are so obscure that you cannot redistribute them, then exclude them as
non-responses. This category should not appear in your final analysis
and in your tables.
Table F2f: Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by faith group
Faith group
Christian (including Church
of England, Catholic,
Protestant and all Christian
denominations)
Buddhist
Hindu
Jewish
Muslim
Sikh
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Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Animist
Pagan (including
witchcraft)
Humanist
Agnostic/atheist/no religion
Base = All organisations that provided services to client/user groups based on faith;
N = XXX
Total number of responses is more than base
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses
Table F2g: Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by needs group
Needs group
People who have
disabilities (unspecified)
People who are
housebound
People who have
physical disabilities
(excluding sensory
disabilities)
People who have
sensory disabilities
(sight, hearing, etc)
People who have
learning disabilities
People who have
mental health problems
People who have
terminal illnesses
People who are socially
excluded/isolated/lonely
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Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
People who are
homeless/in housing
need
People who are
unemployed
People who are in
financial need/poor
People who are
bereaved
People who are “at risk”
People who are leaving
care/long-stay
institutions (excluding
prisons)
People who are asylum
seekers/refugees
People who are
offenders/ex-offenders
People who are
travellers
People who have
substance
abuse/addiction
problems (alcohol,
drugs, gambling, sex,
etc)
People who are
victims/survivors of
physical/sexual/emotion
al violence
People who are
victims/survivors of
crime
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
People are
victims/survivors of
man-made and natural
disasters (war, famine,
floods, fires, etc)
People who are
students
People who are carers
People who are
service/ex-service
personnel
People who are from
specific
occupational/profession
al/trade groups
Base = All organisations that provided services to client/user groups based on needs;
N = XXX
Total number of responses is more than base
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses
Table F2h: Client/user groups of voluntary and community
organisations in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by locality
Locality group
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
People from rural areas
People from “deprived”
areas
People from specific
named/defined local
areas
Base = All organisations that provided services to client/user groups based on
locality; N = XXX
Total number of responses is more than base
Percentages add up to more than 100% due to multiple responses
Table F2i: Client/user groups of voluntary and community organisations
in LOCAL AUTHORITY, by service or activity area
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Service or activity area
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Animals
Arts, culture, sport and
recreation
Economic, social and
community development
Education and research
Employment and
training
Environment
Health
Housing
International
Law, crime, human/civil
rights and information
Religion
Social services
Transport
Voluntary and
community
organisations
Total
100
Base = All organisations that answered this question; N = XXX
F2a to F2i contain a large number of categories. These may prove to
be cumbersome for purposes of analysis. You might like to create
composite categories so that you can reduce the number of categories.
You may also use these as cross-tabs for further analysis. These may
serve as indicators of the diversity of the local sector:
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10

women

gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people

children and young people (0-11 years) (includes children under 5
years and children aged 5-11 years)

young people (12-16 years)

young adults (17-25 years) (includes young people aged 17-18
years and young adults aged 19-25 years)

older people (aged 65 year and over)

people from ethnic minorities (includes all categories other than “all
races/ethnicity”), although you can break down these groups, if the
local population is sufficiently diverse to warrant it)

people in faith groups (includes all categories other than “all
faiths/multi-faith people”, although you can break down these
groups, if the local population is sufficiently diverse to warrant it)

people who are asylum seekers/refugees

people who have disabilities (includes the following categories: “all
disabilities”, “people who are housebound”, people who have
physical disabilities excluding sensory disabilities”,” people who
have sensory disabilities”, “people who have learning disabilities”,
“people who have mental health problems”, “people who have
terminal illnesses”, “people who have specific medical
conditions/diseases”)

people from rural areas

people from deprived areas.
Although this is not a hard and fast rule (depending on local context), if
your local sector is broadly-based and diverse, it ought to cover all of
these categories (that is, at least one organisation per category). If in
LOCAL AUTHORITY there are many categories of clients/users that
are not served, this suggests either that your coverage is incomplete,
and you should work harder on your database and/or your response
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
rate or that your local sector is not meeting the full range of local
needs.
If you use different or more detailed categories than those set out in
F2a to F2i, make sure that they can be rolled up into these categories.
Please do not mix category groups.
5.7
Income
These questions will enable you to build up a picture of local
organisations’ financial resources. This is important information –
difficult to collect and difficult to analyse. Unless you do this analysis
well, it is not worth doing at all.
Use G1 and G2 to specify the boundaries for reporting organisations’
income. That is, you should only report income received in a particular
financial year. The most commonly used financial years are
government financial years (April to March) and calendar years
(January to December). All things being equal, it is sensible to use
government financial years. This means that you should include in your
calculations only those organisations that have reported income for
financial years that end between, say, April 2005 and March 2006
(2005/06) and so forth and you must exclude those organisations that
have reported income for financial years ending before April 2005. You
can present this information in a table in the following way:
Table G3: Total income of voluntary and community organisations in
LOCAL AUTHORITY, by income band
Income band
Less than £10,000
(includes no income)
£10,000 to £99,999
£100,000 to £999,999
£1 million to £9,999,999
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Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
£10 million plus
Total
Base = All organisations that provided information about their income for financial
years ending between April 2005 and March 2006; N = XXX
Do not deviate from these bands.
5.8
Employees
This question (H1) and those on volunteers and members (below) will
help you to estimate the people-power available to local organisations.
You can present this information in a table in the following way:
Table H1: Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by number of employees
Band
All employees
Number of
organisations
Full-time equivalent
employees*
Proportion of
organisations
(%)
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations
(%)
<1
1-4
5-9
10-19
20-29
30-49
50-99
100-249
250-499
500-999
1,0009,999
10,000
+
Total
100
Base = All organisations that had employees; N = XXX
*Full-time equivalent = XX hours per week
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100
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
You can add the bands together, but do not change the band breaks.
You might like to estimate the local sector’s workforce as part of the
workforce of the LOCAL AUTHORITY. You can obtain information on
the size and attributes of this workforce the Office of National Statistics
at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ and
http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination
5.9
Volunteers
This question (I1) and those on employees (above) and members
(below) will help you to estimate the people-power available to local
organisations. You can present this information in a table in the
following way:
Table I1: Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by number of volunteers
Band
Volunteers on
management
committee/board
Number of
orgs
<1
1-4
5-9
10-19
20-29
30-49
50-99
100-249
250-499
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Proportion
of orgs (%)
Other volunteers
Number of
orgs
Proportion
of orgs (%)
Total volunteers
Number of
orgs
Proportion
of orgs (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
500-999
1,0009,999
10,000 +
Total
100
100
100
Base = All organisations that had volunteers; N = XXX
You can add the bands together, but do not change the band breaks.
5.10
Members
This question (J1) and those on employees and volunteers (above) will
enable you to tease out the extent of local people’s involvement in local
organisations. You can present this information in the following way:
Table J1: Voluntary and community organisations in LOCAL
AUTHORITY, by number of members
Band
<1
1-4
5-9
10-19
20-29
30-49
50-99
100-249
250-499
500-999
1,000-9,999
NAVCA 2006
Number of organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
10,000 +
Total
100
Base = All organisations that had members; N = XXX
You can add the bands together, but do not change the band breaks.
5.11
Change
These questions will enable you to take a view about whether and to
what extent the local sector is changing – whether it is growing, staying
about the same or declining. There are six indicators of change –
activities, demand for services from clients/users, total income, number
of employees, number of volunteers, number of members. You can
present this information in the following way:
Table K1-K6(a): Change in voluntary and community organisations in
LOCAL AUTHORITY in last year, by key indicators (%)
Change
Activities
(%)
Demand
for
services
(%)
Total
income
(%)
Number of Number of Number of
employee volunteer
members
s
(%)
(%)
(%)
Increased
a lot
Increased
slightly
Stayed
about the
same
Decreased
slightly
Decreased
a lot
Total
100
100
100
100
100
100
Base = All organisations that provided information about activities, N = XXX; that provided information
about demand for services, N = XXX; that provided information about total income, N = XXX; that
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
provided information about number of employees, N = XXX; that provided information about number
of volunteers, N = XXX; that provided information about number of members, N = XXX
or you can present this information in summary form:
Table K1-K6(b): Change in voluntary and community organisations in
LOCAL AUTHORITY in last year, by key indicators (%)
Change
Activities
(%)
Demand
for
services
(%)
Total
income
Number of
employee
Number of
volunteers
(%)
(%)
(%)
Number
of
members
(%)
Increased
(increased
a lot/
increased
slightly)
Stayed
about the
same
Decreased
(decreased
slightly/
decreased
a lot)
Total
100
100
100
100
100
100
Base = All organisations that provided information about activities, N = XXX; that provided information
about demand for services, N = XXX; that provided information about total income, N = XXX; that
provided information about number of employees, N = XXX; that provided information about number
of volunteers, N = XXX; that provided information about number of members, N = XXX
It is also worthwhile looking at the extent to which local organisations
experience change – whether on a narrow or a broad front - since this
will give a more rounded picture and take on board trade-offs such as
growing organisations replacing volunteers with employees.
Table K1-K6(c): Voluntary and community organisations that reported
increase in key indicators in last year
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 10
Number of key
indicators that
increased (a
lot/slightly)
Number of
organisations
Proportion of
organisations (%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
100
Base = All organisations that provided information about activities, N = XXX; that
provided information about demand for services, N = XXX; that provided information
about total income, N = XXX; that provided information about number of employees,
N = XXX; that provided information about number of volunteers, N = XXX; that
provided information about number of members, N = XXX
5.12
Conclusion
You should conclude your report with some general remarks that
summarise key results of your research. You should also put these
results in context by discussing challenges and opportunities for the
sector – for example, Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Area
Agreements, ChangeUp, support (or not) by LOCAL AUTHORITY. You
should also discuss any plans you may have for further research, etc.
and any aspirations you might have for the sector in the future. You
might also like to refer to Appendix 12, which sets out some of these
“big picture” questions, together with some prompts about areas you
might like to cover.
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 11
APPENDIX 11:
Example of covering letter for mailing
registration forms for a database of
voluntary and community
organisations in the local area
Dear Colleague,
Let’s put voluntary and community organisations in NAME OF LA on the map!
We are NAME OF LA’S Council for Voluntary Service. We are a registered charity
(Registration No XXXX) and have been supporting local groups, clubs and
organisations since XXXX. For many years we have kept a database of local
organisations, and we aim to maintain and keep this as up to date and as
comprehensive as possible. SURVEY ORG: CUSTOMISE AS APPROPRIATE
Why we are updating and expanding our database
We know that you are doing a good job and making a real contribution to the quality
of life in NAME OF LA. We want to make sure that everyone else knows this too! Our
aims are to:

help members of the public find you - to get involved as volunteers, give
money, apply for jobs and use your services

help you and other organisations find each other – to share information and
skills, form partnerships and lobby for change

help government bodies find you – to provide funding, consult on developments
of policies and programmes and improve the quality of public services

improve the way we and our partner organisations represent your interests and
provide support to you – to do this we need to understand the strengths,
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 11
weaknesses, aspirations and support/development needs of organisations
working in NAME OF LA.
Knowledge is power, and it will help us to help you get what you want and need.
How we will use this information
We will use this information to improve and update our database of voluntary and
community organisations. You will control the way we will use the information you
provide. You have a number of options and should tick the appropriate boxes on the
registration form.
How you can participate
Please fill in the registration form enclosed/or on-line SURVEY ORG: AMEND AS
APPROPRIATE. This should only take you about ten minutes. Then please return
the form to us in the enclosed pre-paid envelope/by email SURVEY ORG: AMEND
AS APPROPRIATE. Please return the form to us by no later than XXXX.
If you have any queries about this project, please contact us on XXXX.
Many thanks for your help.
NAVCA 2006
Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 12
APPENDIX 12:
Form for summarising contextual information about the
voluntary and community sector in the local area
Please use this form to provide a short summary of what you know about the context in which voluntary and community
organisations operate in NAME OF LA (around 250 words per category).
A The local context
What are the key issues that affect NAME OF LA?
You might like to consider issues such as lack of affordable
housing, problems with the supply of services, poor public
transport in large rural “hinterland”, unemployment, social
exclusion, negative perception of the area, etc.).
B Influence of local issues on the voluntary and community
sector
What are the key factors that have shaped the development of the
voluntary and community sector in NAME OF LA?
You might like to consider factors such as good relations with the
LA; inclusion in major government funding programmes such as
Single Regeneration Budget, Neighbourhood Renewal, European
Social Fund, ChangeUp; longstanding rivalry between different key
players in the sector, etc.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 12
C Partnership working
To what extent do voluntary and community organisations in
NAME OF LA work in partnership with each other and with
government bodies and private sector organisations?
You might like to map local partnerships: what they do, who
belongs to them, who funds them, the role played in them by
voluntary and community organisations – passive membership or
leadership. You might like to look in particular at voluntary and
community organisations’ involvement in local strategic
partnerships/local area agreements.
D Development of the Compact
At what stage of development is the local Compact process? To
what extent have voluntary and community organisations been
involved (are they active or passive participants)? What are the
benefits of participating in this process?
You might like to look in particular at whether local voluntary and
community organisations “own”, feel empowered by or think that
they have benefited from the Compact.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 12
E Funding by government bodies
To what extent do government bodies fund the local voluntary and
community sector, particularly infrastructure/umbrella
organisations? What is the quality of the funding relationship?
This is a very difficult area to explore (see above). There are a
large number of different government bodies that provide funding
to local voluntary and community organisations - central
government departments and their agencies or non-departmental
public bodies, local authorities, the National Health Service (health
authorities, NHS trusts, primary care trusts), police authorities, fire
authorities, the European Union). You might like to start with those
that are most accessible (for example, NAME OF LA) and then
work outwards. You might also like to take a view about the quality
of the funding relationship – the extent to which voluntary and
community organisations are able to recover their core costs, the
extent to which funding is very short-term (a year or less), the
extent to which funding transactions are Compact-compliant. Even
if at first you are not able to quantify this funding, you will be able
to assess the quality of the funding process.
F Contribution to delivery of public services
How does the voluntary and community sector contribute to the
delivery of public services in NAME OF LA? What sorts of
relationships does it have with government and private sector
providers of public services?
You might like to structure your inquiry around the different service
areas and quality of life issues.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 12
G Operational issues of concern to the voluntary and
community sector
What are the key operational issues that concern the voluntary and
community sector in NAME OF LA?
You might like to consider issues such as funding, training,
information technology, accommodation, strategic planning,
recruiting and retaining volunteers and/or employees,
sustainability, governance, etc.
H Quality of life
What are the key contributions the voluntary and community sector
makes to the quality of life of people in NAME OF LA?
I Added value
What added value does the voluntary and community sector bring
to NAME OF LA?
You might like to think about “hidden” contributions that may not be
immediately obvious.
J Effectiveness
How effective is the voluntary and community sector in NAME OF
LA in carrying out its work?
You might like to consider effectiveness in using resources,
achieving targets, contributing to partnerships, bringing in external
funding, accessing hard-to-reach groups, responding to local
needs, etc.
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 12
K Communications
Does the voluntary and community sector in NAME OF LA
communicate effectively, both internally and externally?
You might like to explore arrangements for sharing information and
networking within the voluntary and community sector (for
example, seminars, forums, newsletters, e-mail alerts, etc.) and
the support provided by infrastructure/umbrella organisations; and
also arrangements for sharing information and networking between
the voluntary and community sector, government bodies, privatesector organisations and members of the public (particularly users
of services).
L Making a difference
Does the voluntary and community sector make a difference in
NAME OF LA? If it were not there, would it be missed?
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Getting to know your local voluntary and community sector Appendix 12
SWOT Analysis
Please highlight what you think are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the voluntary and
community sector in NAME OF LA (around 250 words per category):
Strengths of the sector
Weaknesses of the sector
Opportunities for the sector
Threats for the sector
PLEASE NOTE: The Home Office’s State of the Sector Panel research project has developed a bank of questions in the following
areas: organisations’ activities and resourcing; engagement with beneficiaries/clients/tenants/users, members and other voluntary
and community organisations, including infrastructure organisations; engagement with government bodies, including the Compact;
human, capital and organisational resources. These questions have worked successfully. The Home Office would welcome their
use by other organisations and researchers. Please see the Panel’s website on http://www/homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/sosp.html to
download copies of the questionnaires.
NAVCA 2006