Research report
Wales Voluntary Sector Almanac 2003:A new era?
Dr Bryan Collis
August 2003
IBSN 1 903416 30 2
£15.00 or £10.00 (WCVA members)
Wales Council for Voluntary Action
Head Office
Baltic House
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff CF10 5FH
WCVA Helpdesk 0870 607 1666
tel 029 2043 1700
fax 029 2043 1701
Rhif elusen gofrestredig / Registered charity number 218093
Cwmni wedi ei gyfyngu drwy warant / Company limited by guarantee 424299
Cofrestrwyd yng Nghymru / Registered in Wales
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Table of Contents
Foreword 5
Acknowledgements 6
List of tables and figures 7
Summary 9
Introduction 13
1. What do we mean by the voluntary sector 15
1.1 Defining the voluntary sector 15
The voluntary sector and charities, The voluntary sector and civil society, The voluntary sector and the social economy, The voluntary sector and the third sector
1.2 An updated map of the voluntary sector in Wales 18
1.3 Future developments in definitions 21
2. The voluntary sector in Wales 23
2.1 The number of voluntary organisations in Wales 23
2.2 The areas of activity (forums) of voluntary organisations in Wales 23
2.3 The distribution of voluntary organisations throughout Wales 27
All organisations, Organisations with a Welsh or bilingual title, National organisations, Regional organisations, Local organisations, Project and branch offices
2.4 The size of voluntary organisations 36
2.5 Voluntary organisations that are also charities 37
2.6 Voluntary organisations registered as companies 38
3. The sources and size of voluntary sector income 41
3.1 Analysis of sources: most recent information 42
3.2 Trends in income, 1994-present 44
3.3 Income estimates from surveys and databases. 47
The three Area Almanacs, 2000, The income figures from the All Wales Database
4. Public giving to charitable causes 49
5. The National Lottery in Wales 55
5.1 Awards to the voluntary sector 56
5.2 The New Opportunities Fund 59
5.3 Lottery participation in Wales 59
6. Expenditure, assets and liabilities 65
7. People in the voluntary sector 67
7.1 Adult volunteers 67
7.2 Young people and voluntary activity 70
7.3 Trustees 71
7.4 Paid employees 71
8. The value of the social economy in Wales 75
8.1 Defining the social economy 75
8.2 Considerations in mapping the social economy 77
8.3 The size of the social economy 78
8.4 Developing the social economy 81
9. Supporting the local voluntary sector 83
10. The future 85
10.1 Changes in the voluntary sector and its environment 85
10.2 Future research 85
Bibliography 87
Index 90
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Foreword
Foreword
This is the fourth compilation of facts and figures about the voluntary sector in Wales. The breadth, depth and quality of information increase each time.
Such research is the lifeblood of effective policy, planning, monitoring and campaigning for change. It establishes volunteering and the voluntary sector as an important part of civil society in Wales in the 21st century.
This volume brings together the results of many WCVA reports written over the four years since the last Almanac, research sponsored by the Wales Assembly Government and publicly available data sets from the Office of National Statistics and an NCVO/NOP survey. It is an impressive array of information, but it also highlights areas where the information needs to be updated or the quality can be improved.
Important progress is being made in working in a number of partnerships with the National Assembly for Wales, Welsh Local Government Association, Local Government Data Unit, Wales Funders’ Forum and the Directory of Social Change to provide more integrated information on the funding of the voluntary sector in Wales.
WCVA has begun a longitudinal study of voluntary organisations to provide accurate trends in core statistics over the next five years. This is complemented by a growing emphasis on how the outcomes and impact of voluntary activity can be identified and described to an increasingly discerning public and to funders.
This Almanac is one of four produced as part of a UK collaboration between the voluntary councils of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. This collaboration has been supported by the Community Fund, and will continue to provide a productive environment for encouraging better research and information.
Graham Benfield OBE
Chief Executive, WCVA
Acknowledgements
Lynda Garfield performed much of the work for this Almanac before her retirement in June 2002. Lynda had worked for WCVA for seventeen years. The voluntary sector in Wales owes much to Lynda, whose inquisitive nature, tenacity, ability to cope with huge amounts of information and plain hard work have led to much of what we know about the sector in Wales today. We wish her a happy retirement and dedicate this publication to her.
The Community Fund provided essential financial assistance for the production of this Almanac, in collaboration with WCVA’s sister organisations in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
Karl Wilding, Marion Lacey, Gordon McCulloch, Pauline Jas, Jim Etty and James Mundell have provided much needed assistance, and the editorial skills of Phil Jarrold and Tim Day have been invaluable. Any mistakes are, however, all mine.
Bryan Collis
Colwyn Bay
April 2003
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Tables and figures
List of tables and figures
Tables
Table 1.1 A map of the voluntary sector
Table 2.1 Distribution of organisations between activity areas
Table 2.2a Distribution of organisations between activity areas: national organisations
Table 2.2b Distribution of organisations between activity areas: regional organisations
Table 2.2c Distribution of organisations between activity areas: local organisations
Table 2.2d Distribution of organisations between activity areas: branch and project offices
Table 2.2e Percentage of organisations in an activity area which are national or regional
Table 2.3 Distribution of voluntary organisation contact addresses
Table 2.4 Number of voluntary organisations in local authority area per thousand population
Table 2.5 Organisations with a Welsh or bilingual name
Table 2.6 Types of organisation with a welsh or bilingual name
Table 2.7 Distribution of national voluntary organisations
Table 2.8 Distribution of regional voluntary organisations
Table 2.9 Distribution of local voluntary organisations
Table 2.10 Distribution of local voluntary organisations between National Assembly regions
Table 2.11 Distribution of branch or project offices of voluntary organisations
Table 2.12 Distribution of branch or project offices of voluntary organisations between National Assembly regions
Table 2.13 Distribution of voluntary organisations by income band
Table 2.14 Income of national, regional and local voluntary organisations
Table 2.15 Distribution of charitable organisations by activity area
Table 3.1: Income from the general public
Table 3.2: Income from government
Table 3.3: Income from voluntary organisations
Table 3.4: Income from business
Table 3.5: Internally generated income
Table 3.6 Changes in income by income source: 1995-2001
Table 3.7 Voluntary sector income estimated from organisation income
Table 4.1 How people give
Table 4.2 What causes do people support
Table 4.3 Estimated value of charitable giving by cause: changes in real value between 1995 and 2000
Table 5.1 Wales voluntary sector income from the National Lottery, 2001
Table 5.2 Distribution of awards to voluntary organisations between counties in Wales, 2001
Table 5.3 New opportunities fund awards in Wales
Table 5.4 Lottery funding to organisations with an address in Wales, 2001
Table 5.5 National Lottery funding to voluntary organisations in Wales by local authority area
Table 6.1 Total annual income and total annual expenditure, by annual income range,
Table 6.2 Assets and liabilities of general charities in Wales
Table 6.3 Expenditure and total funds of general charities in Wales
Table 7.1 Age and sex distribution of adult volunteers in Wales
Table 7.2 Volunteers by employment status
Table 7.3 Volunteers and use of the Welsh language
Table 7.4 Distribution of volunteers by National Assembly Regional Committee Area
Table 7.5 Activities undertaken by volunteers
Table 7.6 Part of the voluntary sector benefiting from volunteer activity
Table 7.7 Activities undertaken by young people who volunteer
Table 7.8 Trustees in voluntary sector charities
Table 7.9 Voluntary sector paid workforce, 1995-2000
Table 7.10 Comparing the voluntary sector paid workforce with the Welsh workforce in 2000
Table 7.11 Distribution of male and female workers by employment status
Table 7.12 Average of the total weekly working hours including paid and unpaid overtime
Table 7.13 Distribution of the paid workforce by type of organisation
Table 8.1 Estimates of charity shop turnover, profit and staffing
Table 8.2 Estimate of the economic value of the social economy in Wales
Table 9.1 Public sector grants to county voluntary councils 1999-2002
Figures
Figure 2.1 Area of activity of regional voluntary organisations
Figure 2.2 Distribution of national, regional and local voluntary organisations by income band
Figure 3.1 Income matrix for the voluntary sector
Figure 3.2 Voluntary sector income sources: 2001
Figure 3.2 Changes in the real value of income sources, excluding housing association income
Figure 4.1 Proportion of people who give
Figure 4.2 Average monthly donation of those who give
Figure 4.3 Distribution of donations, 1999-2001
Figure 4.4 Distribution of donations, 1995
Figure 5.1 Destination of national lottery awards 2001
Figure 5.2 Proportion of lottery funding to the voluntary sector in Wales from each distributor
Figure 5.3 Community Fund and New Opportunity Fund awards to voluntary organisations in Wales
Figure 7.1 Normal working hours of voluntary sector employees
Figure 7.2 Age distribution of voluntary sector paid workforce and Welsh workforce
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Summary
Summary
The definition of the voluntary sector comes from the description in the Voluntary Sector Scheme, published by the National Assembly for Wales:
The term voluntary sectorincludes voluntary organisations, community groups, volunteers, self-help groups, community co-operatives and enterprises, religious organisations and other not for profit organisations of benefit to communities and people in Wales.
The voluntary sector in Wales comprises of:
· An estimated 30,000 organisations, of which over 25,000 are included in the All Wales Database of Voluntary Organisations maintained by WCVA.
· Of these approximately 800 are national organisations, covering the whole of Wales; 1,200 are regional organisations and 23,000 are local organisations.
· They are grouped into 21 forums which are co-terminus with the networks represented on the Voluntary Sector Partnership Council. The largest forums are sport and recreation, community, health and social care and children and families.
· Most organisations are small, acting in a local area with an income of less than £10,000.
The income, expenditure and assets of the voluntary sector
· The most reliable estimate of the income of the voluntary sector is £627m, rounded to £630m to account for sources that may have been missed. This represents an increase over the 1999 estimate, but a 15 per cent decrease in real terms since 1995.
· The main components of income are:
o public giving 34 per cent
o government and public bodies 34 per cent
o internally generated funds 24 per cent
o National Lottery 5 per cent
o voluntary sector sources 2 per cent
o business sources 1 per cent
· This change in income since 1995 is made up of
o a decrease in public giving
o a decrease in capital grants to housing associations
o an increase in grants from the National Assembly (previously the Welsh Office)
o an increase in funding from European sources
o the presence of the National lottery
· The expenditure of the voluntary sector is estimated to be 93 per cent of income, or £586 million.
· The total assets of the voluntary sector are estimated to be £1.6 billion. Fixed assets make up £1.1 billion of this total.
People giving to charitable causes
· Seventy one per cent of people who were asked said that they had given to charity in the last month in 2001, the result of a slow increase since 1997, when 59 per cent of people did so.
· The average monthly donation of those who give was £9.87 in 2000, which represents a small increase from 1998 and a 6 per cent increase above inflation since 1995.
· The most popular causes are: medical research, children and young people and other medical or health care causes.
Funding from the National Lottery
· Lottery funding to organisations in Wales totalled £50.8 million in the calendar year 2001. Of this £29.4 million (58 per cent) was awarded to voluntary organisations, with most of the rest (£19.3 million, 39 per cent) being awarded to public bodies.
· In 2001, lottery distributors awarded the following proportion of their grant funds to voluntary organisations:
o Community Fund 100 per cent
o Arts Council of Wales 69 per cent
o Heritage Lottery Fund 54 per cent
o New Opportunities Fund 54 per cent
o Sports Council for Wales 11 per cent
· Twenty per cent of lottery income raised in Wales is distributed to good causes in Wales, compared to 28 per cent at a UK level. Thus a proportion of lottery money raised in Wales is awarded to organisations outside Wales. The voluntary sector in Wales receives 12 per cent of money raised in Wales through ticket sales.
People in the voluntary sector
· 1.12m people volunteer (48 per cent of the adult population), giving an average 8 hours of time a month. This is valued at approximately £1.1 billion, which is equivalent to 3.6 per cent of the GDP of Wales.
· The profile of volunteers seems to match the general population with respect to age and gender. Sixty percent of people who work part time volunteer compared to 49 per cent of those who work full time and 39 per cent of people who look after the home or children.
· The most popular causes that people support are health and social care, education and children, similar to the findings in the giving survey.
· 165,600 young people in Wales volunteer (89 per cent of 11-15 year olds), contributing approximately 10 million hours each year. The most frequent type of volunteering activity is raising funds, visiting or doing jobs and caring for animals.
· There are an estimated 150,000 trustees or management committee members of voluntary organisations in Wales.
· There are an estimated 22,900 paid employees of voluntary organisations in Wales. This represents 1.8 per cent of the total paid workforce in Wales.
· Nearly seven out of ten employees in the voluntary sector are female, compared with 45 per cent of the Welsh workforce. Men are more likely to work full time than women, who are twice as likely to have a temporary contract. Voluntary sector employees are older and work longer hours, on average, than the general workforce.