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OPINION: Charity research is a priority

Third Sector, 26 February 2003

A fellow think-tanker from Poland phoned to ask my advice. Can I suggest an author for a paper about recent trends in the UK voluntary sector? I enlist the help of a few contacts. To my astonishment, they all offer me the name of the same person.

I'll spare the academic concerned his blushes by not disclosing his name. Besides, he hardly needs the publicity; he is obviously inundated with requests for his expertise.

But without doubting his exceptional contribution to research about voluntary organisations, it is extraordinary that such a question fails to elicit a long list of names. It is a reminder of the limited research capacity in the UK on all matters relating to the voluntary sector.

The number of university departments and non-academic bodies that undertake research in this field runs into double figures. But their collective efforts would hardly fill a small library. By contrast, there are more than 100 university business schools in the UK. Take one look at the state of research about UK voluntary organisations and you would be forgiven for assuming that the sector was in terminal decline.

If the voluntary sector is to be taken seriously, more resources need to be devoted to researching it. We lack basic up-to-date information, such as measures of the sector's "added value", the fast-changing relationship between charities and public services and the complex pressures that impinge on not-for-profit organisations.

The UK needs its own equivalent of the US Aspen Institute's Non Profit Sector and Philanthropy Program. Among its recent activities, this research outfit has recently produced a report on the state of non-profit America.

The publication provides a comprehensive analysis of the changes that are having an impact on the US voluntary sector. Drawing on a wealth of data available in the US, it is able to go well beyond equivalent publications produced in the UK. It is a timely reminder that, as the UK voluntary sector grows in size and influence, we need to invest in research to understand it better.

Lisa Harker, deputy director of the Institute for Public Policy Research