NICVA releases latest Viewfinder research

20 Oct 2011     Last updated: 20 Jun 2014

NICVA has released their latest research on the voluntary and community sector.  Viewfinder, the tenth in the series, provides an overview of a number of issues which are currently affecting the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland.&

Viewfinder 10 focuses specifically on two key themes; collaborative working and the impact of public sector cuts on the voluntary and community sector.

This research builds on the evidence base generated by Viewfinder 9 (September 2010), and outlines not only how the sector has been affected by the economic downturn but how it has managed to adapt.  A taster of some of the findings are below:

Collaborative working

Collaborative working practices have been a theme of NICVA research over a number of years.  Viewfinder 10 reports that 84% of respondents work in collaboration with other organisations.

Public Sector Cuts

Overall 58% of responding organisations have been affected by the cuts in public expenditure, with the majority being affected by cuts between 1% and 10%.  In order to manage the cuts in public expenditure, almost half of responding organisations have examined alternative funding streams, over a third have worked in collaboration with another organisation, and just under a third have lobbied to keep funding.

Read the full report

The Viewfinder 10 questionnaire was circulated to 930 NICVA member organisations in August 2011, generating a response rate of 38%.  Read the full findings and download the report here.

If you would like further information about the survey or how to include questions in future Viewfinders, contact the Research Unit on 028 9087 7777.

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