Small voluntary organisations led by people of African descent are not a homogenous group. They may face different challenges, and have different ethos and ways of approaching problems.
However, some common barriers may include:
1) Funding. This is sometimes due to lack of understanding by some funding bodies, which may lead to the setting of onerous conditions. It is for this reason that BTWSC will be organising a funders conference aimed at sensitising funders to the barriers they may inadvertently place on small voluntary organisations. Cognisance must also be taken of the fact that some outcomes may be soft, and not easily quantifiable in evaluation reports. Hence a holistic view should be taken when evaluating funded projects.
2) Lack of appreciation by some funding bodies of problems and challenges faced by communities for whose benefit funding is being accessed, and this can impact on whether or not funding is successful.
3) Assumption by some funding bodies about the kind of capacity building needed by small voluntary organisations, which leads them to offer the same capacity building programmes year on. Assumptions are often made about the needs of small voluntary organisations without first finding out what skills or experience lie within the individual organisations. Hence many capacity building programmes are one size fits all, instead of meeting different organisational needs.
4) Prejudice from some grant assessors who lump all organisations led by people of African descent in one group, and do not think these organisations have the capacity to handle substantial funding.
5) Funders sometimes find it easier for administrative purposes to offer high value pots of money, usually aimed at bigger organisations or consortia. If funders actually care about results, rather than their convenience, then they might consider offering funding that’s directly accessible to small organisations working at the coal-face. An option might be to distribute funding through a sub-funder or umbrella organisation.
6) Whilst funding is important small voluntary organisations tend to be passionate and do not always wait for funding to do what they believe is necessary. For example, BTWSC organised the Because…youth crime summit without funding, because the organisation thought it was important for stakeholders to come together to look at some of the recommendations put forward by the community as the way forward regarding youth crime.
REACH report
The recommendations by REACH report regarding the formation of African led consortia, to share resources, expertise and good ideas, is a step in the right direction, so long as members of the consortium share the same values and ethos. But this should not be dictated or forced, it should be organic. If it is dictated, there is the danger of organisations forming consortia for the wrong reasons. There was a move to encourage partnership work, in the belief that this was a more efficient use of resources. A good idea on paper, but in practice it sometimes had the effect of organisations with different ethos or approaches joining forces for funding, but without a cohesive way of working as a partnership. It is for this reason that the consortia route should be organic, and not forced upon organisations.
Whilst a local focus is important, organisations that are pan London are important, and there is value in sharing expertise from another locality.
The way forward in my view is to have:
1) umbrella voluntary organisations purposely for small voluntary organisations with an annual income of 100,000 pounds or less. The officers who work with small groups should have experience of working in small voluntary organisations without core funding, or regular funding, so that they have an understanding of the challenges such organisations face.
2) A skills audit in all CVSs to find out the skills and expertise of member organisations.
3) CVSs building the capacity of small organisations by commissioning them to undertake training for member organisations, where they have the skills and competence to do so. Instead of the usual, bring in the ‘experts’ from outside.
4) Sub-funders or umbrella organisations distributing funding to eligible small voluntary organisations.