Committee Enquiry: Funding of Voluntary Sector Organisations

CWVYS Response

CWVYS (Council for Wales of Voluntary Youth Services) is the umbrella body in Wales for the Voluntary Youth Sector. CWVYS has a membership of 48 national and local organisations that work with over 200,000 young people aged 11-25 in Wales. The aims are to represent the sector, support the needs of the membership, work to improve continually services for young people and to inform and support the sector engage in the implementation of the youth work policy in Wales. It is estimated that the workforce of the member organisations includes 40,000 volunteers and 4,000 paid staff and in excess of 3,000 units or groups.

CWVYS is pleased to make the following comments:

1. Ease or difficulty of obtaining funding from the Welsh Assembly Government or relevant national funding bodies.

The National Voluntary Youth Organisation Grant Scheme is one of the major grant schemes for the National Voluntary Youth Sector. This scheme provides mostly core funding (and some project funding) that contributes to management and other costs of the infrastructure of the sector in Wales. It is considered essential to the capacity of organisations in receipt of the funding as it ensures that organisations can ensure their core functions and concentrate their efforts on delivery to young people, the workforce and the wider policy engagement through the Children and Young People’s Partnerships and the National Youth Service Strategy. It is the only scheme nationally that contributes to the core costs of the national voluntary youth organisations. As a result, funding from other sources can be accessed for project and development work.

The CWVYS members would recommend that the scheme continues in its present form and would hope additional resources would be available in the future to support capacity building in the voluntary youth sector.

The scheme has a 3 year cycle and was administered by the Wales Youth Agency (WYA) on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government before the WYA was absorbed in 2006. Consultations on the guidelines were and are continuing to be very positive, taking on board the comments of the recipients and CWVYS where possible. Some support was available in the past about how to fill out the different sections (not the content) of application form which some organisations felt useful. Information sessions on the guidance and expectations of applications were also useful. The guidance and application process through the WYA and subsequently has always attempted to follow the Code of Practice for Funding the Voluntary Sector.

While a 3 year funding cycle is important to enable organisations to plan the result is that the scheme is closed to new applications during this period.

Some regional organisations in membership of CWVYS aspire to becoming national in their coverage through development work, and are excluded from the grant scheme.

Other organisations in membership of CWVYS are in receipt of funding from other national bodies and other departments of the Welsh Assembly Government with different conditions and guidance.

What is essential is that all funding schemes should adhere to the Code of Practice for Funding the Voluntary Sector which has been developed in partnership between the Welsh Assembly Government and the sector. This should be seen as a good practice standard and there should be a method of ensuring compliance if the standards are not achieved. A compliance committee was established some years ago but it is not certain if it has been re-established in the new Assembly term.

2. Ease or difficulty in complying with constraints or conditions placed on funding.

Accountability for funding and monitoring procedures need to be in place but should not be so demanding or restrictive as to inhibit the work or exclude organisations from applying. The procedures should be tailored to the amount of funding, the purpose for which it has been granted and use methods that suit the context. They should build on the good practice that already exists either in the organisation or in the appropriate sector organisations as whole.

There should be support for filling in the form for those who need it, and feed back particularly if the grant application has not been successful.

The voluntary youth sector values its independence and its role in advocacy and partnership work and consultation on policy development. While organisations may subscribe to Welsh Assembly policy, over prescription in the grant guidance and conditions may make organisations feel compromised with their independence status.

3. Issues related to the duration or timing of funding.

The funding cycle should be a minimum of three years wherever possible particularly for core costs and for development work to enable organisations to forward plan and, where relevant, attract staff of good quality.

The code of practice also lays down the time scales for application procedures and decisions on funding. These are standards to enable organisations to comply with other legal requirements upon them and should be honored as good practice.

4. Any other comments relevant to the inquiry.

Cost of living increases and some funding for redundancy pay at the end of a period of a grant, for example, should be included in the grant conditions.

Project grants could also include full cost recovery and elements of management and core costs where appropriate. Grant funding should be paid in advance of need.

The Code of Practice needs to be fully disseminated across the Welsh Assembly Government departments. There is also a strong case for encouraging Local Authorities and other national grant making bodies to have similar codes of practice that adopt the same standards.

The Code of Practice should be revisited to determine if it requires amending at this point in time.

Please contact me if you require any clarification at this stage or for more information on CWVYS please visit www.cwvys.org.uk

Veronica Wilson
Chief Executive
29.11.07

Council for Wales of Voluntary Youth Services
Cyngor Cymreig y Gwasanaethau Ieuenctid Gwirfoddol
Baltic House/ Tŷ Baltic
Mount Stuart Square/ Sgwâr Mount Stuart
CARDIFF/ CAERDYDD CF10 5FH
Tel/Ffôn: 029 2047 3498
Fax/Ffacs: 029 2045 1245
Email/Ebost: veronica@cwvys.org.uk  
www.cwvys.org.uk
Registered Charity Number/ Rhif Elusen Gofrestredig: 1110702
Company Number/ Rhif y Cwmni : 5444248