Towards Sustainability

The goal of sustainability for voluntary and community sector organisations has been in the mainstream for at least 10 years, although the idea is likely to be much older than that. At this point most people will probably immediately think of financial sustainability; while this is very important, it is not the only factor that affects the long-tem viability of an organisation.

With the current talk of public sector cuts, sustainability is a obvious concern at the present, especially since a significant part of the sector’s funding comes from public sources. It also seems likely that there will be more demands made on voluntary and community sector organisations just at the same time as the cuts take effect. In this context it is important to realise that a sustainable voluntary sector may not be the same as a thriving voluntary sector.

The term ‘sustainability’ seems to be fairly straight-forward, but for a voluntary organisation it has three component parts.

1. The most obvious sign of a sustainable organisation is that it is still in existence as a ‘dead’ organisation clearly hasn’t been sustained.
2. The second factor is whether the organisation is providing a service for members or service users/clients. If the organisation doesn’t provide anything, or isn’t planning to do so, it might as well not exist.
3. Finally the service has to be relevant. If the service isn’t taken up because it isn’t addressing needs the organisation may survive, but it doesn’t serve any purpose.

In addition to the normal requirements of funding, equipment, and premises, etc voluntary organisations also require considerable ‘soft’ inputs such as encouragement, drive, ideas, creativity, and initiative. Although support organisations can assist, these are largely dependent upon the make-up of the voluntary organisation. There is also a need for a range of skills, which is an area where support organisations can help. However, the particular range of skills needed will change during the life of the organisation

Is sustainability always relevant?

Although sustainability is sometimes put forward as being the ideal that all voluntary and community organisations should aim towards, it isn’t always relevant.

• Time limited organisations may be only intend to exist for a certain period of time or to address a short-term need.
• An organisation may have succeeded in meeting the need it was set up to address. In this case there may be no further need for the organisation.
• Pilot Projects. An organisation may have been set up to pilot a new approach or a new area of work.
• In some cases the need for an organisation may have changed as demographics have changes or work may have been taken over by other organisations with more resources.

Sustainability and Risk

There can be a conflict between what some see as the purpose of the voluntary sector and the ability to be sustainable. For example the voluntary sector can be seen as the place to experiment with different approaches, take risks, and tackle unpopular causes. It is also often seen as filling the gap between the public and private sectors. All of these can impact on the ability to be sustainable as the more unpopular or innovative an approach is, the more risky it is and the more likely it is to fail. Groups in this position may need to spend longer on funding applications, find that they have a smaller pool of funders and need to spend more time justifying their work. However, it is embracing this risk and coping with these difficulties that leads to developing new solutions and meeting long-term or unmet needs.

One way of addressing sustainability is to reduce the risks faced by an organisation. However, minimising risks takes time and resources. These may not be available to smaller organisations. For example, if key members of staff need to attend training or prepare policies they may not be able to devote time to running activities. When an organisation is dependent upon trustees or volunteers to run services this danger can be magnified as they may have other demands on their time in the form of family, work, or study.

In addition to the risks involved in a particular approach there are also risks arising from legislation. These include:

• Health and Safety
• Governance and legal structures
• Employing staff
• Inappropriate financial controls
• Lack of forward planning
• Risks to reputation
• Failing to take legal/investment advice

This is a summary of a report prepared by the CRIB Project entitled “Towards Sustainability”. This summary was first printed in the March edition of Grapevine. A full copy of the report can be downloaded from here.