Presentation for the NCVO NAVCA Evolve conference, June 2013, about the future of infrastructure

1. Infrastructure in 2020:
A force for good or
a spent force?
Tony Okotie,
Chief Executive
June 2013

2. Who are we?
• Tameside:
• East of Manchester city- 1 of 10 GM boroughs
• Population 220,000
• Mainly urban, traditional manufacturing, multiple
deprivation, ‘heart disease capital of England’
• State of the voluntary sector research:
• 1,000 VCS organisations – 70% income under £10k
• 26,000 volunteers; 1,200 employees
• worth £100m pa

3. Who are we?
• CVAT the joining of two ‘traditional’
infrastructure organisations:
• Tameside 3rd
Sector Coalition – formed 2001
• Volunteer Centre Tameside – formed 1975
• Employ 30 staff, income approx £1m
• No direct services (ish)
• New organisation opportunity to think about
infrastructure again

4. The overarching mission of CVAT:
‘to build, and support strong,
vibrant volunteering,
community and voluntary
action in Tameside’

5. Mission split into 5 aims
External: 1. Capacity building
2. Volunteering
3. Communities
4. Partnerships
Internal: 5. Our organisation

7. Looking to 2020...
• 2020 is just 7
years away
- the time it took
to build the
London
Olympics!
Does what infrastructure looked like 7 years ago (in
2006) offer any clues?

8. The unsettlement of infrastructure
1. changing demands and challenges facing
frontline organisations – tailored support for a
competitive environment?
2. withdrawal of central state support for national
and local infrastructure – ‘de-coupling’
3. income generation and a changing geography of
infrastructure; TLI as unfinished business from
ChangeUp? – ‘reconfiguration’
Rob Macmillan, Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham
Reproduced with permission

9. The unsettlement of infrastructure
4. changing delivery mechanisms - on-line
support; peer to peer learning; pro-bono;
community organising; prime contracting; ‘fiscal
sponsorship’, incubation and shelter
5. ‘demand-led’ approaches - market making in
infrastructure?
6. rethinking functions and staffing of infrastructure
organisations - hollowing out
Rob Macmillan, Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham
Reproduced with permission

10. Implications – challenges and opportunities
• ‘Customers’
o what support do we need, or want? (and do we know?)
o do we want to shop for it, and if so how do we choose?
o how will we know if it is any good?
• ‘Suppliers’
o how do we reach ‘customers’? how do they know about us?
o what is our business model and organisational structure?
o what niche can we occupy in relation to other providers?
o how do we set and adjust our prices?
• ‘Market makers’
o is there a viable market for chargeable support services?
o how far should it be ‘managed’ or left open?
o how is quality understood and assured?
o what support is available for new, smaller or marginalised groups?
o what about ‘voice’ and advocacy?
Rob Macmillan, Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham
Reproduced with permission

11. So , how have we responded?
• Merger to form CVAT
• Opportunity to rebrand, lose ‘baggage’
• Financial efficiencies
• Redefine services and ‘offer’
• The offer to VCOs– 3 levels:
1.Self Service / ‘digital by default’
 underpinning strategy
1.Free offer – because someone else is paying
2.CVAT+ -
our chargeable offer

12. Digital by default / self service
• Online access to:
• Self assessment of group needs (and online
signposting)
• funding portal
• e-learning
• Closed discussion space (s)
• Factsheets
• Good People – an alternative to ‘Do It’?
• Note: work in progress!

13. So , how have we responded?
• Collaboration
• Our offer to other organisations:
• Make – sell – buy – share?
• 3 touchstones for collaboration:
Can’t negatively affect the service local VCOs get
Must be better than cost neutral
Key stakeholders must approve
• Specialist support fund
• Way to buy / commission specialist support on VCOs behalf
• Tests out VCOs contributing / paying

14. So , how have we responded?
• Development of other services
• Consultancy
• Grant management
• Project management / consortia / supply chains
• Being ‘solution focussed’ with commissioners
• Tameside 4 Good
• Need to provide practical
support to help VCOs increase
work with business / community

15. Tameside 4 Good
• Increasing giving of time and skills, resources
and money – locally
• Business engagement
• community fundraising
• volunteering
• Replicable model -other infrastructure
organisations can licence

16. What have we learnt?
• We have no ‘right’ to be funded – we
have to be excellent
• Competition - baseline is private providers
• Demonstrate impact – to VCOs and
funder
• Voice is important
• Be clear – what is free, what isn’t

17. What have we learnt?
• Be lean / efficient
• the cake is getting smaller, so overheads
should be a thinner slice
• Avoid mission drift
• It’s a journey – which takes time
• If you haven’t already started.........?