The quality of support for the third sector in every local area in England is to be measured by a new survey of the sector. The Office of the Third Sector is asking third sector organisations to share their experiences. This will help give local government the information it needs to ensure an environment for a thriving third sector, and meet new performance targets.
From 22 September, 104,000 charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises will receive the National Survey of Third Sector Organisations (NSTSO) questionnaire from Ipsos MORI.
This will be the biggest ever survey of the sector and will ask about local and national funding relationships, advice and support services and the state of relations with local government. The survey aims to:
- build a picture of the effectiveness of partnership working between the third sector and local authorities in England and set the baseline from which progress will be measured in 2010
- enable third sector organisations to have their voice heard on what their local operating environment is like
- help local areas to do better in supporting the third sector by providing the information with which to evaluate their progress and identify key areas for improvement
- provide national government and researchers an unrivalled picture of the local third sector and what affects its success.
Survey questionnaires will be sent to organisations drawn from available registers of third sector organisations provided by BMG Research and GuideStar Data Services. Further information about the survey can be found at the NSTSO website. http://www.nstso.com/ (Thanks to Tom from Interlink for this story).
