Conference papers

The event was a AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme with the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, Goldsmith’s. The conference was held at the British Library, London on 1st July 2010. 

Margaret's address posed the question does faith want to be mainstreamed in the public sphere? Or are faith organisations just allowing themselves to be incorporated incrementally into the mainstream of public policy and policy implementation?

The third seminar in the 2009/2010 BIVAR series was held on 10 March at the Mary Ward Centre. The topic for discussion – ‘Does size matter?’ – was one close to our hearts at IVAR and proved popular, with over 40 people attending. The session looked at the role of small-scale voluntary sector activity and examined how best this work might be supported.

The third seminar in the 2009/2010 BIVAR series was held on 10 March at the Mary Ward Centre. The topic for discussion – ‘Does size matter?’ – was one close to our hearts at IVAR and proved popular, with over 40 people attending. The session looked at the role of small-scale voluntary sector activity and examined how best this work might be supported.
 

In his presentation Dr Roger Spear reviewed the different conceptual approaches to social entrepreneurship and related them to approaches in social enterprise. Roger also gave a detailed assessment of the findings from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring Programme on social entrepreneurship.

This presentation was given at Birkbeck on Thursday 4th February 2010 as part of the BIVAR seminary series.
 

To download the presentation click here.

Mike Aiken, Head of Research at IVAR, examined emerging evidence from research into the role of asset management and ownership in social enterprise activity. Mike’s presentation drew on an evidence review into community ownership of assets carried out by IVAR for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in December 2008. The presentation stimulated considerable debate, not least Mike’s challenge to the audience to try and judge the extent to which a range of organisations were engaged in the ownership and management of community assets.

What lessons can the UK non-profit sector learn from the way NGOs work internationally? This presentation attempts to address this question, examining some of the different processes and practices that International NGOs have adopted to handle the challenges of the last twenty years. This presentation was given at Birkbeck on December 4th 2009 as part of the BIVAR seminary series.

To download the full presentation click here.

There has been very little dedicated research on mergers that ‘span’ organisational differences, in particular merger between large and small organisations.

In order to contribute to this gap in the literature, this paper explores two research questions: ‘what challenges do organisations face when merger takes place between small and large organisations?’ and ‘how can these challenges be addressed?’

Plenary Address by Margaret Harris to the Annual Meeting of ARNOVA (Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action), Philadelphia, November 2008.

Leading in Building Civil Society: Obligations and Privileges

To read the plenery address - click here.

This paper explores the emergence of ‘high engagement funding’ by charitable foundations. It draws on data from a study carried out in a UK charitable trust to consider the development of a ‘grants plus’ approach to investment. In the light of the findings, the paper considers the practical implications of this approach and suggests a set of possible success factors for its future use.

To read the full paper - click here.

This paper explores the advocacy function of third sector organisations. It draws on data from a study carried out in 19 community-based organisations in England to consider the ways in which their advocacy function is understood, organised and implemented. In the light of the findings, it discusses the challenges and implications of implementing advocacy alongside delivering services.

To read conference paper - click here.