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?

Getting ready for collaboration: Learning from experience has been written to help staff, trustees and volunteers from voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) to get ready for working in collaboration. The guide should help with all forms of collaboration – from sharing information and developing a common policy response to mergers.

We decided to produce this guide because organisations have told us that they gain more from collaboration when they are well prepared from the outset.

This exploratory study, carried out by the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) and the Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR), aimed to explore the governance challenges facing small voluntary and community organisations (VCOs). We interviewed the Chair or Vice Chair of six organisations and three City Bridge Trust (cbt) consultants. 

To read the summary report click here.

Building Bridges: The Third Sector Responding Locally to Diversity

Against the backdrop of the economic recession, the need for mergers in the voluntary sector is being strongly debated and, in some quarters, actively promoted. Despite this interest, gaps remain in our knowledge about the actual process of merger. In a recent article for Trust and Foundation News, Ben Cairns discusses critical success factors for mergers, based on IVAR's recent review of four mergers carried out by The Adolescent and Children's Trust.

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.

This report details an assessment of Compact Advocacy cases carried out by the Institute for Voluntary Action Research on behalf of Compact Voice. The overall objective of this research was to conduct a review of disputes between a voluntary and community sector [VCS] organisation and a public body.

The report is divided into four parts.

Part One provides some background to the research and outlines our methodology.

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.