Research development

The Research Development Fund at IVAR

In keeping with IVAR's stated purpose to exchange knowledge and support the continued independence of the voluntary sector we are pleased to be able to show our committment to this by introducing our Research Development Fund.
  
A small working fund has been set aside by the Trustees out of IVAR’s reserves to support some specific activities.
 

  • Projects which are unlikely to attract external funding on account of their focus and or because of their methodology.
  • Projects which are unlikely to proceed without IVAR investment. This might include work with smaller, less well-resourced organisations.
  • Initiatives which are in keeping with IVAR’s commitment to be a learning organisation such as supporting the writing up of research findings for different audiences.

Here's what the Fund has supported in the last 12 months

A case study of Cambridge House in South London, "From Settlement to Community Anchor"
 
Work on ‘ATM or Development Agency? Challenges of moving beyond grant-making for charitable foundations’, a paper presented to the Annual ARNOVA Conference in Philadelphia, November 2008, and shortlisted for the Best Conference Paper Award.
 
Background work on ‘The independence of the voluntary sector from government in England’, published by The Baring Foundation in April 2009
 
All publications can be found in our publications archive.

Projects we're working on currently 

  • A joint study with New Philanthropy Capital exploring the challenge of how to capture and report the impact of multi-purpose community organisations (community anchors) 
  • A review of recent mergers carried out by The Adolescent and Childrens’ Trust with other small organisations in the fostering and adoption field and the identification of critical success factors for voluntary sector mergers
  • An exploratory study in collaboration with the Institute for Volunteering Research, focusing on the challenges of governance for small voluntary organisations and how best to support their volunteer trustees

The fund is not open to public tender and projects are chosen by IVAR management and trustees

For more information about the Research Development Fund please contact mark@ivar.org.uk