Institute For Voluntary Action Research

About IVAR We work with charities, foundations and public agencies to strengthen UK communities through action research. Our vision is for a powerful and independent voluntary sector, meeting social need and galvanising change. Our mission We facilitate collaboration and learning with charities, foundations and public agencies to deliver useful insights that make a difference to communities.

Supporting charities to navigate prolonged uncertainty ‘Leading in Uncertainty’ is a programme of online support for charity leaders. It was established at the beginning of the Covid pandemic in April 2020. At that time of acute crisis, we sought to provide a ‘safe space’ to pause and reflect for leaders of smaller, frontline charities.

This report was commissioned by the Co-op Foundation, seeking to address the research question: How do funders monitor and assess the impact of unrestricted grants, and what successes and challenges have they encountered? The Co-op Foundation is committed to making more long-term unrestricted grants and wanted to understand how other similar funders approached the question of assessing the impact of such grants to learn from this.

The Power of Youth Charter (POYC or the Charter), aims to recognise young people’s efforts and give more young people across the UK opportunities to shape their future. By signing up to the Charter, organisations are making a public commitment to empowering children and young people. IVAR worked with UK Youth and Volunteering Matters between July 2022 and November 2024 to map organisations’ journeys with the Charter, and to explore how different organisations implement the POYC commitments.

The role of leadership in tackling stigma and inequalities – Key Insights from Dr Andy Knox In today’s society, stigma and inequalities continue to be significant barriers to achieving fairness and inclusivity across many communities in the UK. Tackling these issues requires leaders to play a pivotal role in confronting stigma, driving change by challenging societal norms, and being committed to creating change at every level – individual, organisational, and societal.

Background Social exclusion, disadvantage and deprivation remain huge priorities to address in Scotland. Levels of poverty were increasing long before the shocks of the last four years. The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on quality of life is profound, with a particularly devastating impact on vulnerable people who are more susceptible to experiencing harm, discrimination, or disadvantage.

The Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System (ICS) was inaugurated on 1st July 2022, with a Board (ICB) responsible for managing the NHS budget and an Integrated Care Partnership Committee (ICP) responsible for improving local health, care and wellbeing. The Committee meets bi-monthly and brings together all system partners to develop strategy for health, public health and social care and there are 10 seats designated to the voluntary sector.

In 2015, after a year of consultation, the London Borough of Camden committed to provide sustainable, long-term support to communities through a new strategic relationship with the voluntary sector. This included a seven-year grant scheme with largely unrestricted funding through the Community Partner Fund (previously the Strategic Partner Fund). The second phase of this scheme currently forms a substantial portion of the £4 million annual investment budget.

This autumn, we’re flipping grant reporting on its head for the second time and creating space where charities hold review sessions with funders about their grant-making practice. But what are charities hoping to get from this experience?

The move by many funders towards an open and trusting approach offers new and exciting opportunities to funded organisations to free up time and energy to focus on their purpose and to feel empowered by a more equal relationship with the funder. It can mean they are less encumbered by restrictions on their grant that serve only to reassure us, the funders, that they are being responsible with their money.