Everybody Counts

Survey 2008

Further information about the 2008 survey will be posted as soon as possible.

 

Final Report - October 2007

The final version of this report about the Mapping of the Third Sector in Gloucestershire (which includes charities, voluntary and community organisations, co-operatives and social enterprises) is available for download in PDF format (518 kB, 53 pages).

Everybody Counts background information

Mapping the Third Sector in Gloucestershire - Stage 1: Executive Summary commissioned by Gloucestershire County Council & supported by GOSW

research conducted by Vicky Redding / Carlos Ordonez (Resolve Consultancy)

March 2007


Acknowledgements

The Stage 1 project team acknowledges the support of the Home Office Crime Reduction Funds, members of the Everybody Counts Steering Group, the Local Infrastructure Organisations and community networks involved in the data gathering, LAA Project Team, County Assembly, and MAIDeN team.

In particular, we would like to thank past and present members of the Assembly Team, and Sally Pickering of GAVCA for their generous help with the project to-date.

everybody counts: executive summary

Background to the mapping project

This report was commissioned by Gloucestershire County Council as the first stage of a programme of research – due for completion later in 2007 – into the scale, impact and state of the local Third Sector.

The research has been developed in recognition of the need for more robust information about the sector at a time when public policy is placing greater emphasis on the importance of partnership working and engagement with the sector, and a potentially enhanced role for local communities in the planning and delivery of public services.

This first stage of everybody counts lays the foundation for the more extensive and exhaustive study to follow, by:

  • engaging the Sector in the project, in order to ensure maximum involvement in Stage 2

  • expanding and updating the database of Third Sector organisations in the County

  • providing basic indicative information about staffing and volunteering in the sector

  • finding out organisations’ interest in ‘strategy groups’, linked to LAA ‘policy blocks’

  • obtaining the commitment of statutory stakeholders to the research, its future development and use

Definition: Third Sector organisations

A Third Sector organisation is a not-for-profit organisation set up for community or public benefit. It is accountable to the people it serves and could have one of a range of organisational structures, such as a charity, company limited by guarantee, cooperative, or social enterprise.

Summary of findings

The research has served to confirm the energy and diversity of the Third Sector in Gloucestershire. The principal results of the survey are:

  • 2,850 Third Sector organisations have been identified in Gloucestershire.

  • 3428 questionnaires were sent out as part of the survey and 1,478 responses were received – a response rate of 43%.

These are broken down by district as follows:

  • Gloucester:        211 (24%)

  • Cheltenham:      176 (20%)

  • Stroud:             159 (18%)

  • Forest of Dean: 123 (14%)

  • Cotswolds:        123 (14%)

  • Tewkesbury:      88 (10%)

  • 598 inaccuracies and duplications were then deleted, resulting in a sample size of 880 final responses and a database that is 17% more accurate than previously.

  • 435 (49%) of these 880 organisations had at least one member of paid staff, with 4,574 people employed across Gloucestershire in total. When extrapolated to the 2850  organisations identified in the County, this suggests that 1396 organisations will employ staff and – with an average of 10 staff per organisation – this makes a total paid workforce of 13,965.

  • There were 41,243 volunteers associated with these 880 organisations, broken down by district as follows:

  • Gloucester:         27,220 (66%)

  • Forest of Dean:   5,774 (14%)

  • Stroud:               2,887 (7%)

  • Cheltenham:      2,475 (6%)

  • Tewkesbury:      1,650 (4%)

  • Cotswolds:         1,237 (3%)

  • This indicates an average of 49 volunteers per organisation. Again, if this is extrapolated to the total number of known Third Sector organisations in the County, it indicates a total of 139,650 volunteers – approximately 34% of the County’s adult population. A detailed analysis of the number of hours contributed by volunteers to these organisations, and the value of this contribution, will be available on completion of Stage 2 of the project.

  • Third Sector organisations indicated their interest in getting involved in the work of thematic strategy groups, as follows:

  • Children and Young People: 353

  • Health and Social Care: 272

  • Safer and Stronger Communities: 222

  • Learning:194

  • Equalities: 164

  • Environment: 142

  • Culture and Heritage: 134

  • Economic Development: 113

  • Faith:33

March 2007