Researcher: Prof Tony Bovaird (t.bovaird@bham.ac.uk)

Funder: Office of the Third Sector

Partners: Guidestar, NCVO, BMG Research

Context

The third sector plays an increasingly important role in the economy and the well-being of society. The government’s aim is to work in partnership with the third sector to strengthen communities, transform public services and enable social enterprise growth and development.

However, the third sector’s character is not well understood, and the development of an evidence base and analysis of the sector is required in order to effect an improvement of partnership working between the government and the third sector.

Project aims

As part of this process, the Office of the Third Sector has commissioned the consortium, including INLOGOV’s Prof Tony Bovaird, to explore a set of performance indicators which will indicate the extent to which the third sector is thriving in different areas of the country and different service sectors.

Research design

The work programme will comprise desk research, including a review of relevant existing studies, and an evaluation workshop.