The report, carried out by Big Society Funding CIC on behalf of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership (LEP), surveyed 50 different charities across the LEP area to find out what was really going on behind the scenes.
It concluded that over half of charities and social enterprises (54%) needed help and support to raise the funds they needed to stay in businesses, but lacked the resources to do anything about it. Furthermore, nearly a third (31%) of respondents said they had few or no plans or ideas on how to raise the funds they needed in the future.
Grahame Nix, Chief Executive of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership (LEP), commented: “As a LEP we have always been aware of the important role that the voluntary and social enterprise sector plays within our community. The support many organisations provide to get people into work and to learn new skills is an important part of the economic landscape of our area. This is why we created the LEP Prize Challenge to provide local charities and social enterprises to put forward their ideas for helping local people to become work ready and get a job. We have shortlisted a number of projects and will be announcing the winners later this year.”
As a part of the LEP’s ongoing commitment to the Voluntary and Social Enterprise sector they are recruiting a new Board member to represent the views of the industry after Dr Lynn Morgan had to step down from her role due to other work commitments.
“It is important for our area to have a vibrant and effective voluntary and social enterprise community who contribute to the economic productivity of our area, and we believe that many of our local businesses have the skills and expertise to help our charities to thrive,” Grahame added, “We would therefore encourage businesses that have the knowledge and desire to help their local communities to contact their local charities to offer their professional support – be it in marketing, accountancy or project management – to help our charities and social enterprises thrive.”
You can find out more the work of the Voluntary and Social Enterprise sector here.