Research on VCS Organisations in Gloucestershire during Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges for Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations.
In 2020, Barnwood Trust undertook two intelligence gathering exercises to gain insights into how the pandemic was impacting on VCS organisations in Gloucestershire. The first of these exercises was a situation analysis conducted in March and April 2020.
The aim of this research was to identify the challenges the organisations, and their beneficiaries, were facing, as well as the support the organisations needed and what they were doing to adapt and respond to the crisis. 58 VCS organisations participated in the situation analysis.
A link to a report on the findings can be found below.
In August – September 2020 Barnwood conducted a further study to gain up to date intelligence about the situation for VCS organisations in Gloucestershire, with the aim of gathering information that could inform funders’ approach to supporting organisations at this time.
VCS organisations and groups in the county were invited to respond to a survey that included questions about their financial health, their beneficiary groups, the services they were delivering and the challenges they currently faced.
An analysis of the 83 responses to the survey provided insight into the challenges being experienced by VCS organisations in Gloucestershire six months into the Covid-19 pandemic. A series of recommendations for ways in which funders could help VCS organisations to continue to support their beneficiaries have been drawn from this intelligence.
Links to the full report on the findings of the studies and documents containing only the Executive Summary and Recommendations can all be found below.
Links
COVID-19 and the VCS (2021)_Executive Summary and Recommendations
COVID-19 and the VCS (2021)_ Recommendations_Easy Read (coming soon)