Post on 07-May-2015
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Karl WildingHonorary Senior Visiting Fellow, Cass Business SchoolOctober 2007
Identifying and mapping the ‘third’ sector What are the set of entities we are talking about and how do we describe them?
Introduction
• Much public policy discourse, media coverage, and official statistics distinguish between public and private sectors
• However:– Significant growth in the number and economic
contribution of entities between market and state– Mainstreaming of the ‘voluntary sector’ in public
policy (Kendall), most recently creation of OTS
• Does public policy require a clear understanding of what we are dealing with?
From charities to civil society
• Charity sector• NGO sector (+ variants)• Voluntary sector• Voluntary and community (and faith) sector(s)• Nonprofit/not for profit sector• Social economy• Social enterprise sector (cf. social enterprises)
Third sector• The Independent Sector• Civil society
There are too many (insert here)...
• Charities?• Social enterprises?• FBOs?• NGOs?
• Current recession has reignited the debate about the glorious mess that is civil society
• ‘Tidying up’ as a future policy debate?
Third Sector: the OTS definition
Organisations in the sector share the common characteristics of being non-governmental organisations which are driven by their values and which principally reinvest any financial surpluses to further social, environmental or cultural objectives. It encompasses voluntary and community organisations, charities, social enterprises, cooperatives and mutuals both large and small.
Source: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/about_us/
An operational map of third sector entities
Financial Services Authority
Friendly Societies
Bencom IPSs
Royal Charter
Exempt Charities
Housing Corporation
Excepted Charities
Charity Commission
Dept. of Trade and Industry
Companies House
Limited Liability
Partnerships (LLPs)
Companies Limited by
Shares (CLSs)
Companies Limited by Guarantee
Registered Charities
Community Interest
Companies
(Out of scope) Individual civil
action
Certification Office
Unregistered community organisations and social groups
Trade unions
Trusts
General Charities
Universities
Museums
Independent schools
Key: grey - registering body Green - legal form white - TSOs. The band shows the range of possible legal forms for organisations within this entity,
some of which it may have more than one form. Some legal forms / registration are optional, some obligatory. e.g. housing associations must register with the housing corporation, but may take other legal forms as well.
Armed forces
charities
Building socs
Bona Fide IPSs
Credit Unions
Bencom IPSs
Faith groups
Cooperatives
Housing associations
Other Mutual societies
N.B. Size of box is not related to anything
Rev. & Cust.
CASCs
Charitable Companies
This is not a statement on what entities the third sector encompasses
LLPs CLSs
Political Parties
Social Enterprises
Sports and social clubs
NDPBs
Scouts/ Girl Guides
Market/Private Sector Informal Sector(Individual/family relationships)
State Sector
Voluntary Sector
Deakin (1996), Meeting the challenge of change: voluntary action in to the 21st century. Adapted from A. Evers (1995)
Deakin’s triangle
The State(Public Agencies)
The Market(Private Firms)
The Community(Households,
Families)
Associations(Voluntary/non-
profit Organisations)
Non
-pro
fit
For-
pro
fit
Formal
Inform
al
Public
Private
T h i r d
S e c t o r
Key: Mixed Organisations/ Institutions: Source: Evers & Laville, 2004
Third Sector, the state and the market
Defining characteristics
Salamon: Structural-Operational Definition• Formal• Independent• Non-profit distributing• Self-governing• Voluntarism
Is there really a sector?
• Dominant theoretical perspective based upon a form of organisational ownership (Kramer)
• It stresses – distinctiveness (ie independence)– the organisation above the activity, values and people
• But:– Blurring of boundaries: privatisation, charity subsids,
hybrids– Dependence on government funding– Common principles of the new managerialism (Ferris &
Graddy)
Is there really a sector?
While sector may well continue to serve a ‘symbolic function’ in political language, in the mixed social economy the ‘sector is an artificial construct, not an institutional reality’ (Hall)
Ralph Kramer- Alternative paradigms for the mixed economy
So what? Does it really matter?
• Notion of a sector highlights policy issues of the day:– Independence– Distinctive value– Values– Social enterprise– Public service delivery– Public benefit
• It might also define our point of contact with the state
• Third Sector: Define or be defined (Alun Michael)