Building Capabilities in the Voluntary Sector

The previous decade saw major injections of capacity building funding from both government and the Big Lottery Fund aimed at building the strength and sustainability of voluntary sector infrastructure. Since the start of the current decade the Big Lottery Fund has turned the focus of its voluntary sector development attention to front line voluntary organizations (FLOs) themselves. Its Building Capabilities for Impact and Legacy (Building Capabilities) initiative has been exploring how they can best be encouraged and empowered to build their skills, knowledge and confidence (capabilities) as they seek to achieve outcomes for their beneficiaries more effectively and sustainably into the future.

In order to inform the future development of this approach, the Big Lottery Fund commissioned a formative scoping study to review existing evidence to address what works in building FLOs' and partnerships' capabilities and what the requirements are for a marketized approach for capability-building. Overall the research finds that the evidence is strong in terms of highlighting the complexity of capability building; and the importance to organizations' effective development of diagnosis, tailoring interventions, of supplier expertise and, of the need for pre-requisite capacity and readiness among the organizations seeking support.

There is a lack of evidence to inform consideration of: forms of diagnosis; the significance of choice and control; market mechanisms such as charging models; the effect of a marketized approach on sector voice and influence; and the impact of capability building on FLOs and end users. However, the study points to opportunities for understanding more about key factors that will be instrumental in understanding ‘what works' – in particular by making use of the diagnostic process.