Sir Stuart Etherington (NCVO Chief Executive) has published an open letter to the sector which is worth a read for anyone connected to the charitable or voluntary sector.
In it he asks the sector to continue to rise to the challenge of building a better community through our org.
This builds on his pamphlet (published just before Christmas) entitled “Voluntary Action: a way forward”.
Sir Stuart Etherington commented:
“The issue is no longer about more or less state funding, versus more or less charitable giving or volunteering. It is a move towards something new: a society where the state and its citizens share the responsibility for supporting those who need it.
We cannot simply rely on existing ways of doing things. The answer surely has to be a renaissance of personal responsibility and we should be in no doubt about the size of that change.
Crudely put, civil society has to double in size or more. Clearly, in the short term this is impossible, but across several decades there is potential to do so.”
Spare some time to have a read of both his pamphlet and his letter.