Literature review 4. – Problems facing voluntary organisations

 Touchstoneblog - Richard Excell 28^th January 2011

Problems for Voluntary Groups
http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2011/01/problems-for-voluntary-groups/

Whilst researching the many different areas surrounding my inquiry I have noticed that the voluntary organisations play a huge role in supporting integrated dance. This inquiry has been inspired by the previous connections I have had in integrated dance due to the work of community and voluntary lead organisations.  Although there are integrated dance projects taking place in my area I am aware that this is not the case elsewhere, this leads me to this literature review. I wanted to explore what barriers and problems voluntary originations face and discover if this has effect on the lack of integrated dance originations and the lack of disabled dancers entering the performing industry.

Whilst exploring this idea I came across Touchstoneblog http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/ this blog“is an informal blog by TUC staff about policy issues that are in the news, or ought to be”. One blog that stood out to me was written in January 2011 by Richard Excell. This short blog displays many interesting statistics surrounding voluntary organizations which I feel could be useful in investigating my inquiry.   

Budget cuts are a huge element into the small number of voluntary organisations as there isn’t any funding for establishing new organisations or to maintain the ones that already exist. During this blog Richard Excell explores this point;

“David Robinson – a co-founder of Community Links – was worried that the cuts were a “double whammy” for voluntary groups. They increase the need for the services they provide, but cuts in funding are reducing the ability of groups to provide even their current level of service”

I agree with this “Double Whammy” theory as there is a greater need than ever for all genres of voluntary organisations but due to the lack of funding provided this level of service or existence of these voluntary organisations is not possible. Unless there is a solution to this problem then there isn’t going to be any growth in this area. I feel this problem is affecting the lack of integrated dance organisations as there is a shortage of funding and voluntary access for any type of dance program to exist. This point in which I am exploring could be an element into why there is a shortage of disabled dancers in the performing industry.  

Could budget cuts to voluntary originations be affecting access to disabled dancers to the performing industry?   

This is a question I am eager to explore throughout my inquiry.

             Another problem which faces voluntary organisations is the falling number of people willing to provide their voluntary services. Richard Excell explores this idea;

“The latest Citizenship Survey from the Department for Communities and Local Government was published, covering April–September 2010. This showed that now is not a particularly good time to be relying on volunteering, as the proportion of people who volunteer had fallen for the fifth successive year; 44 per cent had volunteered unpaid help for an organization in 2005 but by 2010 this had fallen to 38 per cent. The proportion volunteering at least once a month had fallen from 29 per cent to 24 per cent.”

The data gathered from the Citizenship Survey from the Department for Communities and Local Government covering April–September 2010 displays that there is a lack of people willing to volunteer as there was a significant decrease in to amount of people volunteering once a month going from 29 percent to only 24 percent. Why is this? Could this be affecting the lack of voluntary originations? Could this be an element into the lack of disabled dancers? These are all questions that I am trying to explore and answer. I am also going to look into the workings of a voluntary origination such as the management to be able to answer these questions. By reviewing this blog it has opened up many areas to explore. I hope to use the data reveled in this blog to support my future findings.