Small charities have criticised the quality of national infrastructure support, raising particularly concerns around difficulties accessing practical support.

The findings have emerged in a survey published by Charity Excellence Framework into the support needs of small charities.

This found that nearly two thirds say that “finding support is difficult or a struggle”, with just one in 50 saying they can easily find the help they need.

This is despite almost three quarters of small charities saying that accessing the right help “would have a real or major impact on their organisation".

Just under one in five small charities gave infrastructure support the lowest rating of one out of ten, with the findings showing “national infrastructure support is of more limited practical value to most charities compared with local and specialist provision”, found Charity Excellence Framework.

It added that the responses show “clearly” that small charities “want local not national support”.

“Qualitative responses consistently emphasise the importance of local infrastructure, peer and cause based networks, mentoring, trustee and governance support, fundraising help, templates, and access to tailored expert advice,” it said.

“Respondents noted that national infrastructure either does not feel accessible or does not meet their day to day needs, while local and specialist support is seen as more relevant, trusted and actionable.

“This points to a clear structural need for a network that prioritises making local and specialist support visible and easy to access, rather than relying on national provision alone.”

One respondent said: “I rated national infrastructure support as I did, not because it's not important but because it currently doesn't seem to be there.”

Another said they “don't know where to turn for help needed and trustee support”.

Concerns over NCVO’s small charity support

The survey findings have been published amid concerns over support provided to small charities from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), which three years ago had taken over support provided by defunct bodies Small Charities Coalition and Foundation for Social Improvement.

In March the infrastructure body announced a wave of redundancies to its team supporting small charities.

But members of the NCVO’s own Small Charities Advisory Panel raised concerns that they were not consulted about the redundancies.

Also in March, a group of small charity leaders published a letter that was also sent to minister for civil society Stephanie Peacock outlining fears around the future of small charities support under NCVO’s stewardship.

NCVO chief executive Kate Lee responded to these concerns at the time saying that the body planned to “evolve the service” it offers to small charities, that its small charities team had not been made redundant and that “supporting small charities is part of everyone’s role at NCVO”.

In response to the Charity Excellence Framework survey Lee said: “We know how vital it is small charities get the support they need.

"NCVO's help and guidance and Small Charity Helpdesk continue to be used by hundreds of charities every day, but we know that the resources we offer form just one part of a wider system working to support small charities.

"As the landscape for smalls continues to become increasingly challenging, it’s important that every element plays its part in making it as easy, simple and accessible for those who need help to get it.

She added: "This report highlights the need for services for smalls to adapt, innovate and evolve to ensure as many organisations can benefit from them as possible.

"Our recent changes seek to address that need and as demand grows, we’re finding even more effective ways to help charities access our guidance and connect them with the expertise they need.

"At NCVO, we’re one part of a wider network of organisations working to support small charities, alongside partners including NAVCA and local infrastructure bodies embedded in communities across the country. That collective support ecosystem is hugely important."

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