Third Sector Trends in North East England and Cumbria: headline trends 2008-2014

Abstract

This report presents preliminary findings from the 2014 Third Sector Trends survey. Its purpose is to begin an exploration of trends from 2008-2014 by providing headline results. Further reports will follow in 2015 with more in-depth analysis of the data. As we have built up evidence over many years, we have become more able to deliver forthright messages about the structure, dynamics and mood of the Third Sector. And yet, some people tell us that our findings ‘don’t ring true’. In other words, we have said things that challenge or even contradict the ‘conventional wisdom’ about what life is like in the Third Sector. It is important, therefore, to make some comments about the validity of the data which are being used. When we were commissioned to do this research, which began in 2008, we were asked to do a ‘root and branch’ study of the Third Sector. It was agreed that we should not position ourselves as ‘advocates’ for the sector – but rather we were set the task of producing as ‘objective’ a view of the situation as possible. In the Third Sector Trends study (TST) questionnaires, we have been careful not to ask questions which will produce stock responses. And we have also been careful to ask about the same issues in different ways to check whether or not the findings are consistent and reliable. Reliability and consistency are different things.