Charities and not for profit groups from across Wiltshire were invited to complete a second impact survey during December to learn about the continued impact and ongoing restriction of the Covid 19 pandemic on the sector’s beneficiaries, volunteers, staff and finances and build on the previous local and national survey findings.
In comparison to the May 2020 survey findings, there is a largely consistent picture with organisations reporting broadly similar impacts on service delivery and income. Fewer organisations have staff on furlough, service delivery remains below its pre-covid levels, but demand for services is growing and volunteer numbers and income have declined. This raises concern for the future sustainability of the sector and support is needed particularly around funding, recruiting and managing volunteers and adapting to new ways of service delivery if the sector is to meet growing demand and survive and thrive in the future.
The survey findings provide valuable evidence of the emerging needs of the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCSE) in Wiltshire and has already fed into a meetings with the Chief Economist at the Bank of England, Wiltshire Council and the Wellbeing Hub.
We would like to invite you to a short presentation of the survey results and offer time to reflect and feedback, so please join us on 30th March.