Overview
A new report released by Locality, Navigating the Storm, shows how community organisations kept going through a global pandemic. Despite being hard hit, community organisations adapted, innovated and thrived, by:
- Finding new and more efficient ways to deliver services
- Investing in their buildings during lockdown.
- Providing completely new types of services in response to community needs.
It explains how the determination and expertise of community leaders helped make these changes. It also recognises the contribution made by funding bodies and policy-makers, not only in the emergency support they provided but also in their increased flexibility.
Every day at Locality we continue to hear about community organisations adapting services, building relationships and repurposing their assets quickly and effectively to meet local needs
Our research found many organisations still need support to tackle challenges from the pandemic. These include ongoing uncertainty over footfall, the cost of living crisis, staff burnout, and loss of volunteers.
Locality has produced new guidance below to help support community organisations.
- A simple 10 lesson guide with resources from the research.
- New guidance on important topics, including diversification, collaboration, and succession planning.
Locality has also set out recommendations for funders and policy makers. This is to ensure community organisations can continue to meet the needs of their communities. They include:
- Funders should provide flexible, unrestricted funding to help organisations build resilience.
- Government should put communities in charge of its levelling up funding. Including its Community Ownership Fund.
- Commissioners should make contracts enabling, not controlling.
