Stuart Etherington - NCVO

ePolitix.com speaks to Stuart Etherington, chief executive at the NCVO, about its Party Conference Bursary scheme

Question: The NCVO is running a scheme to help smaller charities to attend party conferences this year. Can you tell us a bit more about this?

Stuart Etherington: Party conferences are incredibly competitive events and often dominated by larger organisations due to their cost. With more and more organisations competing through traditional fringe meetings and exhibition stands, last year, NCVO decided to move away from this approach and open up party conferences to our smaller members.

There are thousands of voluntary and community groups around the country campaigning on a wide range of issues, yet only a very small number get to lobby politicians at the annual party conferences. By introducing our Party Conference Bursary scheme, we were able to give organisations that would never have this opportunity to have their say at the big political events of the year.

This year, 15 successful organisations will receive a week-long pass to the Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat Party conference, two nights accommodation and travel to and from the party conference.

NCVO staff will be on hand to support successful organisations with a programme of meetings, including a roundtable discussion with a senior MP or minister.

Question:  What sort of charity is likely to receive the bursary? How can they apply?

Stuart Etherington: In order to qualify for a bursary, an organisation must be a registered charity (to comply with party conference pass rules) and have an income of under £500,000 a year.

In addition, all those interested in applying must submit an application form by 5pm on Friday May 30 giving information about their organisation including aims and issues; what the bursary winner would hope to learn from attending a party conference; and what they would ask the minister or opposition spokesperson for the third sector if in a meeting with them.

For more information and to download an application form please visit: www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/partyconferencebursary. Closing date: Friday May 30.

Question:  Why is it important for these charities to have the opportunity to be at party conferences?

Stuart Etherington: Party conferences can be tremendously useful forums for bringing together charities with their peers and politicians, however, the cost can often prohibit smaller charities from attending.

Despite concerns about the cost, approached strategically, the conferences can provide an excellent opportunity to reach the political establishment with ministers, shadow ministers, MPs and councillors taking time out to mull issues of importance to each of the parties and to help decide their forward agenda.

The sheer range of organisations that applied for a bursary last year and showed their interest in engaging with the political process was therefore encouraging. 

By having a presence at the conferences our bursary winners, who worked on everything from marching youth bands to the protection of refugees and rare diseases to student welfare, were able to make their presence felt.

They not only had the opportunity to raise the profile of their organisation but to directly lobby leading MPs in each party on their campaign issues. The MPs were not only presented with the problems that their organisations were facing but with clear solutions to take back and consider.

Question:  How successful was the scheme last year for the charities involved?

Stuart Etherington: The bursary winners from last year felt that, as small organisations, the opportunity to attend a party conference was invaluable and one that they would have been unable to achieve without the help and support received from NCVO.

The winners were pleased that they were able to ask questions directly to the politicians and the people speaking at the fringe meetings and raise concerns about formulation and implementation of policy with an audience that were subsequently involved in wider discussions on relevant party policy.

They also felt that it allowed them to raise awareness about their charities, to share ideas and problems and to gain an important insight into effective campaigning and into how smaller charities are perceived, not only by politicians, but by other businesses and sectors.

However, the bursary winners also felt they were unable to make as much of the party conferences as they would have liked due to the cost and availability of accommodation. In light of this, NCVO is offering this year's bursary winners two nights accommodation and travel to and from the party conference.

Question:  How important is it for charities to work together in order to deliver successful projects?

Stuart Etherington: Although most charities tend be issue focused, there are cross sectoral issues that affect many of them such as concerns around independence, funding and regulation. For many charities, particularly the smaller ones, joint working is essential in order for their voice to be heard by government and other opinion formers.

Question:  What are your other key areas of work this year?

Stuart Etherington: Recently, NCVO has been focusing on civil society and the role of the voluntary and community sector within it. Although civil society may not be a term that is (yet) widely used, we think that this focus will help to generate a better understanding of our sector's identity, independence and purpose.

In the year ahead, NCVO is therefore developing a programme of work that will give greater emphasis to the positive difference that voluntary and community organisations can and do make. We will continue to ensure that the right policies are in place to enable our sector to flourish.

But we will also want to ensure that voluntary organisations can influence the key policy issues facing us today, so that their experience and expertise can shape these debates and they have the support they need to make a practical difference to those they work with.

In the political arena, we will be holding our annual parliamentary reception on June 17, where Phil Hope, minister for the third sector, will be speaking and our Political Conference, will take place on November 27, in Westminster. 

NCVO also continues to act as secretariat to the all party parliamentary group on the community and voluntary sector chaired by Tom Levitt MP and we also run the parliamentary workers group to provide support and a forum for discussion for UK charity parliamentary officers.

Question:  Do you have any final comments for ePolitix.com readers?

Stuart Etherington: As headlines about the credit crunch and falling house prices continue to come thick and fast, it is no surprise that our recent survey of charity leaders found that almost 50 per cent believe that economic issues will be the greatest barrier to their organisation's success in the year ahead.

Yet our survey also showed that over 60 per cent think that the general situation of their organisation will improve this year. If we move into a recession in the coming year, the activity of our sector may therefore increase as our organisations step in to support individuals and communities affected by financial hard times.

We should therefore be optimistic. Civil society leaders are undoubtedly realistic about the economic and political challenges they face, but confident about their organisation's ability to tackle them. We look forward to engaging with parliamentarians and other key stakeholders as we move forwards in the development of an inclusive civil society agenda.