Oldham’s Co-operative
Community is here and ready
Liz Windsor-Welsh
Voluntary Action Oldham
Introduction





Co-operative principles and the
voluntary and community sector
Snapshot of Oldham’s VCF sector
Explore the window of opportunity
Structures that ‘lock in’
Gearing up
Co-operative principles
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
People can join – and leave
Your voice will be heard
You control the capital
Together, you are independent
You can develop yourself and others
You can be more successful by co-operating with
others who know how to cooperate
You can do something for your community even
as you keep succeeding. Cooperatives UK
Voluntary and community organisations ‘community co-operatives’
What the community sector offers
“additional benefits that the VCS
[Voluntary Community Sector] may
bring to service provision from the
involvement of volunteers and
donations and from the reinvestment of surpluses. In such
circumstances the extra welfare gain is
wholly additional to the service provided
under contract”.
The Role of the Voluntary Sector in Service Delivery: A Cross Cutting
Review, HM Treasury 2002
Oldham’s communities are active!






Size and scope different
Individual citizens – informal /formal
volunteers, community activists, social
action groups.
100’s of small volunteer led groups
Voluntary orgs -small number of staff
with many volunteers
Larger charities /not for profit orgs
Community businesses /co-operatives
CIC’s
Oldham’s community sector





Employs 1765 staff approx 2% of Oldham’s
workforce
Involves 16,900 volunteers per year,
approximately 32,000 hrs of support valued at
£16.7 million per annum.
Generates an annual income of £31.3 million that
is invested in Oldham’s economy.
550+ VCF organisations.
Approx half these organisations have no staff and
rely entirely on voluntary effort.
State of Sector Research, 2007
Coping with pressures





50% will decrease the services they
offer in the next 3 months
50% are expecting to lose staff
64% expect their financial position
to deteriorate over next 12 months
34% expect this to be worse than
50% of their funding
74% expect an increase in service
demand
Resilience and values




General situation (governance,
workforce development, volunteers
and staff) – 50% expect this to
deteriorate in 12 months
73% still here by end of 2012
68% want to collaborate more
77% expect to be more involved in
local action.
Window of opportunity


New opportunities for a ‘mixed
economy’ of service provision
Increased social action and role for
volunteers.
Is structure important?



Co-operatives, mutuals, charities
and social enterprises…
Accountability, community
ownership and social justice are key
Structure is the mechanism to
ensure this is retained.
Gearing up




Develop consortia along service delivery
pathways
Partnerships that retain values but
provide greater collective influence and
potential
New relationships (outside sector
boundaries)
Space and right level of support for
innovation and community led action.
In summary



Oldham’s communities are ready to
play their part
Ambition for a ‘mixed economy’
provides new opportunities
Co-operative principles offer a
framework that encourages risk
sharing, retains accountability and
local community ownership.