The Treasury and Cabinet Office have issued the final report of their review of the third sector, which sets out a strategy to work with third sector organisations over the next ten years to promote social and economic regeneration. Announcements include new investment in community anchor organisations and community asset and enterprise development; enabling local independent foundations to develop community endowments for local grant making (building on experience in Northern Ireland); a new national third sector research centre; and a skills strategy.

Community anchor organisations “are large neighbourhood based organisations playing a vital role in generating wealth for communities and in supporting other community sector organisations. They are often social enterprises, able to generate income through trading and contracting, often through ownership or management of an asset base. They play a unique role, recognised within communities and by external agencies and able to act as an intermediate [sic] between these agencies and grassroots activity”.

To accompany this ‘third sector review’, the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office has issued papers, including one by the Young Foundation on “Improving small scale grant funding for local voluntary and community organisations” . This looks at both domestic and international evidence and draws some lessons about the impact of community groups and ways of funding them. One of the key messages is the importance of support and developmental work alongside financial support. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/documents/discussion_papers/grant_plaincover.pdf