Caught in the Middle: What Small, Non-profit Organizations Need to Survive and Flourish

3. Why This, Why Now: The VSI

Dramatic changes in the voluntary sector and increased pressures on non-profit organizations and their volunteers have resulted from government downsizing and downloading in recent years (Hall & Reed, 1998). These changes and pressures were the impetus for the formation of the Voluntary Sector Roundtable in 1995, an unincorporated group of 12 national umbrella voluntary organizations and coalitions. The Roundtable members came together to examine the sector both internally (the sector itself) and externally (relationship with government).

The Roundtable launched the Panel on Accountability and Governance in the Voluntary Sector in 1997 with a task to study accountability. A discussion paper and the final report⁸ provided a framework for looking at overall organizational issues. These reports were followed by joint discussions between non-profit groups and government representatives culminating in the Working Together report⁹ in 1999. This paved the way for the Voluntary Sector Initiative in June 2000. Funded by the federal government, the VSI has a mandate to act on the recommendations in the Working Together report. A budget of $94.6 million has been allocated for this five-year process.

While the federal government administers the funds, the government and voluntary sector members. jointly manage the project Joint Tables - advisory bodies made up of government staff and voluntary sector representatives - are investigating six specific areas to strengthen the voluntary sector. As well, collaborative mechanisms are in place to explore other issues of importance to either the voluntary or government sectors or both, including financing, advocacy, organizational liability, and federal funding. Input into the activities of the various Tables and the other mechanisms has been solicited from volunteers, government officials, staff of voluntary organizations, and other sectors. This participation has occurred through consultations, focus groups, and forums. The Joint Tables and sector-only working groups will make recommendations to government. The Joint Coordinating Committee - composed of senior officials from government and the voluntary sector - will oversee this process until at least 2002. Some of the work will continue to 2005.

This formalization of the relationship between the government and the voluntary sector has already been undertaken in the United Kingdom. The Charity Commission of England and Wales registers charities, provides information about charities, monitors charities, provides advice to charities, and intervenes when charities get into trouble. More recently, Compacts (agreements to guide the partnership between government and voluntary sector groups) that include much of the same issues in the VSI mandate have been instituted.

Six priority issues have been identified as part of the Voluntary Sector Initiative. The issue areas are:

1. National Accord
2. Awareness
3. Capacity
4. Volunteerism
5. Information Management - Information Technology (IM-IT)
6. Regulatory Framework

In the fall of 2000, a "Joint Table" to explore each issue area was formed. The Tables are composed of government and voluntary sector representatives. Each Table has been meeting to develop terms of reference and a workplan.

The Tables identified five principles as essential conditions for this government-voluntary sector initiative. These were:

• interdependence and cooperation;
• the voluntary sector's unique role;
• dialogue;
• collaboration; and
• public accountability (Working Together, 1999, p. 22).