Tough times and the third sector

The impact of the current economic downturn on the third sector has been in the news. This week Oxfam announced plans for job loses and cost savings. While charities face falling income and rising costs – the people who need them most, need them even more. Earlier in the summer an NCVO study found that the third sector was expecting “tough times”.

The think tank nfpSynergy has published an interesting mini-report on what happens to charities in a recession. They believe that this is a 10-month delay between an economic downturn and its subsequent effect on charities income although the falling disposable income is almost immediate.

I think the nfpSynergy research is useful but we need to be wary. Looking at the last two and a half decades tells us only so much as we have not had a recession for over a decade – and we might still escape one now. The combination of inflationary pressures and credit crunch is both toxic and unusual.

nfpSynergy link the economic downturn to risk management. I wonder how many charities and other third sector organisations included an economic downtown in their risk reviews and prepared contingency plans?