This 'State of the Sector' Survey is an important opportunity for all VCSE sector oganisations and groups to share their experiences, challenges, and current situations.

By taking part, you will support PCVS to build a clearer picture of the landscape of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector that can be shared with partners, funders and wider stakeholders.

Your insight is essential in shaping an accurate understanding of the sector and strengthening our collective voice. We encourage all VCSE sector organisations and groups to complete this survey to ensure their views, concerns and aspirations are reflected in this important snapshot of the voluntary sector.

GDPR

Data collected through this survey will be used solely for research and sector development purposes by PCVS.
Your organisation will not be identified in any published reports unless explicit permission has been given. Survey data will be stored securely and accessed only by authorised staff.

We process this data under the lawful basis of legitimate interest, as defined by UK GDPR, to support and strengthen the VCSE sector.
If you have any questions about how your data will be used, or wish to withdraw your response, please contact PCVS directly.

The survey results will be made available for all to use and shared widely.

This will take a maximum of 10-15 minutes to complete and we appreciate your time and responses.

Thank you for taking part.
Section A – About your organisation

Question Title

1. Please state organisation or group name (you do not have to provide this if you would prefer to remain anonymous)

Question Title

2. What is the postcode of your organisation’s or group's main base? (Required.)

Question Title

3. Is your organisation/group a member of PCVS? (Required.)

Question Title

4. What is your role within the organisation/group? (Required.)

Question Title

5. What type of organisation are you? (Required.)

Question Title

6. Who are the beneficiaries of your services/support? ( (Please select all options that apply) (Required.)

Question Title

7. What is the geographic reach of your organisation’s work? (Required.)

Section B – Size, workforce & volunteers

Question Title

8. How many paid staff does your organisation employ (full-time equivalent)? (Required.)

Question Title

9. How many active volunteers does your organisation currently have? (Required.)

Question Title

10. Over the last 12 months, how has staff recruitment and retention changed? (Required.)

Question Title

11. Over the last 12 months, how has volunteering recruitment and retention changed? (Required.)

Question Title

12. Is your organisation currently experiencing any skills gaps? (Please select all options that apply) (Required.)

Section C – Income & financial sustainability

Question Title

13. What was your organisation’s approximate annual income in the last financial year? (Required.)

Question Title

14. What are your organisation’s main income or fundraising sources? (Please tick that all that apply) (Required.)

Question Title

15. Overall, how does your organisation’s current financial position compare to 12 months ago? (Required.)

Question Title

16. What is your organisation’s current reserves position?
("Reserves are that part of a charity’s unrestricted funds that is freely available to spend on any of the charity’s purposes. The starting point for calculating the amount of reserves held is therefore the amount of unrestricted funds held by a charity". Source: Gov.uk) (Required.)

Question Title

17. How confident are you in your organisation’s financial sustainability over the next 12–24 months? (Required.)

Question Title

18. Which one or more of these factors have impacted your organisation this past year? (Required.)

  Very significantly Significantly Moderately Slightly Not at all
Funding availability
Staffing or volunteers
Service demand
Salary costs
Other operating costs
Digital skills or systems
Section D – Demand, capacity & risk

Question Title

19. How does your organisation manage risk? (Required.)

Question Title

20. How has demand changed for your services now and in comparison to 12 months ago? (Required.)

  Fully meeting demand/Decreased demand Meeting most demand/ About the same Struggling to meet demand/Increased slightly Unable to meet demand/Increased significantly
Current ability to meet demand
Demand compared to 12 months ago
Section E – Collaboration & local systems

Question Title

21. How would you rate your organisation’s level of collaboration with other VCSE organisations? (Required.)

Very Low Very High
Clear
i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

Question Title

22. What barriers, if any, limit collaboration with other organisations? (Required.)

  Very High High Moderately Low Very low None
Capacity / time
Competition for funding
Lack of coordination
Funding rules
No significant barriers

Question Title

23. Is your organisation a member of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Voluntary Sector Network? (Required.)

Question Title

24. Is your organisation an active member at any local stakeholder boards or collaborative working groups? (Required.)

Question Title

25. Would your organisation be interested in building formal partnerships and/or consortiums with other VCSE organisations? (Required.)

Section F – Support from PCVS

Question Title

26. Have you accessed any services from PCVS in the last 12 months? (Required.)

Question Title

27. Which services did you use or access? Please tick all that apply

Question Title

28. Overall, how satisfied are you with the support you received from PCVS?

Question Title

29. Did this support lead to any of the following? (Please tick all that apply)

Question Title

30. If you have been successful in any funding application following support from PCVS in the past year, please state what was the total amount received.

Section G – Future priorities & support needs

Question Title

31. How satisfied are you with PCVS’s role in the following activities? (Required.)

  Extremely Satisfied Very satisfied Moderately satisfied Slightly satisfied Not at all satisfied Did not use these services Unsure
Representing the sector
Promoting the sector’s work
Celebrating impact
Networking opportunities
Training and organisational support
Communication opportunities

Question Title

32. What are your organisation’s plans for the next 12–24 months? (Required.)

Question Title

33. What is your greatest concern about your organisation at the current time? (Required.)

Question Title

34. Which types of support would make the biggest difference to your organisation?
(Please rank in order of importance.) (Required.)

Question Title

35. What is the recent achievement you are most pleased about? (Required.)

Section H – Training & information needs

Question Title

36. What training or support does your organisation need over the next year? Please tick all that apply. (Required.)

Question Title

37. Which training formats are most suitable for trustees, staff, and volunteers? (Required.)

  In person training Online training Mix of both On Demand training that can be accessed any time through our website
For trustees
For staff
For volunteers
Section I – Artificial Intelligence (AI) & digital confidence

Question Title

38. Have you accessed and are confident about guidance and the safe use of AI? (Required.)

Question Title

39. Do you think AI is something the VCSE sector should embrace? (Required.)

Question Title

40. Are you confident in using AI in any of the following ways? (Required.)

  Use regularly Tried a little Not used – don’t know how Not used – concerned
Writing reports or funding applications
Creating communications
Generating images
Analysing data or impact
Finding funding sources

Question Title

41. Would you like support using AI? Please select all that apply. (Required.)

Section J - System wide changes

Question Title

42. Are you aware of the large scale changes that are taking place with statutory partners - e.g. ICB mergers and Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)? (Required.)

Section H – Final insight

Question Title

43. Please share one thing you wish people who fund or shape services understood better about your organisation or the VCSE sector? (Required.)

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. We will share the analysis in due course.

T