Overview
The Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector in England plays a vital role in delivering public benefit, strengthening communities, and supporting people. It includes a wide range of non-profit organisations, from small volunteer-led groups to large national charities and social enterprises. The sector contributes to public services, local development, wellbeing, and social cohesion, often working in partnership with government, local authorities, and private funders.
Types of Organisations in the VCSE Sector:
- Charities: Registered organisations working on issues like poverty, health, education, and social justice.
- Community Groups: Grassroots, often volunteer-led, focusing on local needs such as neighbourhood support.
- Social Enterprises: Businesses that reinvest profits into their core mission.
- Faith-Based Groups: Providing support such as food banks, youth work, or counselling through religious bodies.
- Co-operatives and Mutuals: Member-owned organisations trading for community benefit.
- Community Interest Companies (CICs): A legal form for social enterprises that ensures assets are used for the public good.
- Volunteering and Advocacy Groups: Promoting civic participation, rights, and community voice.
These organisations operate across sectors such as health and care, education, housing, youth services, arts and culture, environment, and social inclusion. The sector is supported by a mixture of public funding, private donations, and earned income.
Key Agendas
Successful collaboration starts with truly understanding what matters to your partners. Here's a quick guide to some of the key agendas you might come across when working to develop relationships in this area.
Health and Well-Being
Many VCSE organisations focus on mental health, social isolation, substance abuse, and support for people with disabilities. They deliver essential services that complement statutory health provision, especially in areas where public health resources are limited.
Systemic Inequality
Addressing social inequalities and promoting inclusivity is central to the VCSE mission.
- Organisations work with marginalized groups (e.g., refugees, LGBTQ+ communities, elderly people, people with disabilities) to provide tailored support and advocate for their rights.
- Food banks, homeless shelters, and employment advice services are prominent within the sector, supporting those affected by poverty and unemployment. These organisations often partner with local authorities to deliver services or influence local economic strategies.
- Supporting asset-based approaches that recognise the strengths and capacities of communities, not just their needs.
- Collaborating on community-led research, advocacy, and evaluation to drive policy and systems change.
Environmental Sustainability and Climate Action
Many VCSE organisations exist to address the climate crisis.
- Environmental groups and community energy projects work on local initiatives aimed at improving green spaces, promoting recycling, and developing renewable energy sources.
- Community growing projects such as permaculture gardens or gleaning networks support food inequality, increase biodiversity and access to healthy food.
These organisations play a crucial role in supporting local and national climate targets.
Community Cohesion
- VCSE organisations work on building resilient communities by improving local amenities, creating social hubs, and supporting community-led housing initiatives. They often focus on bringing people together to foster a sense of belonging and collective action.
- Many VCSE organisations focus on education, offering after-school programs, mentoring, and skills development for young people. They work closely with schools, colleges, and universities to address educational inequalities and enhance youth employability.
Top Tips for Working Together
Here are some key insights to help you collaborate more effectively with other actors in your place:
Understand the Sector's Values and Pressures
- The VCSE sector is mission-led, often under-resourced, and deeply rooted in community trust.
- Take time to understand an organisation's ethos, history, and relationships.
- Avoid extractive approaches, think about mutual benefit and long-term relationship-building.
- Respect different working patterns and timelines, many VCSE partners juggle delivery and fundraising with minimal staff.
Start from Relationships, Not Projects
- Don't lead with a funding bid or research idea, instead, start by listening and showing up.
- Attend community events, volunteer with local groups, and build relationships outside your own institutional spaces.
- Ask how you can support existing work, this might be writing a letter of support, amplifying a campaign, or offering access to space or students.
Recognise and Share Power
- Name and challenge power imbalances in partnerships. Who sets the agenda? Who gets funded? Who speaks? Who benefits?
- Explore alternative partnership models that centre lived experience, redistribute decision-making, and value different types of knowledge.
- Budget for time, emotional labour, and care, not just outputs.
- Share credit, authorship, and visibility fairly and transparently.
Find the Right People and Connect with Existing Networks
- Look for VCSE infrastructure bodies (e.g., Councils for Voluntary Service, Locality members, or Community Foundations).
- Join or attend local forums e.g., Health and Wellbeing Boards, Poverty Truth Commissions, or Community Engagement Partnerships.
- When approaching VCSE organisations, be clear about your offer, not just your ask.
Existing Relationships in your University
Universities are made up of many departments, faculties, schools etc., all of these are made up of individuals who may already have existing relationships with VCSE organisations. It's really important to respect existing relationships and work with colleagues who have already spent time and care building them.
Where might partnerships already exist in your university?
Teaching
Many academic programmes embed learning with and for VCSE organisations, through placements, community engaged learning / service based learning.
Look for:
- Courses in social work, education, public health, nursing, psychology, social policy, law, criminology, community development, or youth work
- Modules that involve service learning, participatory practice, live briefs or real-world challenges from local community organisations
- Students doing placements or volunteering in charities, mutual aid groups, housing associations, or grassroots community organisations
Reach out to:
- Course leaders or placement tutors
- Leads for employability or community-based learning
- Volunteer coordinators or students' union officers running volunteering schemes
Check whether the university has:
- Formal volunteering partnerships or university-wide volunteer programmes
- A clinic model, where students are supported to run a clinic based on their area of exertise e.g. law, physiotherapy etc.
- Collaborations with youth organisations, refugee support groups, food banks, mutual aid groups, or social enterprises
Research
Community-engaged research often takes place with VCSE partners, through co-production, participatory methods, evaluation work, or citizen science.
Look for research centres or projects focused on:
- Health inequalities, social justice, poverty, inclusion, ageing, migration, wellbeing, food insecurity, or community safety
- Studies that use methods like co-production, participatory action research, or community-led research
- Impact case studies featuring partnerships with charities, campaign groups, or community groups
Search university research portals, public engagement teams, or knowledge exchange directories for keywords like:
- "Co-created research," "grassroots partnerships," "community engagement," "social impact"
Reach out to:
- Principal Investigators or Centre Directors
- Public Engagement staff
- Impact Officers or Policy Engagement Leads
Attend events such as research festivals, community knowledge exchanges, VCSE-university roundtables, or community run workshops.
Operations
VCSE values may be reflected in the way universities work, from procurement and recruitment to community investment and social value delivery.
Look for initiatives involving:
- Social enterprise procurement or local commissioning frameworks
- Volunteering leave policies or staff volunteering initiatives
- Public and community access to university spaces for local groups
- Campaigns and partnerships around Living Wage, anti-racism, inclusion, or anti-poverty.
Reach out to:
- Heads of Procurement, HR Business Partners, or Social Value Officers
- Staff leading on community outreach, widening participation, or EDI
- Teams running community spaces, public events, or local grant schemes
Central Activity
Engagement with the VCSE sector is often part of a university's civic or place-based strategy, linked to tackling inequalities, improving local wellbeing, or supporting inclusive growth.
Check key documents such as:
- Civic Agreement
- Strategies for community engagement, social impact, or social responsibility
- Local partnership activity such as health and wellbeing boards, community wealth building, or social innovation hubs
Identify whether the university:
- Participates in Anchor Institution Networks, Community Leadership Boards, or Voluntary Sector Forums
- Supports social enterprise incubators, community leadership programmes, or charitable grant funding
Reach out to:
- Director of Engagement, External Relations, or Public Affairs
- Pro-Vice Chancellor for Place or Equality
- Staff in knowledge exchange, community partnerships, or social impact
Who might you work with?
Explore some of the key people you might partner with:
Community Organiser
AKA: community development worker, community action organiser, social action organiserWhat do they do?
Community organisers build relationships within neighbourhoods or communities to empower local people to take collective action on the issues that matter to them. They support residents to identify shared concerns, mobilise around local campaigns, and develop grassroots leadership.
Where you might find them?
In place-based charities or social enterprises (e.g. Citizens UK, Local Trust, The Cares Family).
Within local councils or health partnerships as part of engagement or community development teams.
Embedded in communities through partnerships, neighbourhood forums, or estate-based regeneration projects.
What's important to them?
- Listening to local voices and enabling community-led change.
- Building power and confidence among residents to influence decisions.
- Trust and long-term relationships, not just one-off consultations.
- Social justice, equity, and amplifying underrepresented voices.
Trustees or Board Members
AKA: governors, committee membersWhat do they do?
Provide governance, approve strategy and budgets, and ensure legal and ethical integrity.
Where you might find them?
On the boards of registered charities, CICs, and community interest bodies, often as volunteers.
What's important to them?
Good governance, impact, financial sustainability, and alignment with the organisation's mission and values.
Operations Manager
AKA: Finance and Operations Manager, Grant Operations Manager, Operations CoordinatorWhat do they do?
Manage delivery of services and programmes, supervise staff or volunteers, and ensure operational targets are met.
Where you might find them?
Mid-level management in charities, CICs, or community hubs delivering programmes (e.g. food banks, youth centres).
What's important to them?
Practical results, smooth delivery, meeting funder requirements, and operational efficiency.
Volunteer Coordinator
AKA: Volunteer Manager, Volunteer OrganiserWhat do they do?
Recruit, train, and support volunteers; match people with opportunities; create a community.
Where you might find them?
In organisations reliant on volunteers, such as community centres, mutual aid groups, food projects, and befriending services.
What's important to them?
Volunteer satisfaction and wellbeing, community relationships, and effective support systems.
Development Officer
AKA: Philanthropy Officer, Grant ManagerWhat do they do?
Research and apply for grants, manage donor relationships, develop fundraising strategies, and report to funders.
Where you might find them?
In medium-to-large VCSE organisations, regional support bodies, or as freelance consultants.
What's important to them?
Funding sustainability, clear project outcomes, innovation, and strong partnerships for bids.
Community Engagement Lead
AKA: Outreach Lead, Community PractitionerWhat do they do?
Connect with local people, gather feedback, build trust, and promote participation in services or initiatives.
Where you might find them?
In community-led organisations, resident groups, health equity projects, or local charities.
What's important to them?
Inclusion, accessibility, building relationships, and ensuring voices of marginalised groups are heard.
Birds Eye View
Key organisations and structures, click on the organisation to find out more.
Government bodies:
National Bodies:
Non-government bodies:
Regional Level:
Local Level:
Case Studies & Resources
Browse a range of other resources relevant to this infrastructure:
