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Measuring a thriving third sector

The National Survey of Third Sector Organisations

The new local government performance framework includes an indicator, NI 7, to measure the environment for a thriving third sector in each of the 149 top tier local authority areas.

Performance against NI 7 is being measured using a specially designed, perceptions based National Survey of Third Sector Organisations (NSTSO). The OTS appointed research specialists Ipsos MORI to conduct the survey which was sent to over 100,000 third sector organisations in September 2008. The survey was based on data provided by BMG Research and GuideStar Data Services and will be repeated again in Autumn 2010.

The survey, which is the biggest ever of the sector, asked about local and national funding relationships, advice and support services and the state of relations with local government.

The aim of the survey is to:

• build a picture of the effectiveness of partnership working between the third sector and local authorities in England and set the baseline from which progress will be measured in 2010
• enable third sector organisations to have their voice heard on what their local operating environment is like
• help local areas to do better in supporting the third sector by providing the information with which to evaluate their progress and identify key areas for improvement
• provide national government and researchers an unrivalled picture of the local third sector and what affects its success.

A total of 48,939 third sector organisations responded to the survey – this was a 47% response rate. Further details on the survey results can be found on the NSTSO website:

• NSTSO website [external website]

A substantial amount of development work and a pilot study was undertaken to guide decisions on the way NI 7 would be measured and on the design of the survey and the wider questionnaire. This work is documented in full in a Research Paper which can be accessed below. 

• Development research and pilot study