Third Sector Research Centre research data collection

Alcock, Peter and Mohan, John (2017). Third Sector Research Centre research data collection. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: Economic and Social Research Council. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-850933

The Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) is a Venture Funded Centre, in partnership with the Office for Civil Society and the Barrow Cadbury Trust. TSRC is based at the University of Birmingham, but is a joint venture with the University of Southampton, with additional contributions from Middlesex and Kent. Third sector policy has now been devolved to the separate administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and research includes analysis of the impact of this devolution. TSRC employs a Knowledge Exchange Team to ensure that its work has a direct impact on policy and practice. Research activity includes: (1) Analysis of theoretical issues and development of a critical understanding of the policy environment for the sector; (2) Securing and analysing reliable data about the size, shape, structure and dynamics of the sector - including quantitative data, drawn from administrative sources and large scale surveys, and in-depth qualitative research with a selection of sector organisations; (3) Analysis of the economic and social impact of the sector, including the role of the sector in delivering public services, the development of social enterprise, the role of organisations in the environmental field, and the mapping and analysis of smaller community organisations operating 'below-the-radar'.

Data description (abstract)

The Third Sector Research Centre carried out research on the key issues affecting charities and voluntary organisations, community groups, social enterprises, cooperatives and mutuals. This specific data collection contains organisational characteristics and financial history information from UK-based charities, non-charity organisation, mutual societies and co-operative organisations. Organisational characteristics include charities' area of operation, area of benefit and standard industrial classification 2007 system code (SIC07). These characteristics were extracted from: (1) information held by the Charity Commission for charities registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, (2) information held by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) for Scottish charities, (3) information on co-operative organisations operating in the UK held by CoopsUK, (4) information on Mutual Societies provided by the Financial Conduct Authority (these include Industrial and Provident Societies, credit unions, building societies and friendly societies). The dataset also contains cross-matches between organisations found in the different lists of these bodies. The financial history data contains income and expenditure data for charities registered with the Charity Commission for the period 1985 - 2006. A further five data collections resulting from research by the Third Sector Research Centre can be accessed via related resources.

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