TSRC Third Sector Research Centre Third Sector Research Centre Below-the Radar work stream Andri Soteri-Proctor

TSRC Third Sector Research Centre ‘Below-the-Radar’ work stream One of several work streams, for example:  Service delivery  Social enterprises Aim to develop programme that can  Stand on its own &  Contribute to something bigger

TSRC Third Sector Research Centre ‘Below-the-Radar’ Term is contentious and used to refer to different types of organisation and organised activities: mainly volunteer-led not registered small with, for example, <£50,000 per annum ‘marginalised’ groups Those that work on issues that are not part of the policy agenda, for example service delivery vs campaigning

TSRC Third Sector Research Centre An early and exploratory – using inclusive approach to map organisations AND organised activities The aim: develop own parameters of what gets included in this work stream (to be refined) compare with information generated from existing national databases (Southampton’s work) select cases for longitudinal study

TSRC Third Sector Research Centre Case studies for longitudinal study: Proposed three-tier: Allinformation on main activities, role and make-up Severalparticular research topics Fewdetailed follow ups over five years

TSRC Third Sector Research Centre Key research questions what is BTR activity? who gets involved? how they start up and what happens over time? what resources do they have and how do they use them? what challenges do they face? Are these different than other VCS organisations? If so, how and why?

TSRC Third Sector Research Centre Why is this useful? Several mapping exercises are one-off snapshots designed to scope, profile and estimate economic contribution despite claims that the very small grass root organisations make up the majority of the sector, there remains a lack of detailed information about these groups and their needs findings can help to inform policy-makers and funders about they ways in which they can support the sustainability of smaller grass root activities and organisations

TSRC Third Sector Research Centre Some of planned activities Overview interviews Qualitative research and LQS Quantitative & micro-mapping