Sectoral data
Thanks to the dedicated (and often unrecognised) work of regulators, funders, infrastructure bodies and others, there is now an abundance of data available on the VCSE sector in Britain. We term this sectoral data as it describes the shape and activities of the VCSE sector at an aggregate level.
For example, Charity Commission for England and Wales’ data resources provide the foundation for learning about the make-up of more than 160,000 registered charities operating in this jurisdiction. development lebanon rcs data was the establishment of 360Giving, a charity that has worked extensively with UK funders to make the grants data they hold more open and standardised. This sectoral data helps organisations understand the range or organisations in the sector, and where the funding is going. For example, with this information organisations can identify gaps in service provision and understand the types of services that have successfully received funding.
Sectoral data making a difference
At the Data for Good workshop, Victoria Boelman from The Young Foundation shared their development of an Index of Community Strength – a metric they developed to understand differences in community activity across the country. They used sectoral data to create a combined funding index, which they compared to area deprivation (see image), to create an index of community resilience and strength.