Collaboration provides lifeline in hard times

The survey found that 78 per cent of respondents wanted their organisation to collaborate more with other organisations over the next year. It also found that of the 31 per cent of respondents who are members of a consortia set up to bid for contracts, more than half have successfully secured contracts.

Karen Weaver, chief executive of Harrogate and Area Council for Voluntary Service, said they worked with charities to help them successfully bid for funding.

“In terms of survival, accessing National Lottery funding has been, and will continue to be crucial,” she said. “However there is funding out there for those with a bit of nous who submit the right bids, and we can offer help with that.”

Ms Weaver added that the Harrogate CVS had also signed up to support the Big Lottery Refund.

“A huge chunk of Lottery funding was taken to support the Olympics,” she said. “We have signed up to the Big Lottery Refund campaign – it was money that was taken from good causes and should be returned.

“The Government has said they will pay it back by the end of the 2020s – charities are facing these very real pressures now, the recession, the increase in need, the cuts to public spending and local authority grants, it is a perfect storm.”