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Analysis of the Third Sector Trends survey data for 2025 paints a picture of the unique shape, activity and challenges for the sector in the North East.
Structurally, the North East has fewer charitable organisations and community groups in relation to the size of the population, but a similar amount of money and staff. This is because we have more larger charitable organisations that work at a regional level (as opposed to neighbourhood or local authority level) compared to other regions.
Analysis suggests this reflects the structural inequalities the North East faces – fewer tiny, community-led interest groups because of lower capacity to self-organise, but more charities with paid staff focused on addressing social need.
This is supported by the survey findings, which show more North East organisations are working with people living in poverty, those who are homeless or unemployed, people with disabilities and health conditions, and those who are carers, than in any other region. They are also more likely to feel that they have a “very strong impact” on tackling issues around skills, health and wellbeing and inclusion.
The third sector in the North East behaves differently to other regions. We have substantially higher rates of partnership working, and it this hasn’t fallen as steeply as it has nationally, reflecting the strength of sector infrastructure and the culture of collaboration we have in the region. North East charitable organisations are also more likely to access support from Local Infrastructure Organisations and from local private sector businesses than the national average.
Charitable organisations in the North East are substantially more likely to be bidding for or delivering public sector contracts than elsewhere. However, we also report poorer relationships with the local public sector; we feel less valued than other regions, and report much lower rates of involvement in local policy development. This discrepancy could reflect organisations feeling frustrated by the challenges of the contacting process, or that we are seen just as a delivery partner by some decision-makers in our region.
In contrast, grant-making practice appears more progressive in the North East, with more funders providing unrestricted and long-term investment, although there is also a higher-than-average level of demand for ‘innovation’ than elsewhere.
Both grants and contracts are of higher importance overall to North East charities than nationally, whilst we rely less on gifts, subscriptions and investment income. Earned income is also an important source of income for the sector in our region. More organisations earn a portion of their income than in recent years, but fewer are wholly dependent on earned income, indicating organisations are diversifying their income streams to strengthen their sustainability.
The North East receives more support from business than other parts of the country, and we are the only area where this hasn’t fallen in the last three years.
Overall, the sector in the North East appears to be growing, with more organisations reporting an increase in full-time employees than any other region. However, they also report the greatest challenges with recruitment and retention of staff.
The sector is marginally less financial resilient than other regions – fewer organisations hold reserves, and a slightly higher percentage report having drawn on their reserves for core costs than the national average. However, the national trend also holds true for the North East – i.e. the use of reserves for core costs has held steady across the iterations of the study, indicating a steady state overall for the sector as a whole. We are more entrepreneurial and most likely to have invested reserves into new activities than elsewhere, but like the national trend, this remains substantially lower than pre-pandemic.
Charitable organisations in the region are less reliant on volunteers than elsewhere, again reflecting the greater reliance on funding to pay staff. However, volunteers are still critically important, with over 80% saying they rely on regular volunteers to deliver their operations. More volunteers in the North East are also beneficiaries or service users of the organisation they volunteer for than elsewhere. And like the national average, almost 39% of organisations say they have not fully recovered their volunteer numbers since the pandemic.
The findings of the research offer much positive reassurance about the strength of our Voluntary and Community Sector. But, like the national findings, they also prompt some important conversations.
This include ensuring the new Civil Society Covenant is meaningful at local and regional level to ensure charities and community groups are actively engaged, and those delivering public services can be sustainable. There is also a question for funders about whether requests for innovation are proving a distraction for organisations focused so heavily on meeting immediate needs in communities, and some big thinking needed about how demographic shifts are affecting the volunteer workforce and how we might need to adapt in the light of this. These are conversations we want to keep going, so we can continue to invest in and build thriving charities and community organisations across our region.
All the data from this article can be found in this report.