I guess few fundraisers under 30 years of age remember the last Conservative administration in the UK. And a number of others over 30 who have gotten used to a continually increasing central, regional and local government largesse to the voluntary sector over the last 10 years.
It is interesting tho’ to compare the economic circumstances in the early ’90′s (John Major lost the election in 1997) and the early “noughties” with the Con- Lib Coalition taking over this year. Post the recession in the early 1990′s (1990 – 1992) the economy pulled up allowing first the government of Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown to “grow” public sector spending to what has been estimated as high as 40% of the income of “UK Charity plc” during year 2009/2010.
Our reflection on the last (1979 – 1997) Conservative administration was that it was voluntary sector friendly but the reality was often about using the sector as cheap suppliers and to do things the Government did not want to do. What this Con-Lib Administration’s reality will be is still far from clear – less money certainly but suggestions that, say, British Waterways and the Audit Commission (and other Government agencies?) will become social enterprises may also grow the voluntary sector.
