About the VCO Sector
The voluntary and community sector on the Isle of Wight is incredibly diverse made up of over 800 registered charities and probably a similar number of community groups.
The sector has an elected Voluntary Sector Cabinet, supported by the IWRCC, to work as its representative and advocate. Voluntary and community groups participate in a wide range of partnerships and networks in delivering their role and some of these link directly into the Voluntary Sector Cabinet to ensure its representative qualities.
The sector plays an enormous role in life on the Island and the extent of its importance is perhaps not always appreciated, an issue that the IWRCC wishes to address in 2008 by providing better evidence of its value.
Voluntary and Community organisations deliver millions of pounds of public sector contracts, bring significant amounts of additional money to the Island through funding bids to the Big Lottery Fund, Government agencies and charitable trusts and undertake enormous amounts of local fund raising activity.
The voluntary and community sector plays a pivotal role in supporting the high quality of community life enjoyed by most Island residents and in helping individuals who may be suffering disadvantage, ill health or discrimination.
Consultation with the voluntary sector is increasingly important for statutory bodies. Indeed, in many cases, statutory bodies are required by the government to undertake this consultation. CVSs provide opportunities for this, both formally and informally and also act as a conduit for circulating information to a wide cross-section of the community.
Input into policy and strategy development is provided by the CVS on the basis of an informed overview of the voluntary sector, which is gained from well established liaison mechanisms within the sector.
