Resources
These sections on statistical findings will be followed by a brief summary of key findings together with a discussion of their implications before outlining next steps in the analysis of Third Sector Trends data in the coming months.
Research Methods and Survey Sample
Third Sector Trends was initiated in 2008 by Northern Rock Foundation in North East England and Cumbria as a longitudinal study to explore the structure and dynamics of the sector in the context of change. Surveys began in North East England and Cumbria in 2010. 12 The field of study has widened to include Yorkshire & Humber in 2013, the remainder of North West England in 2016 and across England and Wales from 2019. There have been six iterations of the triennial survey.
In 2025, the survey was administered using Online Surveys13 between June and September. A total of 8,680 valid responses were received. Responses were obtained using direct email invitations from listings collated from the Charity Commission register (there were 7,163 returns representing a 5.4% response rate from a sample frame of 133,161 charities). These data were supplemented by 1,517 responses to appeals to participate by local infrastructure organisations and community foundations across England and Wales.14
Downloads and Resources
Save a copy of the report for your own use.
Third Sector Trends in England and Wales - People Work Ambition and Impact (pdf)
Going the Distance - How Third Sector Organisations Work Through Turbulent Times (pdf)
Relationships Influencing and Collaborative Working - Third Sector Trends in England and Wales 2025 (pdf)
Acknowledgements
Third Sector Trends is a joint effort involving thousands of people and organisations. The study could not continue without the enormous amount of support it receives. I would like to thank all the participants who took the time to do the survey and to write about their experiences.
Many of the people who responded will have been involved in the study for years and years now. So my thanks go to them for sticking with it this far and hopefully continuing to take part in 2028. Help to get people to respond to the survey has come from many local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations and community foundations across the country by sending invitations to their lists of members or grantees, putting stories in their newsletters or promoting the study via social media.
My thanks go to them for helping build the sample. In the development of new themes and questions for the survey in 2025, I would particularly like to thank Mark Pierce (formerly Community Foundation North East), Suzanne Perry (formerly Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales), Mark Freeman (Cambridge CVS), Cullagh Warnock (Millfield House Foundation), Natalie Zhivkova (WCVA) and Jo Curry (Sir James Knott Trust). Matt Roche (The Mercers’ Company) closely read the final draft of the report and offered invaluable critical observations. I am enormously grateful to the organisations which have contributed to the cost of undertaking the study in 2025: Community Foundation North East, Lloyds Bank Foundation England and Wales, Wales Council for Voluntary Action and Millfield House Foundation.
This is a long running study and it continues to benefit from the support of my colleagues Rob Williamson, Hannah Mackay-Christie, Adam Lopardo and Alastair Walker at Community Foundation North East. Their enthusiasm, advice and assistance throughout is vital and much appreciated.
Archive of publications from Third Sector Trends
This is a fully representative national sample, as evidenced by comparison with combined register data (including the registers of the Charity Commission, Community Interest Companies, Register of Mutuals/Societies Register and Community Amateur Sport Clubs Register). A separate report which details research methodology, sample structure and characteristics is soon to be available.
¹² Community Foundation North East. Find out more about us through our publications, policies and funding facts and figures.