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Introducing the voluntary sector
Introducing the voluntary sector

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8 Summary

Congratulations on reaching the end of Week 4 – you are now halfway through the course. This week has focused on an overview of the main sources of funding for voluntary organisations and some of the issues and challenges that may arise. You now have a basic knowledge and understanding of funding opportunities and challenges, which you could apply to further research on funders suitable for organisations you are particularly interested in.

There is more on the practicalities of doing fundraising in another free badged OpenLearn course, Working in the voluntary sector, which will be available in 2016.

In Week 4 you have learned about:

  • the types of organisations that fund voluntary organisations
  • how funding is given to voluntary organisations – as donations, grants and contracts
  • what the differences are between restricted and unrestricted income
  • how to use annual reports and websites to find information on funders and types of funding
  • the challenges of having contracts with government to deliver services.

You are now half way through the course. The Open University would really appreciate your feedback and suggestions for future improvement in our optional end-of-course survey [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , which you will also have an opportunity to complete at the end of Week 8. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

You can now go to Week 5.