The challenges and complexities of communities acquiring and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
The challenges and complexities of communities acquiring and managing a sport centre a question of human capacity? DR. LINDSAY FINDLAY-KING DEPARTMENT OF SPORT, EXERCISE AND REHABILITATION NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY Overview Community
DEPARTMENT OF SPORT, EXERCISE AND REHABILITATION NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY
Community Asset Transfer (CAT) in sport – what and why? Human capacity and capital – what do we already know? Case studies Human capacity mobilisation and challenges Community support needs Practical implications
Community Asset Transfer is the transfer of management and/or
local authority) to a community organisation (such as a Development Trust, a Community Interest Company or a social enterprise) for less than market value – to achieve a local social, economic or environmental benefit. Locality (2019) https://mycommunity.org.uk/take-action/land-and-building- assets/community-asset-transfer/
Strong policy thrust in UK (since the turn of the century) (Aiken
et al, 2008)
UK Localism act (2012) Austerity Stimulated by cuts in local govt. budgets, the enthusiasm of
volunteers, and a vision of something better.
Austerity and Big Society rhetoric in parallel
Policy rhetoric of CAT - positive empowerment and
sustainable development
‘empowerment, inclusion and securing of local futures’
(see Skerratt and Hall (2011a, p.172) for critique)
Sport England (2018) identify multiple benefits of local sport
facility transfer to community based organisations
them ‘more inclusive and responsive than state run services’.
Case studies of sports facilities from 2014 Papers which focus on – the type of localism, form of
associative democracy, effectiveness of this form of management
Reports on Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport
and Physical Activity web site https://www.cimspa.co.uk/voluntary-transfer.html
Previous papers – research link
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/f/lindsay- findlay-king/
Process of the acquisition and subsequent management Human endeavour – voluntary and paid staff Capacity – associated challenges e.g. shortages Importance of human capacity and capital
“Capacity refers to the ability to perform or produce and is often used in reference to potential (as in ‘maximum capacity’). Capacity is multi-dimensional. An organisations overall capacity to fulfil its mission depends on a variety of specific capacities.” (Hall et al, 2003, p.3)
“the ability to deploy human capital (i.e., paid staff and
volunteers) within the organisation, and the competencies, knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behaviours of these people” (Hall et al., 2003, p.5)
“…talents, knowledge, know-how and experience brought
into the organisation by its volunteer members.” (Sharpe, 2006, p.389)
Capacity issues in grass roots community sports organisations
Scarcity of volunteers Coping with ‘professional’ demands Knowledge and skill capacity Size of club and programme – greater capacity demands
(From Millar & Doherty (2016), Misener & Doherty (2009,) Sharpe, (2006) Wicker & Bruer (2011) Doherty, Minsener and Cuskelly (2014)
“Capacity and leadership within the community, the skills and time to make an asset work, a history of voluntary and community action, and technical and community development support.” (Aiken et al, 2011, p.7).
Sufficient volunteers Right skills and knowledge Composition of the community History of positive volunteering and community action Enthusiasm and common focus Technical, specialist, managerial and community building knowledge
and skills/training needs
Governance, decision making, strategy and leadership Skills and advice from ‘professional’ organisations Relationship and networks
There may be a gap between what is required to operate a
facility and the capacity communities have.
We know the importance of human capacity to project
feasibility, with its further effect on other capacities
We know the effect of scarcity of resources and
achieving their goals (Doherty, Misener & Cuskelly, 2014; Misener & Doherty, 2009, Sharpe, 2006; Wicker & Breuer, 2011).
This has never been examined within asset transferred sport
facilities.
3 facility case studies Multiple focus groups and individual interviews with voluntary
Board, general volunteers and paid employees in each case and a senior Director in the local authority that the facilities transferred from.
Data collected over the last three years
Diverse county – city and contrasting surburbs and villages in
(numerous of these in decline)
Over 50% of the County population are living in the top 30% of
deprived areas
2011 LA review of leisure portfolio (face of £1.2 million cuts) Decided they would consult on closure of 6 sports/leisure
complexes across the County
Facility Outcome CAT group Most recent CAT Type of facility
Remained with Council after consultation Closed and demolished after failed community campaign to save it Case study A CAT Local community group Charity 2011 Leisure complex Case study B CAT Local sports club Charity 2011 Sport specific centre Case study C CAT – sublet twice Parish Council – sublet twice to: Community Interest companies 2017 Sport specific centre Closure x 2, CAT x 2 Community hub Charity 2017 Leisure complex and other community hub programme
Volunteer workforce mobilised Only one facility had financial assistance to have a Business
plan written for them.
Local authority support – but not deemed useful Greater support utilised from others
Themes on acquisition:
Motivations and engagement of community Roles, skills & knowledge, professionalism Key individuals as drivers Volume of workload Support from other organisatons
“…I think when the news came in that we were at risk…you sort
going to do? With the children?” (General volunteer, Facility B) “…the only reason we ended up taking over was because the Council was going to close it…because they said there was enough facilities within a certain area…and this one wasn’t
the middle of [X] city. Well obviously that’s a bus journey and for some of our members it would be two bus journeys, from the little villages around us” (Trustee, Facility A)
“Yes, we put forward our case for them keeping it open, but we knew right from the start it was futile, really. It was more for publicity and campaigning as to why it should stay open and therefore you should keep it open.” (Trustee, Facility A) “Publicity so that people knew what was happening – who we
involved.” (Trustee, Facility B) “When the news came into us that…we might still be able to keep it going…it was then just a case of well, what can we do?... And everybody felt the same, pretty much, I think…And everybody has different things to add…” (General volunteer, Facility B)
“We’ve been praised by people we spoke to after the transfer…that we were very professional” (Facility A trustee) “…you had to then put together a business package, a business plan and submit this to them and they came up with a 14-page document with 14 criteria that you had to hit and a lot of them were very difficult criteria but actually, for example, proof that you had someone in the organisation that has the ability to run a large leisure complex….it was volunteers but they expected the same standard from volunteers as they would from a professional
“It was constant working…we were here trying to get the building done” (Trustee, Facility C). “I mean I would say for the six months of trying to pull the business plan together I didn’t go in the gym as a coach. I was in the gym but I was upstairs in a room working on the business plan and bringing in key people from parents who I knew had expertise in different areas just to pull this document together because I knew I couldn’t just put in two sheets of A4, it was impossible.” (Director, Facility B) ‘mucking in’ , ‘Dunkirk spirit’, ‘painting for weeks’…
Themes post-acquisition:
Mixed models of delivery Smaller, multi-functioning paid staff teams Refinements over time to R and R of paid staff and V’s Volunteer workforce demands and development of common
vision
Changes to knowledge and skills required
“…then we realised that there was a bit more to running it and there was a bit more admin and ordering toilet rolls. We’re still
“…it’s kind of developed into whatever we’ve needed to” (Facility B)
“There was kind of people going, “Oh, they’ll fail within six months.” So I think it was just our stubbornness, probably. Like I say, no we’re actually… We’re not going to. And I think it’s at that point that we all kind of thought, well, what can we bring to it?” (Facility B, volunteer, now paid staff)
Themes
New knowledge and skills demands Sufficiency, continuity and pressure on volunteers Staffing pressures Support needs Who develops capacity?
“But the issues around the compliance, the running of the building… You know, just paying the bills and everything else that comes in…Just things like, you know, you need to have, you know, the sanitary stuff…you come in and you need to have that
need to have all of your regular checks of your… fire alarm system needs to be done. Your training of the fire alarm system, and all of…your risk assessments. All the type of stuff. That’s what I think people coming into this environment wouldn’t have a clue about.” (C, main Director)
“And the more we’ve taken on, the more we’ve had to,
policies in place for” (B, Volunteer). “The systems are still a little bit from a club approach – because we didn’t come into it as a big business, we came into it as kind
just thinking there must be a more effective way now than ticking
together” (B, Paid Staff) “It’s a bit of a learning curve” (C, General Volunteer).
“…time-wise…it was horrific…You know, it doesn’t end – it’s just less intrusive.” (Facility C, Director) “…to come and start something like this, I think they would’ve just said, ‘I’m throwing the towel in’. Because it isn’t easy. It is very difficult” (Facility C, Volunteer – now paid staff) “I think if more than three of us left then it probably would go downhill very quickly so that’s a challenge in itself because it’s a big responsibility. You almost feel guilty that if you want to take a night off or something so the commitment is a big challenge of those helpers.” (Facility B, Director)
“We’ve always either managed to find somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody, or we’ve taught ourselves.” (Facility B, Volunteer, now paid staff) “you suddenly find out that, you know, we were doing a…thing
you find, actually, we weren’t. So now we’ve had to bring in a company to do it” (Facility B, Volunteer)
Do communities have capacity and if not who is supporting capacity building?
What support is needed? Support needs to be bespoke to CAT
and sport facilities
Tensions – ‘professional’ management expectations, ‘legitimate’
ways to manage and govern
The stress of coping with the demands of asset management –
sustainability/burn out
Further research needs
Aiken, M., Cairns, B. and Thake, S. (2008) Community ownership and management of assets. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation Aiken, M., Cairns, B. Taylor, M. and Moran, R. (2011) Community
Rowntree Foundation Doherty, Misener and Cuskelly (2014) Toward a Multidimensional Framework of Capacity in Community Sport Clubs. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 43(2S) 124S– 142S Fischer, A. & McKee, A. (2017) A question of capacities? Community resilience and empowerment between assets, abilities and relationships. Journal of Rural Studies 54, 187-197 Gilbert, A. (2016) A common interest - The role of asset transfer in developing the community business market. Power to Change. https://www.powertochange.org.uk/research/common-interest-role- asset-transfer-developing-community-business-market/ Hall, M. H., Andrukow, A., Barr, C., Brock, K., de Wit, M., Embuldeniya, D., . . . Vallaincourt,Y. (2003). The capacity to serve: A qualitative study of the challenges facing Canada’s nonprofit and voluntary organizations. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Centre for Philanthropy.
Locality (2019) Community Asset Transfer. https://mycommunity.org.uk/take-action/land-and-building- assets/community-asset-transfer/ Middlemiss, L. & Parrish,B.D. (2010) Building capacity for low-carbon communities: The role of grassroots initiatives Energy Policy 38, 7559– 7566 Millar, P. and Doherty, A. (2016) Capacity building in nonprofit sport
Review 19, 365–377 Misener, K., & Doherty, A. (2009). A case study of organizational capacity in community sport. Journal of Sport Management, 23, 457- 482. Sharpe, E.K. (2006) Resources at the Grassroots of Recreation:Organizational Capacity and Quality of Experience in a Community Sport Organization, Leisure Sciences, 28:4, 385-401, DOI: 10.1080/01490400600745894
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Skerratt, S. and Hall, C. (2011a) Management of community-owned facilities post-acquisition: Brokerage for shared learning. Local Economy 26(8) 663–678 Skerratt, S. and Hall, C. (2011b) Community ownership of physical assets: Challenges, complexities and implications. Local Economy 26(3) 170–181 Sport England (2018) What are the benefits of community asset transfer? https://www.sportengland.org/facilities-planning/community-asset- transfer/understanding-asset-transfer/what-are-the-benefits-of- community-asset-transfer/ Wicker, P., & Breuer, C. (2011). Scarcity of resources in German non- profit sport clubs. Sport Management Review, 14, 188–201