Why the Civil Society Covenant Matters – and what we’ll do about it.

25th July 2025

Our CEO, Caroline Taylor writes about her experience at the launch of the Civil Society Covenant, and the opportunities it presents.

Last week, I had the privilege of being in the room with around 200 civil society leaders, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, a full line-up of Cabinet Ministers, and senior civil servants.

Why? For the launch of the Government’s Civil Society Covenant – a new commitment to reset the relationship between public bodies and civil society. That means charities, volunteers, faith groups, co-operatives, trade unions, social enterprises, and philanthropists.

This is, undoubtedly, good news.

For far too long, charities have been overlooked by government at all levels. Engagement, when it happens, is often short-term at best and tokenistic at worst. Our own research reflects this reality: across the region 92% of charities feel valued – encouraging – but only 48% are involved in developing policy that affects their beneficiaries and only 32% in Essex say they are working behind the scenes to change policy. That’s a serious concern.

The Covenant sets out to change this. It opens with a bold and welcome ambition:

“Tangible change is needed to implement the Covenant, so civil society is valued as an expert strategic partner and independent advocate who can hold government to account and campaign for public benefit without fear of sanction.”

Yes, please! It continues:

“It will take honesty and humility to build trust, as well as a willingness to work in new ways. We must seize this opportunity, because the social, economic and environmental challenges we face cannot be solved by government alone.”

Exactly. And in that room last week, there was a genuine – if cautious – sense of optimism. Many of us remember the Compact, the Covenant’s predecessor. Its ambitions were equally laudable, but when momentum faltered, it was civil society that kept the flame alive while others let it burn out.

We can’t let that happen again. This feels like a real opportunity to do things differently – and better. That means improving the way we work across sectors. This could start with change to procurement and commissioning practices, or to put it another way, how government gives money in exchange for services. These processes, while well-intended, often cause real harm to local charities. Short-term contracts, impossible deadlines, overwhelming data demands, and the pressure to do more with less – these are issues I hear about time and again from charity leaders.

And that’s just among those organisations that do receive public funding.

Here in Essex, 68% of charities have an annual income of less than £50,000, comparable to the rest of the country. Most have no, or little, financial relationship with the public sector. So, how will the voices of their beneficiaries be heard and understood?

The risk is that, for many, the Covenant will feel irrelevant – either too remote from their day-to-day work or too difficult to engage with due to time and resource constraints.

Last year, as we developed our Strategy 2030, we asked our charity and grant partners what they needed from us. One message came through clearly: use your voice. Speak out on our behalf – because too many fear that doing so themselves could lead to being cut off. Sadly, that fear is not unfounded.

Charities exist to serve their beneficiaries. They respond to specific communities, with different needs, in different ways, at different times. That’s the power of civil society – its diversity, its adaptability, its closeness to people’s lives.

Government, by contrast, must serve the whole population. A very different role, with very different constraints. We may share a desire to help others, but we come at this from different places – and the Covenant, at least on paper, does recognise that.

Turning it into something meaningful will require more than good intentions and more than a coalition of the willing, because the benefit must be across all our work and not only felt by those large enough and with the capacity to engage. It will need leadership from us all, at every level.

So, what does that mean for us here in Essex?

What role can we play in bringing the Covenant to life locally? How can we work with our public and charity sector colleagues to build trust, shift mindsets, behaviours, and expectations? These are big questions – and ones we’d love to explore with you.

And what about the public sector? How are they interpreting the Covenant? What opportunities do they see? What concerns do they have? How do they want to engage with us?

To start, we’ll be sharing the Covenant with all our stakeholders. We’ll make it a regular topic of discussion in our meetings. We’ll work to raise awareness and build momentum. And we’ll collaborate with national colleagues to learn from others and share what works.

Because this is an opportunity we can’t afford to waste.

If you would like to discuss the Covenant with the Foundation, then please contact us.