Journeys and destinations: using longitudinal analysis to explore how third sector organisational governance helps to navigate sustainable futures

Abstract

Since the economic downturn, the third sector in the UK has been put under pressure financially. Many snapshot studies of the sector as a whole and its component parts have concluded that the problems that third sector organisations have are due largely to financial pressures. This article challenges such assumptions by focusing on organisational governance. Drawing on longitudinal evidence from the Northern Rock Foundation’s Third Sector Trends Study in North East England and Cumbria, which ran from 2008 to 2015, it is shown that focusing too much on organisational income, as a proxy for success, skews understanding of how ‘well-governed’ third sector organisations operate. The article presents a new methodology and analytical approach to make informed judgements, drawing on longitudinal qualitative and quantitative data – about organisational foresight, enterprise, capability and impact – in order to get a better understanding of the relationship between governance, organisational sustainability and success.