Call for Manx charities to stop competing and work together

More than half of the island's third sector organisations lost income over the pandemic

Charities on the Isle of Man need to start working together so more funds go "to the front line", a third sector group has said.

A survey by the Council of Voluntary Organisations showed 60% of members had seen a sharp drop in income in 2021 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Vice-chairman David Gawne said there were currently "too many charities" on the island to make them effective.

Sharing administration and volunteers would help to reduce costs, he added.

It had been a "difficult, mixed year" in 2021 for charities said Mr Gawne, who is also chairman of the Isle of Man Foodbank.

He said demand for its services had increased over the past 12 months, and there were wider concerns that many charity reserves had been depleted after fears over Covid-19 had curtailed fundraising.

'Right relationship'

The third sector now needed to "do some rationalisation" as there were more than 600 charities on the island, of which "probably about 400 are active", he said.

"Can we start bringing people together so these groups are more efficient? Can we make better use of premises? If we work together we can reduce these cost and enable funds to get to the front line," he added.

In December, Manx Care rolled out the second of its community hubs under a new "wellbeing partnership model", where health services and charities could provide integrated care outside of a hospital setting.

Mr Gawne said these partnerships needed the third sector to survive, and the challenge now was to establish "the right relationship" with the health care body.

"They are doing new pathways for strokes, cancers, and paediatrics, and if that is going to involve the third sector, it might be a way of some charities merging to provide those services," he said.

"If two or three charities are competing for the same thing that does not help anybody."