Value and the third sector. Working paper on ideas for future research

Abstract

This paper provides a broad sweep across the ideas and practices around ‘value’, and how these relate to third sector organisations and activities. It argues that the current focus on outcome-based ‘social value’ by academics and policy-makers is limited and only part of how third sector organisations operate, why they exist, or how they contribute to society. It also shows how the new measurement approaches, predicated on ideas of blended value, open up opportunities for resources and impact but may downplay the inevitable conflicts in outcomes, stakeholder concerns, and ignore moral values or processes. These new measurement approaches also attempt to add together outcomes which cannot always be easily combined. The paper suggests ideas for a research agenda that begins to fill gaps in current understanding, and reweights policy and practice to better ‘value’ and support diverse third sector activity.