SUSTAINABLE MODELS OF SUPPORT SERVICES: CASE STUDY
York Council for Voluntary Services
Resource centre a win-win
for the third sector in York
York CVS’s Priory Street
Centre provides much-
needed resources for local
frontline organisations -
and a sustainable source of
income for support services
York Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) had
been working for nearly 20 years to make the
Priory Street Centre into a resource centre
for the local third sector, an ambition finally
realised using ChangeUp funding in 2005. A
subsequent Capacitybuilders capital grant
supported the purchase of IT equipment,
meaning that the centre can now support
frontline organisations in developing their
capacity to use information technology to
improve working practices and efficiency.
The centre also offers low cost office
accommodation, meeting space and a range
of other training and support services. It acts
as a focal point for the third sector locally,
and crucially, generates substantial income to
support the CVS’s work.
What Capacitybuilders funding was
received?
York CVS received a Capacitybuilders (ChangeUp)
grant of £380,000 in 2005, and a Capacitybuilders
capital grant of £21,822 early in 2009. In January
2010, the CVS received a further grant of £24,831 from
Capacitybuilders’ Capital Investment Programme.
What was the money used for?
The initial ChangeUp grant was used to support the
conversion and refurbishment of the former Priory Street
Sports and Community Centre into a new resource
centre for the third sector. Alongside other funds,
the monies were used to develop meeting rooms and
office space to house York CVS and several frontline
organisations.
A Capacitybuilders capital grant received in 2009 funded
new IT resources for the Priory Street Centre, including
a portable IT suite, public access computers, a video
conferencing unit, three additional laptops that can be
loaned out to small voluntary organisations, as well as
free internet and access to remote office services. The
CVS recently launched a project called ‘Priority’, delivered
in partnership with Electroville, a specialist voluntary
sector infrastructure organisation, and with KhaozMedia,
a youth-led project initiated by York CVS that uses new
media to encourage volunteering. Bringing together
existing IT services and the new offer, the CVS is now
working with frontline organisations to improve their work
by promoting ‘the strategic use of IT’.
The most recent capital grant will be used to provide
low cost access to equipment hire. This ranges from
assistive technology such as a portable hearing loop,
large keyboards and other equipment to assist disabled
people, through to marquees and fundraising toolkits.
It is hoped that these resources will support local third
sector organisations to generate low level sustainable
income streams by providing a range of tools to help
with fundraising activity and by offering opportunities for
those that have equipment to realise some income by
adding this to a hire pool. The grant will also allow Priory
Street Centre to extend its building and maintenance
provision to smaller community venues across the city.
What is the Priory Street Centre?
The Priory Street Centre was formally opened in June
2006. Originally a Victorian school, the grade II listed
building had been used as a Sports and Community
Centre, managed by York CVS, since 1979. Plans to
redevelop it as a third sector ‘hub’ had been in the
pipeline since 1987, finally coming to fruition when a
ChangeUp grant was received in 2005 and another York
CVS asset was sold. The conversion was also supported
by a BIG Lottery grant and smaller grants from other
charitable trusts.
Priory Street provides 9,000 square feet of high-quality
office space for 17 third sector organisations, which
include York Credit Union and the Volunteer Centre as
well as York CVS. Other support providers such as the
Welfare Benefits Unit and York Community Accounting
Service are housed at the centre, along with a range of
frontline organisations and the Priory Street Nursery.
Six conference rooms, totalling some 4,500 square feet,
are available for hire to TSOs and other organisations.
Aspirations for Priory Street
In developing the Priory Street Centre, York CVS was
responding to an observed need for good quality,
affordable office accommodation for third sector
organisations in the city. Although an asset owned by
York CVS, Community House, provided some office
space, it was in need of renovation, and as York is a
medieval city, there was little office or meeting space
available that was accessible to people with disabilities.
“I was sick of seeing voluntary organisations scratching
around for not-very-good office accommodation.”
York CVS Chief Executive
The Priory Street area already had a lot of third sector
activity, and the Sports and Community Centre seemed
to offer a good opportunity to “merge social activity
and social welfare”. York CVS envisaged that it would be
possible to create a voluntary sector ‘hub’ for the city at
Priory Street, with added benefits from locating different
voluntary organisations together under one roof.
Income generation was always an important
consideration. York CVS had a history of generating
income, having previously rented out office space at
Community House, and Trustees in particular were
concerned about losing this income stream if this asset
were sold, so it was important that new plans for the
Priory Street Centre could replace, or grow, the CVS’s
earned income.
How is income generated?
York CVS has a 99-year lease for the Priory Street Centre
from York City Council, for a peppercorn (nominal) rent.
Under the terms of the contract, ‘commercial activities’
cannot be run from the centre, although this is flexible to
allow social enterprise activity to take place.
Income is generated from licenses for office
accommodation, and from hiring out conference rooms
and equipment. A full time manager is employed to
manage and market the Centre, backed up by a facilities
manager, a caretaker and two cleaners.
Income is generated in ways that are in line with the
CVS’s objectives. In providing affordable office space,
the Centre aims specifically to support small TSOs.
Space is only available to third sector organisations,
and they aren’t allowed to take more than two offices.
Organisations using office space are licensees, rather
than tenants. The terms of the licence give York CVS
the flexibility to manage the organisations using the
offices, so that if they start to out-grow the space they
can be encouraged to look for space elsewhere. While
this hasn’t yet happened, the CVS thinks this provision is
important as it means the centre can continue to support
smaller TSOs. Office accommodation is provided at
around 80% of market rate, with the CVS drawing on
advice from commercial estate agents in setting the
rates. Licence fees and other charges (e.g. electricity) are
calculated on the basis of square footage.
Most income is generated from hiring out the
six conference rooms. The rooms range from the
175-capacity Main Hall to the Foxwood Room, which
can seat eight people boardroom style, and most
can be hired by the day, half day or hour. Statutory or
commercial organisations pay 50% more for room hire
than third sector organisations. Additional income is
generated through hiring out the videoconferencing unit
and equipment for meetings, such as laptops, flip charts
and projection screens.
In total, the Priory Street Centre contributes around 33%
of York CVS’s total annual income of around £1m, and
is the CVS’s main source of earned income. The Centre
generates around £70,000 profit each year, which is
reinvested into the CVS’s core business (essentially, it
funds the Volunteer Centre).
This level of income is possible partly because York CVS
has been very successful in marketing the centre beyond
CVS membership - a recent customer survey showed
that 69% of 143 respondents who had hired meeting
rooms were non-York CVS members, and some 27%
came from outside the Yorkshire region.
Nevertheless, 16% were CVS members and 39% came
from York - showing that the Centre also serves local
organisations. Feedback on the quality of service has
been very positive.
How does Priory Street benefit frontline
organisations?
Two organisations based in the Centre confirmed that
Priory Street gives them office accommodation and
meeting space that meets their needs and provide really
good value for money.
For a small, local organisation supporting victims of
domestic abuse, the Centre’s location near to York
city centre and the railway station is really important,
as it makes it easy for the organisation’s beneficiaries
to access their services. The Centre offers bright,
friendly accommodation and helps make a supportive
environment for the beneficiaries, who are often very
vulnerable individuals. As several organisations are
based there, it also means that it’s not obvious to people
in the street which organisation the beneficiaries are
visiting, reducing potential stigma.
“It’s improved the quality of service we provide to clients
- it’s not a massive taboo to enter the building and we
can offer them a really supportive space”
frontline organisation, licensee
A national organisation, meanwhile, has based one of
its sub-regional offices in the Priory Street Centre, and
finds the location a real benefit, as its proximity to the
station means that it’s a good place to hold meetings.
As a conservation charity, it has also been quick to take
advantage of the video-conferencing equipment, using
this to conduct meetings with colleagues in other offices
where feasible, rather than travelling.
Some of the frontline organisations based in the Centre
are working around similar themes, and this offers some
opportunities for joint working. However, the Centre has
not quite become a shared space to the extent that the
CVS had initially hoped; in practice many organisations
prefer to work individually within their own office areas.
The recent investment in IT has made the Centre more
attractive to organisations looking to hire training and
conference rooms, as it now means that the Centre
can host IT training (for which there had previously
been considerable, unmet, demand). In addition, two
new public access computers are available to third
sector organisations, with free internet, office and
design applications, and open source resources to
encourage online collaboration. The machines contain
toolkits specifically designed to benefit and strengthen
the work of frontline organisations, including tailored
accountancy templates, volunteering support packages
and applications to assist fundraising. Finally, laptops
are available to small voluntary organisations on a free
loan basis. This offers a unique service that licensees and
others have benefited from; as one licensee put it, “we
wouldn’t get this anywhere else”.
How does the Priory Street Centre help
York CVS?
While asset management is sometimes said to distract
support organisations from their core business, York CVS
argue that on the contrary, the Centre is an important
part of their core business - as it helps to support
frontline organisations, particularly small ones, by
providing them with affordable office space, meeting
space and IT equipment.
The Centre acts as a “focal point” for the third sector
in the City, and as several services are provided on
site (e.g. the community accountancy service, funding
advice worker and volunteer centre) it helps the CVS
to keep in touch with member organisations. Training
opportunities are also circulated to TSOs based in the
Centre, although not all take them up.
The Centre has also helped to raise the profile of
the third sector locally. It is used regularly by the City
Council and Primary Care Trust, as well as other statutory
organisations, and is “highly respected” by them. Local
newspapers regularly make reference to Priory Street.
Nevertheless, the CVS recognises that the Centre has
a higher profile than the CVS itself - while Priory Street
is well known, it’s thought that members of the public
might not associate it with the CVS. The CVS thinks it
could do more to build awareness of its role.
Like most (if not all) CVSs, York CVS has a range of
income sources, some of which are time limited grants.
So while the CVS is not wholly self-sustaining, the
Centre has clearly made a considerable contribution
towards sustainability of local support services. It is well
established and there is a high demand for office and
meeting space, suggesting that it will remain a reliable
source of income in the foreseeable future.
This case study was prepared by Shared Intelligence for the Sustainable Models of Support Services report, which was
funded by Capacitybuilders. To read more case studies like this please visit: www.improvingsupport.org.uk
Key learning points
• The CVS sees managing the asset and provision
of services through it as a key part of the role they
play in supporting the local third sector - rather than
somehow at odds with this role
• A good and long established relationship with City
of York Council contributes to the success of the
Priory Street Centre, and the Centre itself has helped
to further strengthen relationships with statutory
partners
• Getting to the point of opening the Centre took a
long time and required considerable persistence; it
was made possible by factors coming together, such
as availability of funding, and an increase in local
house prices, which boosted income from a property
the CVS sold