With donations to charities falling – the 2010 Charity Market Monitor reports that voluntary income to the UK’s top 500 charities has dropped by £64 million - the time has come for charities to re-look at the method and effectiveness of their service delivery.

Traditionally third sector organisations have shied away from outsourcing services – languishing in the wake of both the public and private sectors. Fears regarding the loss of personal interaction, expertise and the integrity of the organisation have all been voiced.

Yet these entrenched attitudes are why I see the current economic climate as an opportunity as well as a challenge for the sector. I hope it will force organisations to reassess they way in which services are delivered and to look afresh at the benefits that carefully managed outsourced solutions can offer.

In fact, historically outsourcing has been one of the Third Sectors biggest secrets. According to Paula Rickson of the Charities Aid Foundation, all charities outsource to some degree, "They don't tend to shout about it too much. Charities are often worried about losing touch with their donors, and sometimes the donor perception is that outsourcing costs money, which isn't the case. Research suggests that outsourcing back-office costs could save UK charities £136 million a year - only one aspect of charity work amongst many that could potentially, and profitably, be outsourced.”

And cost reduction is an increasingly pressing issue for many, as the impact of Government cuts to grant funding is felt. At Connect Assist we can typically find a 20 per cent reduction in costs when taking over a helpline from a charity’s inhouse team. While for organisations that are looking to extend into different areas, working with an outsourcing partner means there is no need to make a significant, upfront captial investment.

Despite this, many charities have still not considered the outsourcing option. According to Professor Cathy Pharaoh of Cass Business School, “The significant advantages offered by outsourcing in offering additional expertise, taking some burdens off charity shoulders and freeing them to pursue their mission, are also acknowledged, but a key finding was that many charities, however, have simply not considered outsourcing. Infrastructure bodies provide limited promotion of outsourcing to members, partly because of lack of understanding and information, but also because of factors such as risk-aversion.”

I would argue that charities should be looking at outsourcing when they lack the capacity to deliver a particular service. Or if a service already exists in-house, but needs to be delivered at a lower cost. A contact centre is equipped to provide a number of features that most in house services would not have. For example, access on a 24/7 basis rather than a 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday service. Levels of call abandonment are also likely to be significantly lower, while smart telephony such as call queue routing and automatic call-backs drive efficiency.

The benefits of such a move are highlighted by MDF The Biopolar Organisation. It received more calls in one week than in an entire year following an EastEnders storyline that included a character’s struggle with biopolar disorder. Having moved from a weekday, office-only helpline run by volunteers, to an outsourced 24/7 service it was able to cope with this demand. Interestingly 70% of calls were taken during the night – calls that would otherwise have been missed.

Suzanne Hudson MDF’s Chief Executive comments, “Awareness of bi-polar disorder has increased significantly in recent years and we were struggling to manage rising volumes of sometimes very detailed calls.

“By outsourcing some of our service provision to a specialist contact centre organisation, we were able to channel member calls to a dedicated helpline resourced externally, while continuing to deal with general enquiries in-house.

Suzanne acknowledges, “Initially we did have concerns regarding the loss of personal interaction, expertise and the integrity of the organisation. But our experience has been wholly positive and we have developed a close working relationship with Connect Assist our outsourcing partner.”

Risk aversion can appear tempting in a tough economic climate. However, where there are real savings to be made and the delivery benefits are apparent, refusing to consider change could potentially endanger any organisation, with the third sector remaining more vulnerable than most.

Patrick Nash, CEO Connect Assist

www.connectassist.co.uk