Who we are
Third Sector Foresight is an initiative of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).
NCVO is the largest umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England. NCVO believes passionately in the voluntary and community sector. This is a sector with the power to transform the lives of people and communities for the better. We work to support the voluntary and community sector and to create an environment in which voluntary organisations can flourish.
NCVO Third Sector Foresight helps voluntary and community organisations create effective plans with strategic insight and planning tools.
Our vision is of a civil society in which all organisations understand how the world is changing around them, feel confident about how changes will impact on their organisation and feel empowered to respond through better planning and decision-making.
Key people
- Megan Griffith
- Caroline Bennett
- Kathryn Cook
- Sarah Coombes
- Caroline Copeman
- Mark Crowe
- Véronique Jochum
- Karl Wilding
- Natalie Williams
NCVO Third Sector Foresight is led by Megan Griffith
Megan joined NCVO in 2003, and Third Sector Foresight in 2004. She is the lead author of the annual publication Voluntary Sector Strategic Analysis, an analysis of the changing operating environment and strategic drivers for UK voluntary organisations, and other publications including ICT Foresight: how online communities can make the net work for the VCS. She is joint author (with Caroline Copeman) of Looking out: how to make sense of your organisation's environment.
Caroline Bennett is a Third Sector Foresight Officer
Caroline joined NCVO in 2008. Caroline will be delivering training to umbrella and infrastructure organisations as part of the National Support Service on responding to social change. Caroline will also be leading Third Sector Foresight projects within specialist sectors.
Kathryn Cook is our Events, Communications and Administrative Assistant
Kathryn joined NCVO in 2008 and leads all of our marketing and communications as well as organising our series of conferences and seminars.
Sarah Coombes is a Third Sector Foresight Officer
Sarah joined NCVO in 2008. Sarah will be delivering training to umbrella and infrastructure organisations as part of the National Support Service on responding to social change. Sarah will also be leading Third Sector Foresight projects within specialist sectors.
Caroline Copeman is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School, City University, one of our partners in the National Support Service on responding to social change. Caroline is the lead author of our highly regarded strategic planning toolkit, Tools for Tomorrow, our guide to scenario planning, Picture This, and our guide to strategic analysis, Looking out: how to make sense of your organisation's environment.
Mark Crowe is Head of Development at Yorkshire and Humber Regional Forum, one of our partners in the National Support Service on responding to social change.
Véronique Jochum is a Research Officer at NCVO and is Third Sector Foresight's expert on social trends.
Véronique joined NCVO in 2002 and leads the research team’s work on voluntary action, participation and active citizenship. Véronique is co-author of the annual Voluntary Sector Strategic Analysis. Other recent publications include: Faith and voluntary action: an overview of current evidence and debates and Civil renewal and active citizenship: a guide to the debate.
Karl Wilding is NCVO’s Head of Research and is one of Third Sector Foresight’s main contributors.
Karl joined NCVO in 1998 to work on the Almanac programme, taking over as Head of Research in 2001. His research interests include mapping the changing third sector economy, and ICT and its implications for voluntary action. He is a trustee of the Association for Research in the Voluntary and Community Sector (ARVAC) and an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Charity Effectiveness, Cass Business School in London.
Natalie Williams is a Third Sector Foresight Officer.
Natalie joined NCVO Third Sector Foresight in 2006. She is the lead author of our Future Focus series of pocket guides to drivers and of Advice in the future: scenarios and issues for the future of the advice sector. Natalie manages the development of this website.
Our funders
NCVO Third Sector Foresight is funded in 2008/09 by:
We continue to be thankful for previous support from:
If you are interested in finding out about ways to support our work, email us.