Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Think NPC story, Jane Thomas discusses the effect that Brexit is having on the nonprofit sector and civil society in the UK.

• What other consequences of Brexit should the nonprofit sector be preparing for? How will the event affect organizations outside of the UK?

• To learn about the effects that Brexit may have on health in the UK, click here.

[T]he Brexit Civil Society Alliance has travelled the UK listening to concerns from local groups and voluntary organisations about the impacts on their organisations as we face leaving the EU.

Brexit poses significant and complex challenges for civil society. As a UK wide alliance of charities, voluntary and campaigning organisations, we have been working together to ensure that the voices of civil society are heard in the Brexit process.

These conversations, mainly in the form of round tables, have shown that people are keen to know something more detail than just ‘Brexit means Brexit’. They have also given the alliance an opportunity to share what we have learned from our engagement with MPs and other opinion formers and to share information and intelligence around issues specific to the sector.

In Cumbria we found a sense in the third sector and more widely that Brexit is something that is happening ‘over there’ (i.e. London) and that it is hard to get their voices heard, a sentiment echoed in Cornwall and Newcastle. In Bradford the third sector is trying to work out the impacts on beneficiaries from the most deprived areas and to understand the service mapping post Brexit.

A common theme has been how and what is going to replace funding from Europe and how you advise beneficiaries now so they can plan effectively. And yet whilst many third sector organisations receive European funding because funding has been secured up to 2020, loss of funding does not seem to be an immediate concern for most organisations.

Read the full article about Brexit by Jane Thomas at NPC