The Value of Small in a Big Crisis

Three years on from the publication of the landmark independent ‘The Value of Small’ study, researchers from Sheffield Hallam, the Open University, IVAR and the University of Wolverhampton revisited the four case study areas during the COVID 19 pandemic.

The 2018 study found that small and medium-sized charities – those with an annual income between £10,000 and £1 million - were a vital and distinctive component of the social and economic fabric of communities across England and Wales.

This new research, commissioned by Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, tests and expands the findings of the original study in the context of the pandemic. It shows that small and local charities’ distinctiveness in who they support, how they carry out their work, and the role they play in their communities makes them best placed to respond to this crisis. They reach and support disadvantaged people and communities that tend to be less well served by mainstream provision.