The infrastructure that backs community organisations is at risk. We need to rethink its role, have honest conversations about the change that we need, and make difficult decisions to support the whole ecosystem so that more people can be in a good place.
02 November 2026
Our communities are full of ambitious, energetic, hopeful people who want to make life better for their neighbours. But change does not happen overnight, and it does not happen in isolation. Alongside passionate and driven local leaders, community organisations, and local partnerships, we need a thriving and diverse support network. This network enables community groups to keep showing up day in and day out, making people’s lives better. We often don’t hear about their work, but when this support network is gone, the whole sector feels the loss.
These are what we call ‘infrastructure’ organisations. Infrastructure takes many forms, from national and local bodies to specialist organisations, networks and movements. What matters is not the label, but how they help community organisations thrive and enable community-led change.
We see this time and again in our work as a funder. We’ve been partnering with infrastructure organisations of many shapes and sizes for over a decade. They’re a key partner in our organisational development support offer, where we commission them to build the capabilities and capacity of community-led organisations. We have partnered with different infrastructure organisations to produce insights and deliver campaigns that benefit the social sector. We’ve also invested in infrastructure organisations through dedicated funding programmes and strategic grants and they’re a key player in our place-based work to back community leaders and community led change.
Yet not everyone is well served by this infrastructure. The support is uneven. In many places it does not exist at all because it couldn’t be sustained. In some places, it’s ineffective because it doesn’t have the resources to make a difference. And in the worst cases, it is in competition with the organisations it’s meant to support, getting in the way of the communities it is meant to serve.
This is why we at Lloyds Bank Foundation support the call made today by ACEVO, CFG, NAVCA and NCVO for an independent review of voluntary sector infrastructure in England and stand ready to support that work however we can.
We agree that there is a need to act now to ensure community groups have effective support over the long term. That means thinking about the next decade and beyond at a time of AI, devolution and the growing need for civil society resilience. Funding alone, especially emergency funding that simply serves to delay closures is not the answer. We need a complete rethink of the role of infrastructure. Starting with asking what are the needs of community-led organisations and how can infrastructure organisations enable community-led change? We need to plan for the next ten years, not the last ten.
The proposed review is an ambitious undertaking and will involve asking difficult questions, thinking creatively, and ultimately making tough choices, but that’s exactly what’s needed right now.
Good infrastructure strengthens the whole sector. Our aim is to sustain the support organisations and communities need, not preserve organisations for their own sake, so that everyone can be in a good place.
You can lean more here