London Advice Services Alliance, a charity which provides ICT and advice services for the third sector, reveals the results of its latest research looking at current challenges and possible solutions for the third sector.

The research revealed that two-thirds (63%) of third sector workers think that sharing is key to collaborative working within the sector, with sharing of ideas and expertise (20%) being the most important.

Although collaboration is regarded as important to the sector, there are a number of obstacles which hinder charity organisations from taking things forward.

Nearly three in ten (29%) think that lack of leadership is the key obstacle faced by the sector, whilst more than a quarter (26%) consider lack of communication among organisations to be the main hurdle.

The results also highlighted that more than half (54%) of charity workers currently depend on the support services of second and third tier organisations on a weekly basis, and only three per cent of the respondents had never benefited from such assistance.

Andy Gregg, Chief Executive of Lasa, commented: “In conjunction with our 25th anniversary, we would like to take this opportunity to encourage third sector organisations to cooperate more. We also need to recognise the significance and availability of support from our own sector.

"At challenging times such as this, we will need to have serious discussions about how to tackle the problem of lack of resources, and only by working together closely will we be able to survive and thrive throughout the current economic recession.”

The research was based on 175 respondents from charity organisations and aimed at finding out the best ways to help improve third sector services and for them to survive the economic recession.

The topic of surviving through economic recession and collaborative working among third sector organisations will be discussed further at a Lasa hosted event entitled ‘Mind the Gap: How can the Third Sector Survive through Tough Times?’ on November 4 in London.