The government is being urged to provide assistance to the charity sector to ensure that more infrastructure bodies do not close due to financial problems.

The call has been made by Alice Clementi, the chief executive of financial services volunteering charity Charterpath in an open letter to civil society minister Vicky Foxcroft.

Infrastructure bodies to close include most recently the Directory of Social Change, which announced this month it is to cease operating after supporting the sector for more than 50 years.

Others to fold in recent years include The Small Charities Coalition, The Foundation for Social Improvement, Children England and Getting on Board.

Clementi’s letter also highlights how Reach Volunteering almost closed, but was saved for at least a further two years at the eleventh hour by a consortium of funders and donors.

“Many smaller local infrastructure organisations are facing the same pressures away from the national spotlight,” says her letter.

“This is starting to look less like a series of isolated closures and more like a warning about the infrastructure supporting our charity sector.”

She warned that if more infrastructure bodies close “training and governance support may disappear. Funding information and advice become harder to access. Local organisations lose trusted networks and specialist expertise”.

She called on the government to undertake a civil society infrastructure review “to make practical recommendations for how critical infrastructure can be made more sustainable - including the respective roles of government, grant-makers, businesses and the sector itself”.

Businesses need to do ore to support charity infrastructure, especially through their staff volunteering their time and expertise.

“We need to make sure charities can access the infrastructure, people and funding they need to survive and thrive,” adds Clementi’s letter.

“Without action, more organisations will close and the sector will become weaker just when we need it most.”

Clementi is urging others in the sector to sign her letter.

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