Strategic distinctiveness: awakening the 'sleeping giants' of England and Wales's NHS charities

Christian Möller; Helen Abnett

doi:10.1332/204080521x16901427738541

Strategic distinctiveness: awakening the 'sleeping giants' of England and Wales's NHS charities

Christian Möller
, Helen Abnett

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

12 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Building on remarkable and sudden fundraising success during the Covid-19 pandemic, many National Health Service (NHS) charities in England and Wales have undergone a period of rapid organisational transformation and growth. This article explores these developments by considering how claims to distinction contribute to new organisational identities and allow access to valuable resources and funding opportunities. After situating recent developments within the policy background and key changes in governance and regulation since the 1990s, we report on interviews with directors and trustees of NHS Charities Together (NHSCT), the national membership organisation of NHS charities. These offer new insight into strategic shifts and the desire to form a distinct and unified identity for NHS charities. Highlighting ongoing tensions and debates within the sector, findings raise important questions over the role of NHS charities and their position in relation to the NHS and the state.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	199-217
Number of pages	19
Journal	Voluntary Sector Review
Volume	16
Issue number	2
Early online date	21 Aug 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1332/204080521x16901427738541
Publication status	Published - Jul 2025

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Wellcome Trust (Grant 219901/Z/19/Z; Border Crossings: Charity and voluntarism in Britain\u2019s mixed economy of healthcare since 1948). We are grateful to all our colleagues in the wider Border Crossings programme for their comments on earlier versions of this article, particularly Ellen Stewart and John Mohan. We also thank all our interviewees for their insight and contributions. However, the responsibility for the content of this article rests with the authors alone.

Keywords

charity
NHS
distinctiveness
regulation

Access to Document

10.1332/204080521x16901427738541Licence: CC BY 4.0

Moller-Abnett-VSR-2023-Strategic-distinctiveness-awakening-the-sleeping-giantsFinal published version, 196 KBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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Strategic distinctiveness: awakening the 'sleeping giants' of England and Wales's NHS charities

Abstract

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Keywords

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