The voluntary sector must avoid becoming simply "the service-delivery arm of the state" or risk losing its edge, reckons Penny Nicholls, director of children and young people at The Children's Society.
She says that, faced with the twin challenges of a commissioning process that is still in development and the need to run effective businesses, the sector should not "dilute its reason for being".
"The voluntary sector has a very specific way in which it is able to meet people where they are, develop relations and trust and give edge to commitments," she explains.
Nicholls heads a division of The Children's Society boasting 600 employees and 74 projects across England - some aimed at specific groups, others catering for all. During the past five years, the charity has targeted services at refugee and asylum-seeking children and young people, those with disabilities, those in trouble with the law or at risk on the streets and other disadvantaged groups. It recently received Diana Princess of Wales funding for its work in detention centres.
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