To attract the best job seekers and volunteers, charities need to become dynamic and efficient organisations offering ongoing learning and training opportunities.

That was the suggestion made by Kathleen Duncan, former director general of the Lloyds TSB Foundation, which funds charities working to tackle disadvantage across England and Wales. She was speaking at a debate this week fleshing out the idea of establishing a virtual university which could make career shifting easier.

“However,” added Duncan, “lifelong learning can never be part of the third sector while charities and social enterprises have to fight for funding simply to exist.”

The debate, organised by social enterprise Primetimers, which offers advice and information to third sector organisations, is one of a number of discussions taking place over the next three months discussing the case for a Civil Society University (CSU).

In a previous ethicalcareers.org story, Primetimers director Mary Chadwick, said a CSU would make it easier for job seekers to move from the private to the voluntary sector allowing them to gain credits for the training they do in their career. Chadwick thinks this latest debate produced much agreement that learning has to become an integral part of the third sector.

Indeed, chair of the discussion, Richard Evans, chief executive of CfA Appointments, a recruitment company for the not-for-profit sector, predicted: “Future success of the charity sector is dependent on it being able to provide top quality training for the people who work in it.”

Primetimers' third sector and lifelong learning debates
www.primetimers.org.uk/colloquia

Lloyds TSB Foundation
www.lloydstsbfoundations.org.uk

CfA Appointments
www.cfappointments.com