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Mid Wales Tourism Awards: Supplementary Guidance
What are third sector organisations?
The following guidance is taken from the National Audit Office:
‘Third sector organisations’ is a term used to describe the range of organisations that are neither public sector nor private sector. It includes voluntary and community organisations (both registered charities and other organisations such as associations and community groups), social enterprises, mutuals and co-operatives.
Third sector organisations (TSOs) generally:
- are independent of government. This is also an important part of the history and culture of the sector;
- are ‘value-driven’. This means they are motivated by the desire to achieve social goals (for example, improving public welfare, the environment or economic well-being) rather than the desire to distribute profit; and
- reinvest any surpluses generated in the pursuit of their goals. For this reason TSOs are sometimes called ‘not-for-profit organisations’. A better term is ‘not-for-personal-profit’. In many cases, TSOs need to make surpluses (or ‘profits’) to be financially sustainable.
Source: https://www.nao.org.uk/successful-commissioning/introduction/what-are-civil-society-organisations-and-their-benefits-for-commissioners/
For the purpose of the Mid Wales Tourism Awards, our eligibility criteria is as follows:
Organisations where profit is reinvested in services, business growth or a social purpose rather than being distributed to shareholders, and which earn at least 50% of their income from trading activities, so they are not totally reliant on donations or grants. This incorporates trusts and charities which are also trading enterprises.
