Despite the combined efforts of hundreds of thousands of charities, voluntary community organisations, and social enterprises, the organisation and management of millions of volunteers, carers, and contributors operating alongside public services backed by billions in funding, the deficit of need within the population continues to grow.

Consequently, many people still lack the care and support they need. Additionally, young people miss out on opportunities. Furthermore, issues such as poverty, homelessness, and health inequality persist, costing the UK hundreds of billions in lost social and economic opportunities each year.

Therefore, this situation is unsustainable and represents significant missed opportunities. We need more than improved collaboration between the not-for-profit and public sectors to address this deficit. Instead, it demands a whole system change to increase efficiency and capacity across all sectors. We believe there is a way forward.

By coupling community intelligence with new measures of individual, family, and community well-being, we can improve efficiency and build capacity by better utilising our collective assets, resources, and capabilities. This approach shifts the focus from crisis response to enhanced early intervention and prevention and the founding of a continuous improvement community development process.

Ultimately, in this new model, we can start to address the deficit and reduce the demand on the public sector by more intelligently leveraging the people’s collective power and innovation.