The charity consultancy Fair Collective has said it has backed out of a “dream” project with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations because of a difference in values. 

The Sheffield-based consultancy, whose clients include Pregnant then Screwed, Mind and the Social Mobility Foundation, embarked on the “Power of Small” project in the spring of this year, describing it as a “dream gig”. 

The project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, is described on the NCVO’s website as “a development project to research and test the support that ‘smalls’ (voluntary organisations with under £1m of income) need from infrastructure bodies to be resilient and thrive over the coming years”. 

NCVO received £262,225 from the National Lottery Community Fund for the project. 

For phase one, Fair Collective was commissioned to carry out research into the needs of ‘smalls’, to give the NCVO “key areas to test”. 

But in a LinkedIn post over the weekend, Fair Collective wrote that “we’ve decided to walk away from a dream gig”.  

It said: “As Fair Collective [...] some of our core values are meaningful collaboration, acknowledgement and sharing of power, co-production and total openness. 

“And in this spirit of total openness, we want to share that we’re stepping away from this project because we have found working on it very tricky for a number of reasons. 

“Most fundamentally though, because our experience of working on this project has not aligned with the values we’ve listed above.” 

The post said: “It’s scary to do this, to step away from something we care deeply about and to do so publicly, but it’s important to us to maintain our integrity and hold true to our values.”  

Fair Collective declined to comment further when approached by Third Sector. 

The NCVO said the consultancy had completed the work it had been contracted to deliver. 

But the Fair Collective said it had been invited to participate in the project until it was completed in early 2025 and had decided to step away early. 

An NCVO spokesperson said: “NCVO commissions a number of external commercial organisations to help support the delivery of important projects designed to support the charity sector to deliver more impact. 

“Much of our work is funded and involves collaboration with other partners, which requires us to deliver a wide programme of work, with multiple delivery partners against specific project requirements and objectives. 

“Fair Collective tendered to deliver a part of this programme of work and completed it. 

“We are grateful for its work on this project, and value the wider contribution it makes to the sector. 

“We remain committed to working with our other partners to continue this important project, and look forward to seeing the lasting impact it will have for small charities across the country, as they work tirelessly to meet the growing needs of the communities and people they support.” 

According to NCVO’s website, Fair Collective was engaged in phase one between May and July of this year.