Title:  The Nature of Community Service Organisations (CSOs)

This assessment examines areas such as:  What are the key characteristics of Community Service Organisations (C- SOs)?; What  is the distinction between a CSO (located  within the NFP/Third Sector area)  against the other two sectors (1st sector:  Public/Government  & 2nd sector:  Private/Business)?; How are the key characteristics of CSOs reflected in organisational ’governance’, and ’approach’?

This assignment is about  the nature  of Community Service Organisations and their role in the community sector. In addressing this task, you should think about where CSOs are placed; what kinds of challenges and opportunities they face; how do the characteristics within them impact on the role of the Board (’Governance’), and devising and implementing these characteristics via Management (’Approach’)?

Note :  For the purposes of this Unit, the term ’Community Service Organisations’ (CSOs) denotes small-medium organisations within the broader ’Not-for-Profit’ (NFP)  segment of the ’Third Sector’. CSOs are NFPs that  are:  a) smaller in terms of size; b) typically active in the broad ’Human Services’ (i.e.  health,  welfare, education/training, housing/accommodation, community development, community Legal Center etc).

Note :  The terms ’Governance’ and ’Approach’ have very definitive uses within this Unit.  Further explanation of these terms will be discussed in lectures and tutorials.

The  following elements  are  the  essential  elements  for this  assignment  (Please  also take  note  of the  comments regarding knowledge generation and written competence that  are located within this L.G.)

1.  Provide a definition of what a CSO is. Then, provide a contrast of this sector against the other sectors (Public/Government) and Private/Business)? Provide examples in each area to illustrate.

2.  What are some of the challenges and/or  opportunities unique to CSOs? Choose three (3) characteristics and discuss.

3.  Take one of the examples from point 2 and elaborate on how this impacts on both ’Governance’ (Board) and ’Approach’ (Management).