This paper reports on research to develop and implement an innovative methodology to find and map what lies beneath the third sector radar. By using and adapting tools used in the 1990s for the well-recognised work of LOVAS (Local Voluntary Activity Surveys) we sought to identify all community activities in two small local areas of England. This revealed a diverse range of 58 self-organised activities going on in and around 11 streets of England – groups that do not appear on regulatory listings and thus tend not be included in wider statistical trend analyses on the third sector. Six ‘types’ of below-groups were identified from the study. Most were embedded into their local community and operated within a very specific socio-cultural context delivering services to their immediate local communities.
Our findings also revealed a combination of ways in which groups obtain resources from their own users by ‘tapping in’, and obtaining resources from others, ‘tapping out’. In addition, the work shows that several of these groups are also distributing resources to others, ‘giving out’. The findings also highlight the importance of the opportunities arising from publically shared-spaces and the support from paid and unpaid staff operating in the buildings that they use
