The term below (or under) the radar has come into common parlance to describe small, community based, organisations and activities in the third sector, where either the group is not registered with the Charity Commission, does not appear on other national registers (such as Companies House), or has limited and uncertain income.
Yet, initial research by the 'below the radar' work-stream at the Third Sector Research Centre indicates that the term itself is controversial. Its use generates a range of both negative - and positive - responses.
For some, the term implies starting from a deficit model of understanding community sector organisation and activity. These groups are small and not engaged in public debate because they 'lack capacity' - lack the skills and knowledge to engage beyond their own community or circle of interest.
For others, the phrase raises the question 'whose radar'? The policy radar? The radar of local development agencies? The information technology radar? And is being on the radar useful anyway? "We are very much 'on the radar' of our community and are really active. Who else needs to know about us?"
Finally, there are those for whom being 'below the radar' is to be celebrated. Small groups and community activities can respond to local needs in a way the big agencies can't. They can take risks and find solutions to local issues that the professional organisations just can't, because they are too averse to risk taking. Such groups are independent of the state and state funding. Their agendas and purpose is not bent by the latest policy trends, they are not simply a cheap service option for public service delivery. Their importance lies elsewhere - in the social networks which are actually important to the quality of people's day to day lives.
In the current economic climate - with looming cuts in public expenditure and the loss of corporate income to large/national voluntary organisations - that independence, and lack of reliance on external funding and commissioning processes, means that just maybe below the radar is, at present, the place to be?