Hi
Funding for the voluntary sector in England is likely to go through major shifts due to various factors (move from grants to commissioning, the olympics (Tessa Jowell has 'borrowed' arts, heritage and sports lottery money to fill the funding gap, increase in number of groups, changing wider economic environment etc) as you point out, which means that groups are going to have be very savvy about the direction they take, to stand out and prove that they are delivering a service that will add value to the government's strategies.
In a way we have come full cycle over the last 10 years, as people who have been longer in the sector than myself remind me, as the tightening of everyone's belt is similar to what happened just before Margaret Thatcher came to power. It is not going to be easy but I would say conserve your energy for working out the best way forward for your group (if it is worth funding).
A couple of places to get further help developing your future:
www.nacva.org.uk - the national association of councils for voluntary service - these are orgns that support and develop local groups
www.volresource.org.uk - very good general website for voluntary sector which also has a useful email to keep up with trends and polices, plus lots of links to funding
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/askncvo/ - they are keen on sustainable funding i.e. trading and generating income so look at their subsites
and
www.financehub.org.uk/default.aspa - site funded by government which collates lots of useful resources on funding and finance for groups.
(all this is personal opinion based on 10 years' of working with groups in London)