You're a charity! What next?

Congratulations on becoming a registered charity in Scotland. You’re joining a vibrant sector, doing important work. Even if you're still waiting to hear the outcome of your application, there's lots that you can do to think about your next steps and secure your organisation's future.

At SCVO, we’re here to support you, promote the contribution your organisation makes and work towards developing a confident, sustainable voluntary sector in Scotland.

Our information on running your organisation

Now that you’re up and running as a charity, we can offer lots of support on how you can run your organisation. What you do next depends on what kind of services you're providing, who you're working with and what you want to achieve but here are some of the things you might need to think about.

Funding

No matter what kind of work you're doing, it's likely you'll need some finances to do it. We've got information on what kind of funding you can look for, how to give your applications for grants the best chance of success, and ideas of lots of kinds of fundraising:

• Guide to finding funding

Funding Scotland is SCVO's funding database, giving you high quality information on available funds and making it easy for you search by topic, area, types of funding and beneficiaries. We keep it up-to-date to make it as easy as possible for you to find great opportunities. SCVO members can access premium content and functionality:

• Funding Scotland

Good governance

Your management board, your trustees, have a vital role in setting the direction of your organisation and making sure you're on track to achieve your aims. We have lots of support to help you develop a great board, including:

• Guidance to help you you recruit and train new trustees
• Our Governance check-up tool, giving you bespoke guidance on what your board needs to do
• Templates, model policies and more
• Our Trustee Network, for the latest news and networking

Employing staff and creating a healthy workplace culture

Our comprehensive guidance on all things HR will help you make sure you have what you need in place to take staff on, understand your responsibilities and work towards a healthy and effective workplace culture:

• HR information and resources

Day-to-day running of your organisation

There's lots to think about to make sure your charity is working well, and we've got the information you need. Find out more about:

• Legislation & regulation that may affect you
• Business planning and development, and finances
• How to be confident using digital, from working with staff to delivering services
• Thinking about the climate crisis, and working towards being a net-zero organisation