The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
SCVO news blog
As SCVO launches its #RightApproach campaign, we take a look at the popular misconceptions surrounding Human Rights and why they remain as important and relevant as ever Read more
SCVO media release 7 July 2016 A new free-phone fundraising complaints line and website has gone live to assist members of the public wishing to make a complaint about charity fundraising in Scotland. Scottish Fundraising Complaints, which has been set up by the Scottish Council... Read more
SCVO media release 30 June 2016 An enhanced model for charity fundraising regulation in Scotland will see more responsibility placed on charities and the Scottish charity regulator, OSCR, to encourage good practice. The move follows an extensive period of consultation with the... Read more
SCVO media release 9 June 2016 Charities and people right across Scotland have been celebrated for the life-changing difference they make at the 2016 Scottish Charity Awards, which took place at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh on 9 June. Shulah Allan, Convener of Scottish Council... Read more
... by coming to our free Big Advice Day Read more
About a year back, I started working on the Good HQ project, SCVO's new charity social media site. This is no small task, and as an experimental project, it uses a number of pretty new technologies. As it doesn't rely on the SCVO's existing infrastructure, it needs its own... Read more
Many of the tools we use in our daily work would cost a vast amount of money if we were a commercial organisation. Thanks to good-will towards non-profit organisations we are able to use wonderful tools at discounted rates or completely for free. In addition to open source... Read more
SCVO media release 2 May 2016 Charities and volunteers right across Scotland have been named as finalists in the Scottish Charity Awards. Organised by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), the Awards, which are free to enter, celebrate the life-changing work of... Read more
SCVO media release 13 April 2016 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) will lead the civil society response in a pilot programme which has selected Scotland as one of 14 pioneers across the world to make governments more open and transparent. Led by the Open... Read more
This is the start of something big – a project to improve digital communication channels at SCVO. Hi, I'm Calum I recently started working at SCVO and head up the Web Team within Digital. I'll be using this blog to document the development of all our web properties to help... Read more
This year SCVO's Digital Team had their own awesome stand at the Gathering Read more
9 out of 10 people have supported a charity in the last year 82% of people in Scotland trust charities and believe they act in the public interest (compared to 57% in England and Wales) Levels of trust in fundraising remains high with 73% of people agreeing that they feel... Read more
SCVO media release 11 February 2016 Charities are being urged to take part in a consultation to decide upon the future of fundraising regulation in Scotland. With the current UK-wide system of self-regulation about to change, Scottish charities need to design a system to make... Read more
SCVO media release 11 February 2016 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisation (SCVO) has received investment of £528,219 from the Big Lottery Fund to help more people connect with the online world by training hundreds of people in charities across Scotland as digital... Read more
The UK Government's stunt around employability funding is insulting to people in Scotland, explains John Read more
SCVO media release 27 January 2016 The Scottish Charity Awards are open for entries Charities and their supporters’ right across Scotland are being encouraged to apply for the 2016 Scottish Charity Awards by the Wednesday 18 March deadline. The awards, which are free to enter... Read more
Here's the latest roundup of progress on the project, and our first big post of 2016. It's also going to be one of my last, as I will be leaving SCVO soon to pursue new challenges elsewhere. The project is in great shape and we are all set to launch our public beta in a couple of... Read more
Why is our sector under siege and what can we do about it? That's the question raised by SCVO chief executive Martin Sime in his AGM address on 26 November 2015. The full speech is presented below. https://readymag.com/453774 Read more
Here's the latest roundup of progress on the project. I didn't manage to post at the end of Sprint 9, so this is a double post to catch us back up to the present day! Sprint 9 Done (technical): Implement cached content on homepage Implement ability to opt out of receiving... Read more
Racism, lobbying and Holyrood 2016 with David McColgan, SCVO policy committee member In the latest SCVO Policy Podcast, Policy Officer Jenny Bloomfield talks to David McColgan, SCVO policy committee member. Listen below to find out: David's suggestions on how the third sector can... Read more
SCVO media release 25 November 2015 Following George Osborne’s autumn statement today, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said: “The third sector in Scotland can claim two huge wins from the Chancellor’s autumn statement... Read more
SCVO media release 17 November 2015 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has awarded £195,000 of funding to 19 projects across Scotland to help people learn the basic skills they need to get the most out of the internet. BT Scotland has also made a contribution... Read more
Exciting news: we've just deployed the official alpha release of Good HQ, a new feedback platform for charities and good causes in Scotland.It's here to do three things: To help charities and good causes gather feedback about what they're doing well and how they could improve To... Read more
This is something of a milestone update: our alpha product is close to feature complete, and we are now accepting signups from anyone who is interested in taking the product for a spin. Head over to the Good HQ homepage, hit sign up to get started, and then let us know how you... Read more
The individuals named below have been appointed to the SCVO Policy Committee, which works to reflect the best interests of the third sector in Scotland. It is the job of SCVO to take these policies and represent the shared interests of the third sector to government, local... Read more
Annual Review 2014 -15 Our Annual Review celebrates our achievements of the past year. https://readymag.com/439677 Annual Report 2014 -15 Our Annual Report is presented by our Directors, together with the audited financial statement for the year ended 31 March 2015. It is... Read more
Here's the latest roundup of progress over the last fortnight. There's been a brief hiatus since the last post, as we've also moved across Edinburgh to a new home at Hayweight House on Lauriston Street. This gives us more room for whiteboards and problem-solving, and as an added... Read more
SCVO media release 23 September We need to do more to maintain public trust in fundraising Trustees and senior managers of charities must take more ownership of fundraising activity Need to do more to prevent vulnerable people being inundated with fundraising requests Sub... Read more
Here's the latest roundup of progress over the last fortnight. We deployed a new, stable pre-release build of the platform and have begun gathering user feedback. The user-generated content on the platform is still test data at this stage; in a couple of week's time we will reset... Read more
SCVO media release 14 September 2015 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations has received funding of £1.3m from the Scottish Government to create more jobs for young unemployed people in charities and third sector organisations through Community Jobs Scotland. The... Read more
SCVO media release 9 September 2015 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisation (SCVO) has received investment of more than £500k from the Big Lottery Fund to help more people connect with the online world by training hundreds of people in charities across Scotland as digital... Read more
Here's the latest roundup of progress over the last fortnight. A pre-release edition of the product is online under the working title Good HQ, and we've started to roll out a small number of test accounts. Done (technical): Improved user pages showing more useful summary... Read more
We've been clear from the outset of this project that we're going to put our users first. Of course, when you're running product development it's easy to get carried away with the build and to lose touch with what your users actually need it to do. The team - and the people... Read more
People contribute to society in different ways at different times. They are driven by a need to support themselves and their families, share things with other people around them and do something meaningful with their lives. Sustainable and meaningful paid employment is the single... Read more
Here's the latest roundup of progress over the last fortnight. Pretty much all of our MVP features are in place, and we're starting to send out invites to our sandbox environment for a small number of people to begin exploring. The next sprint is mainly technical consolidation to... Read more
SCVO media release 21 August 2015 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is inviting community groups to apply for funding to help get people online. The Digital Participation Challenge Fund will allocate £325k to community projects across Scotland to help people... Read more
Here's the latest roundup of progress over the last fortnight. We've had a big push to get the minimum feature set in place, and by the end of the next fortnight we should be ready to open up a sandbox environment for a wider group of users to begin testing. Done (technical... Read more
SCVO media release 30 July 2015 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations has launched an informal review of fundraising in Scotland to assess whether or not the current system of public charity fundraising self-regulation is working. The review, which will report back by... Read more
Sadly my internship has come to an end! :( It feels like I was only taken on a few weeks ago, so these three months have gone by very quickly. I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to work for SCVO. Here are some of the things I've learned from the experience... Read more
Politics, the new budget and the 'National Living Wage' with Stephen Boyd, STUC In the latest SCVO Policy Podcast, Policy Officer Jenny Bloomfield talks to Stephen Boyd, Assistant Secretary at STUC. Listen below to find out: What Stephen thinks of the performance of SNP MPs so... Read more
A big (the biggest?) part of running an agile project is a commitment to ship working code on a regular basis. We're now through the very early set-up phase for the project and have settled into a cadence that feels right for us: a fortnightly sprint cycle with major versions... Read more
SCVO media release 8 July 2015 For immediate release Following George Osborne’s summer budget today, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said: “For the first time the Chancellor has finally admitted that his attack on the... Read more
The wisdom of the crowds - the collective opinion of a group of individuals rather than that of a single expert – is not a new concept. It’s been around since Aristotle. In recent years, technology has changed our ability to aggregate collective opinions, and this in turn has... Read more
At the moment the SCVO labs team is small but we have big ambitions, put simply, a participation revolution. We're building a place for people to share their stories about charities and good causes in Scotland. I'm passionate about the project and excited about our approach... Read more
Hello! My name is Hoyam and I am a Digital Research Intern for the digital participation team and SCVO Labs. My role involves researching the digital activities of charities and non-profit organisations, not just in Scotland and the UK but internationally as well. Currently I am... Read more
Hi, this is Alex, lead developer on SCVO Labs. Nice to meet you! For the last few weeks I've been building a prototype of the underlying system which the SCVO Labs app will be running on.I'm a Java developer by history, and this is my first time doing full-stack development (i.e... Read more
One month in, and things are starting to get exciting. In the very near future we'll be launching a work-in-progress product for you to start exploring. We'll post an online sign-up form for pilot users in due course, but if you want to register interest early then drop us a line... Read more
SCVO media release 5 June 2015 For immediate release Charities and people right across the country have been recognised for the contribution they make to life in Scotland at the 2015 Scottish Charity Awards which took place at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh tonight (4 June... Read more
It’s been ten years since the Charity Act was introduced in Scotland and while it has been a largely successful piece of legislation there are areas which could do with some attention. One of the main reasons the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is calling for a... Read more
The driving ambition for SCVO Labs is to bring platform thinking to bear on people's engagement with civil society and good causes in Scotland. But on the way there we're also testing out new ways of working for an organisation like SCVO. In particular, we're embracing an agile... Read more
After a few months getting things lined up, the SCVO Labs show is now well and truly on the road. Over the last week we've put the initial team together, upgraded this website and started to prepare our workspace. We'll be running an agile, user-centred design process, and doing... Read more
SCVO Labs is about more than just building great products. We ❤ open, so we want to involve people in what we're doing and talk about what we're learning. Over the weeks and months ahead we'll be using this blog to share our stories with our friends, colleagues and the wider... Read more
Election predictions, environmental policy and social justice with Robin Parker, WWF Scotland In the latest SCVO Policy Podcast, Policy Officer Jenny Bloomfield talks to Robin Parker, Public Affairs Manager at WWF Scotland. Listen below to find out: What Robin thinks will happen... Read more
SCVO has spent hours poring over election manifestos so you don't have to. Our comparison covers key areas affecting the sector and the people we support, including welfare, devolution, climate change and the economy. We outline a range of key messages from each parties... Read more
SCVO media release 1 April 2015 The Digital Participation Challenge fund, delivered by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations with Scottish Government support, today published its second round of funding offers to 33 organisations across Scotland to help them get people... Read more
What's it like being an exhibitor at The Gathering? Read more
SCVO media release 26 February 2015 Ditch rhetoric on social justice & focus on treating the causes not just the symptoms of poverty Hundreds of charity leaders from across Scotland will question Alex Neil MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities & Pensioners... Read more
SCVO Media Release 25 February 2015 As thousands of charities come together for The Gathering, the annual event for third sector organisations organised by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), today and tomorrow in the SECC, Glasgow, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon... Read more
SCVO media release 25 February 2015 Despite loving working in third sector 1 in 2 charity workers are looking for a new job for better pay & more job security The findings of a survey of more than 1,000 people working in charities and third sector organisations, published today... Read more
Julia explains some of the benefits of going tweet-tastic at The Gathering. Read more
Lee, age 11, explains why he enjoys a fun day out at The Gathering. Read more
SCVO media release 6 February 2015 For immediate release Following the publication of the Scottish Parliament's Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments (SPPA) Committee’s report on a register of lobbying, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs, Scottish Council for... Read more
On Thursday 22nd January the UK Government released draft legislation for a new Scottish devolution settlement. This sets out how they plan to put the recommendations of the Smith Commission into law. These are draft clauses with a new Scotland Bill to be included in the Queen’s... Read more
SCVO media release 22 January 2015 For immediate release Following the publication of draft legislation on more powers for Scotland, Martin Sime, Chief Executive, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) said: “The piecemeal proposals put forward by the Smith... Read more
What were the top SCVO blogs of 2014? 2014 was a year dominated by the independence referendum, and that's reflected in this year's top blogs. The third sector in Scotland worked with us to make sure that charities and voluntary organisations had a strong voice in the debate, and... Read more
To help more young people must invest in what works instead of the Work Programme The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is pleased to announce that Lauren Sinton, a 16-year-old from Bathgate, has become the 5,000th young person to find a job through Community... Read more
SCVO media comment 4 December 2014 Following today’s announcement that the UK Government is extending contracts to deliver its Work Programme, Lucy McTernan, Deputy Chief Executive, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, said: “We are utterly appalled by the UK Government... Read more
SCVO media comment 4 December 2014 Welfare changes causing depression, fear & destitution SCVO's latest research on the impact of welfare reform on frontline charities shows that cuts, and poor management of them, is subjecting people to abject poverty through no fault of their... Read more
This morning the Smith Commission released its report, setting out the agreement between the main political parties on which further powers to devolve to Scotland. In our original submission to the Smith Commission, we asked for a number of powers to be devolved. Below is a quick... Read more
SCVO media comment 27 November 2014 Time to invest in what works to create real jobs for people Lucy McTernan, Deputy Chief Executive, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, said: “John Swinney will soon have the power to scrap the Work Programme in Scotland and we urge... Read more
SCVO media comment 27 November 2014 Smith’s personal recommendation to devolve more power to people and communities very encouraging Following the publication of the Smith Commission recommendations today, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs, SCVO said: “We’ve said all along... Read more
SCVO media comment 26 November 2014 Following the announcement of the Scottish Government’s legislative programme, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) said: “The third sector has been calling for a fairer society, economy... Read more
24 November 2014 Dear Messrs Cameron, Clegg & Miliband Living up to the vow: the wholesale devolution of welfare As your party representatives enter the final week of Smith Commission negotiations, we want to remind you about the vow you made to the people of Scotland to give... Read more
SCVO media release 20 November 2014 To deliver on new First Minister’s mission to tackle poverty & inequality, Scottish Government needs to invest more in third sector Following a £200m (20%) drop from 2010-2013, public funding now only makes up 34% (£1.7bn) of charities’ income... Read more
Notice is hereby given that the seventy-first Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations will be held on Thursday 20th November 2014 at 4.30pm at 200 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, G2 5RQ. All Members are invited to attend the AGM and the SCVO... Read more
Minutes of the 70th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in The John McIntyre Conference Centre, 18 Holyrood Park Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AY on Thursday 21st November 2013 1. Welcome and opening remarks from Brendan Dick, SCVO Honorary President Brendan Dick, SCVO Honorary President... Read more
SCVO media release 14 November 2014 For immediate release TAP INTO ENERGY OF REFERENDUM & SMITH COMMISSION TO BUILD DEMOCRACY THAT WORKS FOR PEOPLE SCVO has published a report calling for a rethink of democracy in Scotland, so that it works for the vulnerable people whose lives... Read more
Jenny talks to Jill Wood from Engender about the Labour leadership race, women in politics, and the gender pay gap. How are women doing in Scottish politics? Why, 44 years on from the Equal Pay Act, do men get on average 13% more pay than women in Scotland? And is the pay gap... Read more
31 October 2014 Piecemeal top-down approach to devolution won't work Following a wide spread consultation with the third sector across Scotland, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has used its submission to the Smith Commission on more powers for Scotland to... Read more
Politics and power in post-referendum Scotland with Juliet Swann, Electoral Reform Society Scotland In the second of SCVO's Policy Podcasts, Policy Officer Jenny Bloomfield and Juliet Swann, Campaigns and Research Officer at ERS Scotland, discuss some topical political issues... Read more
Joint letter to Smith Commission 10 October 2014 Lord Smith The Smith Commission 7th Floor One Atria 144 Morrison Street Edinburgh EH3 8EX Dear Lord Smith As representatives of some of the major interests in civil society in Scotland, we are well aware of the challenges facing... Read more
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has made an interim contribution to the Smith Commission, asking for a guarantee that people in Scotland will be given a real say in the devolution of more powers to Scotland. Martin Sime, Chief Executive, SCVO said: “We... Read more
SCVO is urging third sector organisations to submit views and proposals on further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament to feed into the Smith Commission. Lord Smith of Kelvin, who has been appointed to take forward the devolution commitments on further powers for the... Read more
What does the independence referendum mean for the third sector and communities in Scotland? This is the topic for discussion in the first of a new series of SCVO podcasts as Policy Officer Jenny Bloomfield talks to Nic White, Head of Scotland at Breast Cancer Care, on the impact... Read more
SCVO – STUC – NUS Scotland - joint media statement 19 September 2014 The citizens of Scotland have made their decision and they must take the lead in shaping Scotland’s future Today the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC... Read more
SCVO media statement 19 September 2014 Reflecting on the result of the referendum on Scottish independence, Martin Sime, Chief Executive, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said: “People have voted in unprecedented numbers and the debate showed there is an... Read more
SCVO media release 28 July 2014 The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has joined forces with the STUC and the Daily Record for the Mission Million campaign to encourage the million people in Scotland currently unregistered to start using their vote. John Downie... Read more
We're asking you to shape our future, so we can help shape yours. Read more
SCVO media release 9 July 2014 For immediate release The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has become a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). This new legal structure, which has been purpose built for the charity sector in Scotland, allows... Read more
SCVO media release 9 June 2014 For immediate release NEED TO LEAVE BEHIND SCOTLAND’S ARCHAIC SYSTEM & HAVE FAIRER DISTRIBUTION OF LAND Five third sector organisations have joined forces to urge the Scottish Government to take early and decisive action on land reform. They have... Read more
SCVO media comment Wed 4 June 2014 Ahead of the publication of the Expert Group on Welfare’s second report, John Downie, Director of Public Affairs, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said: “It’s encouraging to see that the Group is aspiring towards a much more... Read more
SCVO media release 3 June 2014 NEW NATIONAL PROGRAMME GETS CHARITIES READY FOR SHIFT TO MORE LOCAL HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and partners today (Tuesday 3 June) launched Building Healthier and Happier Communities, a national... Read more
SCVO media release 7 May 2014 For immediate release The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has published a new report, An Economy for All, which outlines how we can build a stronger economy by reducing inequality. The report calls for people’s well-being to... Read more
Following the launch of the Help to Work scheme today, Martin Sime, chief executive, SCVO said: “SCVO has consistently opposed this kind of mandatory activity that forces people to do unpaid work or face unfair sanctions. It’s particularly harmful at a time when many people are... Read more
We now have over 1,600 members for the first time ever. 45 new members were approved in March and are listed below. A big welcome to the SCVO family! Our new members continue to reflect the diverse range of organisations that make up Scotland’s third sector, ranging from small... Read more
SCVO Media Release Embargoed until 00.01 on 4 March 2014 NEW CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED TO TACKLE SCOTLAND’S “HUMANITARIAN CRISIS” More than 870,000 people in Scotland are living in poverty A fifth of children in Scotland are living below the breadline 23,000 people turned to food banks... Read more
Can you create and fill a job by 31 March 2014? Alex Salmond, First Minister and Angela Constance, Minister for Youth Employment have announced more funding for Community Jobs Scotland. They have allocated £4 million of funding for 2014–2015 which will create 1,200 Community Jobs... Read more
Alistair Darling MP, leader of the Better Together campaign Address to SCVO Annual Gathering, Thursday 20 February 2014 The work of the third sector, often in partnership with government and other organisations, is essential in improving the lives of people across Scotland. It’s... Read more
Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP, First Minister Address to SCVO Annual Gathering, Wednesday 19 February 2014 Introduction Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here for the SCVO’s tenth annual gathering. The third sector has 45,000 organisations in Scotland, 130,000 employees, and more than a... Read more
SCVO media release New figures show vital role third sector plays in Scotland New figures released today (Wednesday 19 February) by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) show that the third sector’s turnover has grown to £4.9bn, having doubled over the last... Read more