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 Caledonian Exchange, 19A Canning Street, Edinburgh EH3 8EG.
Growing the economy
Crucially, the sector also makes a significant contribution to Scotland’s economy. The 2024 Social Enterprise Census shows that, despite ongoing economic challenges, the financial footing of Scotland’s social enterprise sector remains relatively robust. There are well over 6,000 social enterprises currently operating in Scotland, with around 90,000 full-time equivalent employees, and a £2.89bn Gross Value Added (GVA) economic contribution to the Scottish economy.
However, for the sector to thrive and scale its impact, there’s a pressing need for long-term, flexible funding solutions, improved access to investment, and a policy environment that supports financial durability. Significant economic and financial challenges continue to affect social enterprises, alongside other businesses and charitable organisations.
We need to see certainty and consistency in public funding support for social enterprises and charities, this must mean fair, multi-year funding. It’s essential that this is rolled out and implemented post-election, for 2026 and beyond. Fair Funding is not just a good thing to do. It’s a direct social investment in Scotland’s people, enterprises, and communities.
There’s a notable commitment by sector bodies, in partnership with the Scottish Government, to dramatically increase the number of social enterprises. This target includes boosting the numbers of employee-owned businesses, community development trusts, and cooperatives, which would mean that 3 in every 50 businesses would be one these inclusive, democratic business models by 2034. The huge potential for Scotland is there but this can only happen with the right financial support.
Alongside charities and voluntary groups, we seek to work in partnership, with our shared values, to grow Scotland’s economy, provide high numbers of meaningful jobs, and implement fair work. We look forward to working with national and local government and public sector partners to make the vision of Fair Funding and investment a reality.
[Fair Funding] would allow us to build on projects that have proven impact
In recent years, the Scottish Government has been consistent in championing the growing of Scotland’s economy as one of its four key priorities. In the Programme for Government 2024 to 2025, the government laid out its view that “businesses, large and small, sustain communities and provide valuable employment” and “investment, public and private, lays the foundation for future growth.” Missing from that document, and consistently throughout discussions regarding this vital priority of economic growth, is the contribution of Scotland’s voluntary sector.
The voluntary sector is a significant player in the economy and, although its economic contributions are perhaps less well understood and captured, those contributions should not be ignored. It employs 5% of the Scottish workforce – a higher percentage than in the food and drink manufacturing industry, for example – contributing to the economy and GDP by creating jobs. In retail, charity shops had a social value estimated at £75.3 billion across the UK in 2022.
In the same year, volunteering was estimated to be worth £5.3 billion to Scotland’s economy. And the voluntary sector continues to contribute in a multitude of other ways, including providing public services, supporting people of all ages to access employment and training opportunities, focusing on early intervention and prevention, building partnerships, and displaying a unique ability to fundraise.
At a time when the Scottish Government and local authorities are prioritising economic growth, backing the prospects of a wellbeing economy, and investing in local economies following the passing of the Community Wealth Building Bill, any hope of solving the challenges we face as a society rests on acknowledging that the voluntary sector is a key economic player. And it is a sector that needs support to continue being that key player.
“[The current funding landscape has a] major impact on nature and scope of services; major impact on continuity, sustainability, and resilience; major impact on capacity to undertake development work; [and a] major impact on staff morale,” explains an urban organisation tackling long standing endemic wellbeing problems.
“It is harder to recruit staff as [there are] too many fixed-term contracts,” adds a membership body for circular economy charities. “It is harder to retain staff as [there is] often funding uncertainty. Board and governance focus [is] too much on funding and survival rather than strategic purpose.”
Essentially, when you have a voluntary sector that is such an incredibly important contributor to Scotland’s economy, it is crucial to ensure that the approaches to funding on which that sector relies are as sustainable, flexible, and accessible as possible. And that can only be achieved by implementing Fair Funding.
“[Fair Funding] would allow us to plan ahead, retain skilled staff, and build on projects that have proven impact rather than constantly starting and stopping,” confirms a Glasgow charity operating a foodbank, pantry, and charity shop. “It would free up time and energy to focus on delivering services rather than chasing funding.”
Apex Scotland
In Scotland, around 1 in 3 men have some form of conviction, equating to around 33% of the working population of men between ages 25 to 49, while Scotland is facing a shortage of working age people across multiple sectors. However, those with experience of the justice system represent an opportunity for economic growth as untapped talent. Apex Scotland’s national specialist services support people to unlock the barriers they face to moving on to positive opportunities, which support desistance, wellbeing, and long-term stability.
Apex Scotland has been fortunate in recent years to have benefited from multi-year core funding, with the security provided by this bringing some stability to the core executive staffing team. One of the many positive impacts of this stability has been the enabling of senior staff to undertake, and complete, more strategic pieces of work than would otherwise have been possible if capacity had, instead, been focused on chasing annual funding. Having that additional capacity has enabled the team to review the organisation’s activities and ways of working, and to work alongside Evaluation Support Scotland to increase their understanding of the impact that their activities have, in order to help better inform future decision-making.
In contrast, Apex Scotland also regularly experiences poor practice elsewhere in the funding landscape, including short-term commissioning cycles for local services that fund frontline staffing roles. With funding often not confirmed until after a new financial year has begun, those frontline staff frequently have to be issued with redundancy notices on an annual basis and time is wasted on the running down and setting up of services every year. This not only increases the risk of losing skilled staff due to a lack of job security but it also harms the relationships that staff have successfully developed and maintained with those accessing services. This then compounds the further risk of people disengaging with the service or, in the event that the service discontinues, failing to engage with a new provider, resulting in their needs not being met and an increased risk of harm arising.
Ultimately, staff at Apex Scotland feel like they are in an endless loop of pay and job insecurity, with a distinct possibility of job losses every year despite being a Fair Work employer. Each year, reserves are often utilised to ensure the bridging of contracts as a result of delayed payments and poor funding practice, often involving calculated gambles that services will be funded into the following financial year. Despite the benefits of multi-year core funding, this is simply not sustainable.
Without vast improvements to the way in which voluntary organisations are funded, Apex Scotland faces an incredibly uncertain future. Delayed decision-making in particular threatens to not only derail or delay some of the vital services provided by the organisation but threatens the long-term sustainability of Apex Scotland itself. In turn, the life-changing services supporting those in our communities who need them are at risk as a direct result of funding practices that can and must be improved.