A special HELLO to every single one of our 305 new members! We’re really excited that we welcomed 5 new members each week last year. Thanks for joining and we hope you’re enjoying being a member of SCVO.

We discovered that 9 out of 10 people in Scotland have supported a charity in the last year and that 82% of people trust charities and believe they act in the public interest.

82% agreed most charities can be trusted. 37% of those gave them top marks.

73% feel confident donating to charities BUT 28% said their trust in charities had decreased in the last year.

41% agree recent media stories have eroded confidence.

90% of people in Scotland contributed to a charity in 2015.

77% donated money, 58% donated goods, 62% bought goods, 48% sponsored, 38% campaigned and 30% volunteered.

We visited Bo’ness, a small town by the Firth of Forth between South Queensferry and Grangemouth, to understand why people there love charity and the impact charities have on people’s lives in the town. Maria Ford, chairwoman of Friends of Kinneil, a charity which promotes and develops Kinneil Estate and foreshore in Bo’ness, said: “I live and volunteer in Bo’ness. We have over 60 charitable groups registered in Bo’ness but this is not including the people who are volunteers to individuals and larger charities and groups within our town. “The Bo’ness people are proud of their town and community, we do not just sit and wait for things to happen here, we pull up our sleeves, fundraise and fight for things to happen. We are a town that will come together when someone or a group in the community need assistance. I love staying in this community and I love charity for making it better. “Why is the community action so strong in Bo’ness? I believe that it goes back to our forefathers who were tied to the mines, potteries, iron foundries and harbour. Money was tight, families lived closely and friendship actually saved lives in those days.”

Hundreds of charities put their heads together at our event in Edinburgh’s EICC to help shape the future of fundraising regulation in Scotland, paving the way for a simpler approach to the self-regulation of fundraising in Scotland which everyone can understand and trust.

With funding from the Scottish Government, our Community Capacity & Resilience Fund awarded over £140k in grants of up to £5k to help frontline charities in communities across Scotland set up innovative projects to mitigate the effects of welfare reform and combat inequality. These grants directly assisted more than 900 people in services ranging from tribunal support to food provision.

4,676 people received the support they needed to develop basic digital skills through the SCVO’s Digital Participation Challenge Fund. Take A Tablet in Castle Douglas was one of the projects supported through the Digital Participation Challenge Fund. It helped 43 older people, living between Dumfries in the East, Newton Stewart in the West, Carsphairn in the North and Kirkcudbright in the South, learn how to use tablets to access information on the internet and keep in touch with friends and family. Nancy from Kirkgunzeon says: “I don’t know what I’d do without my tablet now. I use it every day, sending emails to friends and family (including to family in France) and using Skype to keep in touch with her daughter and other members of my family. Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with friends I had last touch with over the years and I check it every day to see what is happening. Ordering my shopping over the internet is next on my to-do list.” Jim from Dumfries says: “I wanted to know more about the iPad my wife was using daily. After the final session training session I headed up to the Apple Store in Glasgow buy my own iPad because I didn’t think my wife and I would be able to share one! My family gave him a fitness tracker which I connect to my iPad each day to see how much exercise I’ve managed that day. I also email friends and family regularly and I’ve signed up to Facebook."

We visited Glenboig Neighbourhood House, near Coatbridge, to launch a Scottish Government-funded pilot scheme in partnership with Poppy Scotland to create 100 jobs for young unemployed service leavers, young people with convictions aged 25-29, and to also created jobs for people with disabilities, care leavers and carers aged 25-29. Gary Gray, Head of Welfare Services, Poppy Scotland said: “This government funding will broaden the employment horizons for many veterans, offering them a much brighter future, and will also provide great value to organisations who play such a crucial role in supporting the disadvantaged and vulnerable in our society.” Cameron Hill, who was employed at Glenboig Neighbourhood House as a Community Gardener through Community Jobs Scotland, said: “It has been great working for Glenboig Neighbourhood House. I’ve had lots of opportunities to speak to people in the community who I’d never have met otherwise and I have really enjoyed gardening. I’ve previously had eight months training as a mechanic so I’d like to either follow that up or keep up gardening. I’m keeping my options open.” We celebrated a big milestone for Community Jobs Scotland, when the 6,000th young person found work through the programme. Kelsie McGregor, 16 from Loanhead is working as a Play Work Assistant at LASC Childcare Services. Kelsie said: “I really enjoy it here in the nursery and I am looking forward to starting my level 2 in childcare.” We created 142 paid graduate internships which supported third sector business growth across digital development, marketing, research, website design and fundraising. We received the great news from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in February 2016 that an additional £6.1m will be invested in Community Jobs Scotland to create even more job for young people.

5,620 people attended our 86 events and training courses. The Gathering attracted more than 3,400 people to share third sector knowledge and experience, hearing from Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, entrepreneur Jim McColl, Social Bite founder Josh Littlejohn and other high-profile speakers.

31 amazing finalists competed across 7 categories. 17,000 members of the public voted for their favourite to win the People’s Choice Award, with MND Scotland coming out in front and also winning the Charity of the Year Award. Craig Stockton, Chief Executive, MND Scotland, said: “We are delighted to win this prestigious award in what’s been a phenomenal year for us. The ice bucket challenge took the world by storm and brought MND awareness into gardens, parks and iPhones across the country.“MND campaigner Gordon Aikman helped secure public funding for MND nurses – and double the current number of existing nurses. We would like to dedicate this award to the fantastic supporters, volunteers and staff who give up their time and talents to improve the lives of those affected – and help us work towards a world without MND.”

We launched the Third Sector Mediation Service with the Scottish Mediation Network to provide affordable mediation tailored to the third sector to help resolve disputes or relationship difficulties between board members, committee members, employees or volunteers.

We celebrated Funding Scotland’s first year of helping people search for funding online in style. We even had cake! Some key stats: • Over 7000 registered users • 50% of users are from organisations with an income under £100,000 per annum • 90% of users would recommend Funding Scotland