Wanted: your help to drive SCVO

You could be forgiven for thinking it’s just that time of year again, as your inbox gathers invitations to respond to one organisation after another’s strategic plan consultation. Whether it be the Big Lottery Fund with its snazzy Your Voice Our Vision consultation, our counterparts at the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action with their round of members’ meetings, or the Economic Development Association Scotland’s more conventional survey on its Route Map for Common Ambition, there’s a lot of thought and energy being given to the future in and around our sector right now.

This is me asking you to give a few minutes' thought to what you would like from SCVO to help you step purposefully and confidently into the future

And here comes another one – ours. This is me asking you to give a few minutes' thought to what you would like from SCVO to help you and yours step purposefully and confidently into the future. With our DRIVE SCVO consultation we’ve gone for a mix of the traditional and more conversational – with the option to answer survey questions and dip in and out of the ideas chat as part of an online community. While we would welcome early feedback on the shape of our thinking (by the end August would be ideal), it will remain open for longer than that and we’ll be encouraging everyone to stay involved with us and each other, in the weeks and months ahead. Because in Scotland we all need to be stimulating new thinking, sharing ideas, and pooling our resources as we work through whatever changes referendum day brings. In recent referendum-focused discussions with both the no and yes camps – impressively fronted by Johann Lamont and Nicola Sturgeon respectively – it’s become clear there are big political expectations of our sector, and its role in changing and improving public life and the life experiences of all of Scotland’s citizens. Whichever way the country votes there is a real sense that this is a time of opportunity, with people across the country talking about the big issues of society and the economy in a way we haven’t experienced for many years. We want to encourage even more discussion and debate and, through that, highlight the values and the creativity embodied in Scotland’s third sector. We want to know what more we can do to stimulate positive change, to bring people and organisations together, and to support and promote the good things third sector organisations are doing. I’m looking forward to hearing your views.