# Trustees' Week 2022: Thriving in challenging times

It’s a turbulent time to be a trustee. The impact of the pandemic and legacy of lockdown is still with us, and now we have unprecedented rising costs and political instability adding to the pressure. It’s a challenge for everyone in our charities, community organisations and social enterprises, but trustees are under particular pressure because the buck stops with them. When it comes down to it, trustees are responsible for the financial viability of their organisations, for their compliance with regulations and the law, and for the wellbeing of staff and volunteers.

If we’ve learned anything from the last three years, it’s that working collectively and supporting each other is essential – for individuals, organisations and communities. We’ve also learned how to be much more effective online, and to appreciate getting together in person more than before. Working collectively is essential to being an effective board. All trustees must feel included and heard and understand their individual and collective responsibilities. That’s hard when they’re subject to so many pressures in other parts of their lives, and when the challenges their charity is facing are so serious.

Resilience is the word of the moment, and that’s something trustees need in spades! Because they’re doing it in their own time, as volunteers, it can be a juggling act of competing priorities. So, they need support and resources to help them meet those different demands. And they need easily accessed opportunities to engage with others in similar roles in other organisations to share learning and support. Knowing where to go to find help is fundamental to building resilience.

That’s where SCVO can help. We offer a wide range of practical resources to help, including the Information Service, the HR Service, the Good Governance Check-Up, the Trustees’ Network, a variety of learning opportunities and free access to specialist expertise. And we help you get your voice heard at a national level. Please share your experiences, ideas and challenges with us to inform our influencing work and improve our services. ACOSVO also has a Chairs’ Network that facilitates peer support for trustees with a leadership role.

Trustees’ Week is all about learning, sharing and celebrating, and next week we’re running a webinar with our legal and tax advice service partners which will look at How to Survive and Thrive in Challenging Times Join us on Thursday 10 November to access help and advice on HR and employment, property, VAT and Tax, mergers and collaborations and good governance. And remember we’re here for you all year round. Whatever your challenge, get in touch with us and we will do our best to help in any way we can.

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## About SCVO

SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) is the national membership organisation for Scotland's voluntary sector.

Our role is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in Scotland and to support them to do work that has a positive impact.

SCVO supports members and the wider voluntary sector with all aspects of setting up and running a voluntary organisation. SCVO represents the needs and concerns of the voluntary sector to the Scottish government in Holyrood and UK government and Westminster. Through our learning and events programme SCVO offers training and development opportunities to the sector.

Members access an extensive membership benefits package including specialist, in-depth, 1-to-1 guidance from our Information Services team and from professional service partners.

Access to exclusive membership networks (including comms, employers, governance and policy) supports members to grow their connections, stay up to date, exchange ideas and views with peers, and learn through tailored learning opportunities.

SCVO members enjoy free access to Funding Scotland Premium to stay on top of funding opportunities to support their organisation’s financial resilience.

Discounts and savings on SCVO products and services (including our HR service, managed IT support, payroll service and events and training) and partner offers provide members with support to allow them to focus on delivering their organisation’s goals. Further SCVO products and services include [extensive digital support](https://scvo.scot/support/digital), a climate action resource [Growing Climate Confidence](https://climateconfident.scot), a voluntary sector publication [Third Force News](https://tfn.scot) and a voluntary sector jobs and recruitment service [Goodmoves](https://goodmoves.org).

For more information on SCVO membership, visit [SCVO membership](https://scvo.scot/membership)