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.
Things do not seem to be improving.
Things do not seem to be improving. Completion of wave 8 (Spring 2024) prompted me to look back two years at the report I wrote for wave 3 (Spring 2022). Back in 2022, six in ten organisations reported struggling financially, this number is now closer to eight in ten (77%). Similarly, six in ten (62%) organisations believe that rising costs and inflation are having a negative impact on their ability to deliver their core services or activities, an increase from four in ten (42%) two years prior.
In the same period, the number of organisations reporting volunteer shortages as their biggest challenge has increased by 7%, and the number of organisations reporting difficulties fundraising as their biggest challenge has almost doubled.
More recent comparisons don’t make for more comfortable reading, increasing numbers of organisations are struggling to meet the demand for their services; six in ten organisations feel the use of their reserves to be unsustainable, up from four in ten just six months earlier, and the number of organisations making redundancies has doubled, from 5% to 10% in the same period – data points to monitor to see if this is the start of some unwelcome trends.
“Staff are exhausted, underpaid and not given the recognition they deserve within the sector. We are increasingly becoming the frontline/first point of contact for a great number of vulnerable people who either don't know how to or don't feel able to access the support services they need.”
On a brighter note (if there is one to be found), the number of organisations meeting or exceeding their planned programmes of work has increased from 50% to 67%, although this is down from 74% in Spring 2023 - wave 6 for those keeping track. Most (87%) organisations are confident of their survival, albeit with an increasing number having to expand their fundraising activities and adapt services to remain operational.
“We currently have 6 months of funding to continue as we are. If enough funding does not come through to continue as we are. We will have to reduce the amount of sessions we run. This could mean stopping a number of groups, reducing staff hours and not working with long term freelancers any longer.”
It’s difficult to paint in broad brushstrokes when attempting to depict such a diverse sector, but for many organisations responding to the tracker, things do not seem to be getting any easier.
