The Scottish Third Sector Tracker — Challenges and support for Scotland’s Third Sector: analysis from wave one's open questions. (Summer 2021)

The Scottish Third Sector Tracker is a longitudinal panel survey gathering regular insights from Third Sector organisations (TSOs) in Scotland. The first wave of data collection was completed between June and August 2021 and forms the baseline for a further five waves of the study, to be conducted quarterly. The Tracker will provide evidence about TSOs’ experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and its medium-term effects, offering a mix of quantitative data that can be monitored over time, and qualitative data that provides a deeper insight into the individual experiences of Scotland’s diverse TSOs.

The first wave surveyed 585 TSOs from across Scotland, which represent a broad range of sectors and organisational types. This wave of the survey included two open-ended questions asking respondents about the challenges they were facing and the support they would like to see from bodies such as SCVO, Scottish Government, and funders over the next two years. This report presents analysis of those responses and provides insight into the medium-term challenges and needs of Scotland’s third sector.

The report begins by outlining key aspects of the methodology and analysis. This is followed by summary offering an overview of the findings. The main body of the report first discusses in greater depth the challenges that TSOs report facing over the next two years, and then turns to their requests for support. In both cases, quotes from respondents are used to illustrate TSOs’ experiences in their own words. Finally, the report closes with some concluding remarks about the implications of the findings.

• POL_Scottish Third Sector Tracker_LongitudinalWave_Report_Spring 2022_v2 (329415Kb)