If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is the importance of having accurate and up to date data and evidence to support decision making. For that reason, SCVO has decided to partner with a range of stakeholders1 to build a Scotland-focused third sector research community called the Scottish Third Sector Tracker.
SCVO is looking for 600 representatives from third sector organisations based across Scotland who are willing to share their experiences, views, and concerns as the sector emerges from the pandemic.
The information gathered from members of the Scottish Third Sector Tracker will inform and direct the way SCVO, and many other organisations, including the Scottish Government, provide support to third sector organisations in the coming years.
The findings will also be used to produce regular reports and insights that will be shared widely across Scotland’s third sector to help policy makers and funders shape their own policies and support for the sector.
This community will allow Scottish third sector organisations the opportunity to contribute to a high-profile research project that will reach decision makers across the country.
SCVO has appointed an independent research company, DJS Research, to manage the Scottish Third Sector Tracker. The Tracker will run for 18 months, and interviews are already underway.
To express your interest in joining the Scottish Third Sector Tracker please complete this form on DJS’s website. If you have any questions about the Tracker, please email DJS at STSTracker@djsresearch.com
1 Those stakeholders include organisations directly funding this project: The Scottish Government; William Grant Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund and organisations taking an advisory role: The University of Glasgow, Social Enterprise Scotland and OSCR.
Wave Two Findings — Winter 2021/22
The initial findings from the second wave of the Scottish Third Sector Tracker are now available.
The findings suggest that most third sector organisations continue to face challenges in the face of the pandemic. However, there has been improvement in the sector’s ability to deliver services and/or planned programmes of work.
The headline findings suggest that disruption to service delivery is no longer one of the top 3 challenges for organisations. That has been replaced by issues with staffing and volunteers and difficulty in planning for the future. Unsurprisingly, financial challenges remain in the top 3, up from 47% in summer to 53% in winter 2021/22. Despite this, organisations’ reporting a decrease in turnover has fallen from 48% to 25%.
Demand for services has increased from 57% to 62%, as has organisation’s ability to meet this increase in demand – up from 71% to 83%.
Redundancies have dropped 7%, but recruitment of paid staff is also down from 37% to 29%. Volunteering numbers started to stabilise over the winter after a 36% drop over the summer.
Finally, most in the sector are relatively confident in their future – 92% were confident that they’ll still be operating in 12 months’ time, down from 97% in summer.
Wave One Findings — Summer 2021
The findings from the first, baseline wave are now available. In this wave, organisations were asked to reflect on the challenges of continuing to provide services and planned work during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The findings highlight just how disruptive the pandemic has been for third sector organisations in Scotland. Many could not deliver fully on their work plan across the previous year. However, the sector has responded by adapting and creating new services to meet increased demand and emerging needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often will I be asked to complete the survey?
Once every three months.
How long will it take?
For most, the survey will take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete each time.
How do I complete the survey?
The first survey (wave one) will be conducted by telephone, following that once a new edition of the survey is live, you will receive an email notification to the email address you supplied when you first registered. This will contain a link to an online survey.
What if I cannot complete the survey
A complete picture of the sector is crucial to the success of the project and so we ask, where possible, that members submit a response for all the remaining five surveys. We appreciate that this will not always be possible due to a change in roles, leave or illness. In these cases, we would ask for another colleague to complete the survey in your absence.
If you leave your organisation altogether, please let us know and we can organise for someone else in the organisation to take your place in the community.
Finally, in the very unfortunate circumstance that your organisation stops operating at any point during the next 18 months, we would be very grateful if you could let us know, so that we know not to continue to contact you.
