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.
I like meetups. I like that they are informal. I like that I can learn new things. And most of all I like that I meet people who care about the same things that I do - it inspires me to be better. We identified a gap in Scotland a few years ago for people who also like meetups...
Read more
In recent weeks I’ve been pondering developments in technology – in particular robots and artificial intelligence (AI). I’m thoughtful of how these advances might impact on the future of volunteering. A common narrative on this theme is people versus technology. It’s one or the...
Read more
Can you think about a service which you use every week which is almost completely run by volunteers? It disrupted a 250 year old industry and made a Microsoft product irrelevant. That service is Wikipedia, with 136,119 volunteers contributing in the last 30 days to the English...
Read more
It’s been a week where the nefarious use of personal data by Cambridge Analytica has dominated news headlines. What you might have missed is that this week Scotland is hosting a celebration of the use of data (in its broadest sense!) for good. Dozens of events are taking place as...
Read more
We know that charities are still not fully engaged with cyber threats and the risks they pose; phishing scams, ransomware and accidental loss of data. But now, with policies changing and GDPR looming, inactivity to these threats could soon come with sanctions. Over the last six...
Read more
“We need to be much more proactive with the positive narrative around the vital work of the third sector. It’s not about ignoring the bad; it’s about getting a balance right" - Nicola Sturgeon at The Gathering, 21 February 2018. The media reporting of the Oxfam Scandal and the...
Read more
In developing this website, we went through the following process: Define a project scope Document user needs Investigate existing usage patterns and audience profiles (analytics) Requirements gathering ("As a ... I need/want/expect to ... so that ...") Information architecture...
Read more
Anyone who knows an infantile adult or a surprisingly sure-headed teen knows that maturity is only loosely aligned with age. More likely indicators of maturity include knowing your strengths, working on your weaknesses and being clear about your purpose and direction. So it is...
Read more
We were in need of a new website. Does this situation sound familiar? Our existing website had over 1,200 pages and posts, it was running WordPress with a bespoke theme and many plugins in various states of maintenance, the design felt dated and it was difficult to find content...
Read more
Comic Relief have just opened applications for their third round of the Tech for Good Programme. This aims to support organisations to develop or scale digital solutions which deliver new or improved services to beneficiaries. Funding for up to 12 projects, each with grants of up...
Read more