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Supporting Scotland's vibrant voluntary sector

Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

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.

Evidence library

State of the Sector 2024: key Scottish voluntary sector figures and trends

A 10-page summary of the latest headline figures and financial trends.

Key trends

  • Funding from government has stayed relatively stable, while income from the public has to a large extent recovered after being hit hard by Covid.
  • Unfortunately, for many voluntary organisations inflation and expenditure rises have matched and outpaced these hard-won gains.
  • While majority of organisations have managed to stay in the black, margins have been wafer-thin and there has been a steady rise in the numbers of organisations ending the year with a deficit - in 2023, 45% of charities spent more than they managed to generate.
  • These narrow margins and rising deficits have seen charities continue to draw on their reserves unsustainably.
  • The value of the Funds looked after by the sector fell by £1bn between 2021 and 2023.
  • The average value of funds held by large charities fell by £5m, from £17m in 2021 to £12m in 2023.
  • Half of medium and large charities have less than 6 months expenditure in reserves and nearly 1 in 3 large charities has less than 3 months of expenditure in reserves.


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Last modified on 24 February 2025