Evidence library

Last year, the ALLIANCE published our “Stretched to the Limit” report, investigating the impacts of the cost of living crisis on our organisational members. Our report found that the majority of member organisations who responded to our survey, as well as attendees at our annual conference workshop, were facing pressures including increased demand for services, reductions in grant funding and higher bills, whilst almost half were unable to offer their employees pay uplifts.

In advance of the new financial year, we conducted a short follow up survey between 18 and 25 March 2024 of our organisational members to get a sense of their current financial circumstances, particularly in light of the extremely difficult public funding situation in the Scottish Budget. We asked members to tell us whether they had funding agreed for the coming year, and whether they felt financially secure:

• 33% of respondents said their funding for the year ahead had not yet been agreed, and that they were financially insecure.
• 26% said their funding had not yet been agreed, but they were financially secure.
• 26% said their funding had been agreed, and they were financially secure.
• 15% said their funding had been agreed, but they were financially insecure.
• Overall, 59% said their funding for the coming year had not yet been agreed, versus 41% who said it had.
• Overall, 51% described their finances as secure versus 49% who said they were insecure.

These findings emphasise that there continues to be significant financial pressure on the third sector, with half of respondents describing their finances as insecure, and a majority reporting that they hadn’t yet had funding agreed for the coming year. Long delays to finding out the outcome of funding applications, as well as opening applications and making decisions at short notice, are having a serious impact on the ability of organisations to plan ahead.