This report presents findings from the [UK Third and Civil Society Sector Database](https://uk-third-sector-database.github.io/data/) (the ‘Data Spine’), a research infrastructure that brings together data from ten UK regulatory sources to provide a comprehensive picture of the civil society sector.

The Data Spine was developed by [Braw Data Ltd](https://www.brawdata.com/) as part of an [ESRC and DCMS\-funded research project](https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES/X000524/1), in collaboration with the [Third Sector Research Centre](https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/tsrc/) at the University of Birmingham and partner institutions at the Universities of Southampton, Oxford, Stirling, and the West of Scotland.  
  
The Data Spine contains records for over 770,000 civil society organisations drawn from across the UK. These include charities registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (CCEW), the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI), as well as Community Interest Companies (CICs), co-operatives and mutuals, and other nonprofit companies registered at Companies House.  

**Key Findings**

*   **Growth:** Charity incomes have grown in nominal terms across most ICNPTSO sectors, but real (inflation-adjusted) income growth has been modest or even negative for many sectors since 2008.
*   **Surplus/deficits:** Between 30% and 45% of charities and CICs report expenditure exceeding income in any given year, with notable spikes during the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
*   **Organisation size and procurement**: Public procurement is dominated by large and major organisations. Among charities, those with incomes between £1m and £100m account for nearly two-thirds of contracts and an even larger share of funding. The pattern is similar for CICs, where large and major CICs account for over 60% of contracts. Micro and small organisations of all types are almost entirely absent from procurement markets.

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## About SCVO

SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) is the national membership organisation for Scotland's voluntary sector.

Our role is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in Scotland and to support them to do work that has a positive impact.

SCVO supports members and the wider voluntary sector with all aspects of setting up and running a voluntary organisation. SCVO represents the needs and concerns of the voluntary sector to the Scottish government in Holyrood and UK government and Westminster. Through our learning and events programme SCVO offers training and development opportunities to the sector.

Members access an extensive membership benefits package including specialist, in-depth, 1-to-1 guidance from our Information Services team and from professional service partners.

Access to exclusive membership networks (including comms, employers, governance and policy) supports members to grow their connections, stay up to date, exchange ideas and views with peers, and learn through tailored, learning opportunities.

SCVO members enjoy free access to Funding Scotland Premium to stay on top of funding opportunities to support their organisation’s financial resilience.

Discounts and savings savings on SCVO products and services (including our HR service, managed IT support, payroll service and events and training) and partner offers provide members with support to allow them to focus on delivering their organisation’s goals. Further SCVO products and services include [extensive digital support](https://scvo.scot/support/digital), a climate action resource [Growing Climate Confidence](https://climateconfident.scot), a voluntary sector publication [Third Force News](https://tfn.scot) and a voluntary sector jobs and recruitment service [Goodmoves](https://goodmoves.org).

For more information on SCVO membership, visit [SCVO membership](https://scvo.scot/membership)