The twelfth wave of the Scottish third sector tracker paints a picture of a sector that remains resilient but continues to operate under significant pressure. Financial challenges remain widespread, with difficulty fundraising, rising costs, and funding uncertainty continuing to affect a large majority of organisations. While many organisations remain confident about their future and are continuing to deliver planned services, this is increasingly being achieved through adaptation, the development of new income streams, and, in some cases, the use of financial reserves.

Recruitment and retention challenges remain a feature of the operating environment, particularly in relation to volunteers. Organisations report fewer people coming forward to volunteer and increasing pressures on their capacity to recruit, support and retain volunteers. Recruitment of paid staff also remains difficult, driven by uncompetitive salaries and skills shortages.

The findings also highlight the increasingly complex social and political context within which voluntary organisations operate. One-third of respondents reported challenges linked to the changing socio-political environment, including funding pressures, growing demand for services, social division, discrimination and difficulties engaging with public bodies and decision-makers. When asked what support would help, organisations consistently called for more sustainable funding, stronger representation, better relationships with government and practical support.

New questions on procurement suggest that many organisations perceive procurement systems as difficult to navigate and often inaccessible, particularly for smaller and volunteer-led organisations. At the same time, responses on financial reserves demonstrate the importance of reserves for organisational resilience, continuity of service delivery and strategic investment.

Overall, the findings suggest that the sector continues to play a critical role in supporting communities across Scotland but is doing so in an environment characterised by increasing demand, financial uncertainty and capacity pressures.

---

## 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)