This website uses cookies for anonymised analytics and for account authentication. See our privacy and cookies policies for more information.

SCVO
Funding Scotland
TFN
 




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 Caledonian Exchange, 19A Canning Street, Edinburgh EH3 8EG.

Error 404

The requested page could not be found, it may have been moved or deleted.

Welcome to the Scottish Third Sector Tracker!

Most recent findings Wave ten - Spring 2025 The findings for wave ten are now available.,Key findings report Data tables Find out more about the tracker and see results from the previous waves

https://scvo.scot/research/scottish-third-sector-tracker

Wave four findings - summer 2022

The findings from the fourth wave of the Scottish Third Sector Tracker are available now.,Key findings — summary report The wave 4 summary report presented key insights into Scotland’s third,of the Scottish Third Sector Tracker showed the impact of rising costs becoming increasingly apparent,, both for third sector organisations and the communities they work with.,Rising costs were not the only challenge third sector organisations reporting facing in the three months

https://scvo.scot/research/scottish-third-sector-tracker/wave-4

Wave ten - spring 2025

Introduction This paper presents the key findings from the ten wave of the Scottish third sector tracker,The Tracker collects panel data from Scottish third sector organisations to give current insights into,the health of the sector, key trends, and developments.,The Tracker asks organisations questions relating to their current organisational challenges; demand,Topical questions are included each wave.

https://scvo.scot/research/scottish-third-sector-tracker/wave-10

Introduction This paper considers the available literature and data on the resilience of Scottish voluntary,By examining the sector's response to events such as the Covid 19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis,, alongside long-term trends from the Scottish third sector tracker, we draw conclusions about the sector

https://scvo.scot/research/reports/the-resilience-of-scottish-voluntary-organisations

What wave 9 of the Scottish Third Sector Tracker tells us, and where it has me asking questions

I love the Scottish Third Sector Tracker.,From the most recent (wave 9) data, we know that four most prevalent issues the sector was grappling,with over Summer/Autumn 2024 were Volunteer shortages: we know from the Scottish Household Survey that,volunteer numbers have dropped dramatically from over 1million to 800,000, and the Tracker data shows,Many of those conversations have felt pretty gloomy in recent months, but the Tracker also brings a reminder

https://scvo.scot/p/96790/2025/01/27/canaries-in-the-coal-mine-what-wave-9-of-the-scottish-third-sector-tracker-tells-us-and-where-it-has-me-asking-questions

Things do not seem to be improving.

Completion of wave 8 (Spring 2024) prompted me to look back two years at the report I wrote for wave,a negative impact on their ability to deliver their core services or activities, an increase from four,“Staff are exhausted, underpaid and not given the recognition they deserve within the sector.,many organisations responding to the tracker, things do not seem to be getting any easier.,Read the wave eight report here

https://scvo.scot/p/93330/2024/08/13/things-do-not-seem-to-be-improving

Charities face staff and volunteer crisis

A third of organisations reported this as one of their top challenges

https://tfn.scot/news/charities-face-staff-and-volunteer-crisis

Voluntary sector lagging behind public sector in both pay and pay equality 

sector, but it is lagging well behind public sector pay.,Both the voluntary sector and the private sector are lagging well behind the public sector when it comes,public sector (£20.56).,Many voluntary sector organisations have told the Third Sector Tracker that they are struggling with,(SCVO Sector Stats).

https://scvo.scot/p/99818/2025/07/31/voluntary-sector-lagging-behind-public-sector-in-both-pay-and-pay-equality

Pay in the voluntary sector

Summary This report pulls together data on sector pay, comparing salary data from the voluntary sector,We also bring in data from sources such as the Living Wage Foundation, the Scottish Third Sector Tracker,from other service providers and pay-related challenges (see for example The ALLIANCE, 2023, SCVO Tracker,, 2024 and Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Social Services Council, 2025).,size and shape and get in touch with our research team if you'd like to know more.

https://scvo.scot/research/reports/pay-in-the-voluntary-sector

Scottish voluntary organisations' financial reserves

This lack of financial management skill is perhaps reflected in the Scottish third sector tracker findings,Having said that, calls for charities to diversify their income streams are often impractical and the sector

https://scvo.scot/research/reports/scottish-voluntary-organisations-financial-reserves