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.
The Scottish Third Sector Tracker
Wave 12 dashboard snapshot
Data specific to Highland & Islands
On this page, you'll find a snapshot of information about the state of the voluntary sector in the Highlands & Islands (Shetland, Orkney, and Western Islands).
The information is taken from Wave 12 of the Scottish Third Sector Tracker which is a growing research community that captures the experience, views and concerns of voluntary sector organisations based in Scotland.
To see and compare with other regions and the national data, you can use our interactive dashboard.
For a full report, visit Wave 12's site.
Expand the boxes below to see the Wave 12 dashboard snapshot specific to the Highland & Islands area
Common challenges this wave
Rising costs and/or inflation
Difficulty fundraising
Financial or cash flow constraints
Recent changes in turnover
reported an increase
reported no change
reported a decrease
Staff recruitment, retention and pay
In the six months prior, among organisations employing paid staff…
saw staff numbers increase
saw no change
saw a decrease
experienced a moderate or significant challenge managing staff recruitment
experienced a moderate or significant challenge managing staff retention
Volunteer recruitment and retention
In the six months prior, among organisations using volunteers…
reported an increase in volunteer numbers
reported no change
reported a decrease
The three most common challenges reported in terms of volunteer recruitment or retention were:
88%
Fewer people coming forward to volunteer
70%
People have less time to volunteer
48%
Volunteer fatigue/burnout
The top three actions taken to address challenges in volunteer retention were:
Engaged with volunteers to understand their views
Ran a recruitment campaign
Looked to increase volunteers through diversifying the volunteer pool, e.g. recruiting from a specific demographic group such as younger volunteers
Financial reserves
Current levels of financial reserves reportedly held:
0–6 months
7–12 months
12+ months
Since September 2025:
29%
have used their financial reserves in response to financial challenges
56%
believe their current usage of financial reserves is unsustainable
Future outlook
Expected operating capacity in 12 months’ time
expect to be expanding their services or activities compared to now
expect to be continuing to deliver services/activities at a similar level
expect to be delivering services/activities at a reduced level
expect to change the way they operate (e.g. restructuring, partnership or merger)
expect to no longer be delivering services/activities