From the early days of the Coronavirus pandemic funding was made available to the voluntary sector to support work across Scotland. This was provided through a mixture of independent funders, UK wide emergency funds and Scottish Government Funding.
The Scottish Government alone announced a £350 million package of support during the pandemic to help those most in need in our communities covering welfare, food, and recovery and resilience. SCVO were directly involved in delivering over £70 million of funding through the Community Recovery Programme and Wellbeing Fund. Over 3,500 awards were made to support organisations throughout the country to continue working in their communities and support people through the pandemic.
The Third Sector Resilience Fund supported organisations through the initial lockdown period with over £20 million awarded across more than 1,300 grants. Anchor organisations were supported through the Supporting Communities Fund ensuring that more than 400 organisations could coordinate a local response to the pandemic.
The speed and simplified approach to funding during the period helped the sector continue to deliver support where it was needed. Funders from Government to Local Authorities and Independent Funders pulled together and worked collaboratively to ensure funding reached where it needed to be as quickly as possible.
Now as we return to some semblance of normality, and the majority of the emergency funds are now closed, many funders are returning to business as usual – but not business as it has always been. The past 18 months have changed the way that funders and grantholders work together, with funders keen to take what has been learned throughout the pandemic to ensure that funding across Scotland meets the needs of the voluntary sector.
