Useful Facts & Stats

SCVO continues to build a collection of evidence and data that supports our Fair Funding calls. The following facts and stats may be of use or interest when discussing Fair Funding (all stats come from SCVO unless otherwise stated):

• There are over 46,000 voluntary organisations in Scotland, 89% of those are local and 36% are in rural or remote areas.
• In 2022, Scotland’s voluntary organisations had a combined annual turnover of over £9.2bn and employed over 133,000 staff.
• In that same year, 1m people volunteered – around a fifth of Scotland’s population.

The Scottish Third Sector Tracker report on waves one to six shows that:

• From August 2021 to April 2023, the frequency with which organisations have reported financial challenges has consistently increased from 47% to 71%.
• A third of organisations have reported having made use of their financial reserves in the 3 months leading into April 2023, an increase compared to the same period in 2022.
• Almost half (44%) of the organisations using their financial reserves felt that this use is unsustainable.
• In August 2021, 56% of organisations reported an increased demand, in core services and activities, rising to 63% by April 2023.
• There has been an accompanying significant drop in the number of organisations that have indicated a decreased demand for their services: from 22% in August 2021 to 6.2% in April 2023.
• In August 2021, a third of organisations reported issues relating to staffing and volunteers as one of their top challenges, increasing to two thirds by April 2023.
• As organisations have faced more internal pressures from rising costs, the most recent data reports that half of organisations sought additional funding (52%) and just over a third were forced to reduce or cease services (35%).

Rising inflation and the resulting cost-of-living and running costs crises have put pressure on voluntary organisations, exacerbating financial and operational challenges. The findings from Wave Six of the Scottish Third Sector Tracker suggest that:

• 88% of organisations reported facing challenges, with the most frequently reported top three challenges being rising costs and/or inflation (45%), difficulty fundraising (35%), and volunteer shortages (34%).
• When taking the aggregated response options into account, it suggests that operational finances (71%) are the most common challenge facing organisations in Spring 2023, following by staffing and volunteers (63%), and planning (37%).
• Overall, 94% of organisations reported increased costs in at least one area of business; the most widely reported cost increase was materials or supplies (86%), followed by energy (84%) and transport and staffing costs (78%).
• 55% of organisations have had to seek additional funding, with 32% increasing staff pay or benefits to offset inflation and 31% reducing or adapting programme activities to save costs.
• 42% of organisations said that they would find help with funding applications useful.
• 92% of respondents working directly with the public have highlighted worsening emerging needs in the Third Sector Tracker.

SCVO has spoken to many organisations who have not received an uplift for many years, including one who reported no uplift for 13 years, a 27% cut in real terms at the time.