Size of the sector

· For the first time in Scotland’s history we have a full picture of the income generated by the Third Sector in Scotland. SCVO analysis of charity information provided by OSCR combined with information on other voluntary organisations suggests that the Third Sector’s income in 2006 was exactly £3.87bn[1], just over £500m more than previously estimated.

· The income for the Third Sector reported here consists of voluntary sector charities £2.87bn, housing associations £870m, and credit unions £130m and applies to 20,879 organisations out of an estimated total population of around 45,000 organisations in the wider Third Sector.

· The Third Sector employs an estimated 129,000 professional paid staff, which is larger than employment in each of the following industries: ‘Transport, Storage & Communication’, ‘Financial Services’, ‘Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing’, ‘Mining & Quarrying Industries’, ‘Electricity, Gas & Water Supply’[2]

SCVO Member survey

· When asked about the prospects for their organisations over the coming year, the majority of SCVO members are ‘optimistic’ (56%) with the rest just as unsure (19%) as they are concerned (24%). (Fig 1)

· In terms of growth over the the previous year, most organisations have either stayed more or less static (47%) or grown in size (42%). A much lower proportion have reduced in size (11%). This fits with income trends showing a substantial growth in the sector over previous years and suggests that we need to focus on achieving sustainability in this growth (Fig 2)

· However, a higher proportion of organisations find that the funding environment for their work has either deteriorated (39%) or stayed the same (39%), than improved (22%). (Fig 3)

· In terms of priority concerns, the overwhelming majority of respondents quote longer term funding agreements (72%) as a high priority for their organisation. Also featuring highly is ‘full cost recovery’ (59%) and less red tape / form-filling for funders or regulators (54%). (See Table 4 for full list).

· On average, voluntary organisations surveyed spend 8.3 hrs per week filling in forms in response to funders or regulators. While large organisations (over £1m income) spend an average of over 21 hrs per week, medium organisations (£100k to £1m) spend 8hrs, while small organisations (less than £100k) need to put in 5 hrs per week. Projecting this information to the 45,000 voluntary organisations in Scotland this would be equivalent to over 235,000 hrs per week spent on meeting red-tape.

· Organisations were also asked about the most important challenges they are facing over the coming year. Top challenges are ‘funding/income generation’, ‘managing change’ such as growth, demand or cutbacks, and ‘measuring / Improving the quality’ of the work they do. The next most important challenges are working with statutory partners, staffing, and supply and effectiveness of management committees. This suggests that voluntary organisations are experiencing a period of external change and could be struggling to keep up (Table 1)

· When asked to specify their most important challenge around funding/income generation over the coming year, the vast majority of organisations are simply concerned about generating sufficient income (64%), than negotiating their funding agreement (26%) or complying with unique requirements from individual funders (7%). This suggests that for voluntary organisations, proving their value to funders or dealing with multiple funding sources is less of a pressing problem than simply ensuring that there are adequate funding streams available for their work (Fig 4).

· The vast majority of voluntary organisations work together collaboratively, particularly around tackling or lobbying on shared concerns or collectively raising their profile. Organisations are less likely to collaborate on raising funds, or accessing volunteers or paid staff. However, even on these opportunities, a further 47% and 40% respectively would be interested in doing so. (Table 2).

· When it comes to SCVO’s own role, members rated SCVO’s expert help, information and advice the most highly, followed by SCVO’s influence in policy and parliament. (Table 3).

About the research

· These interim findings draw on a survey of SCVO’s 1300 members, out of which 320 responses were achieved in time for analysis for the Third Sector Summit.

· Economic information has been put together from charity income information provided by OSCR (Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator), housing association income information provided by Communities Scotland, and credit union turnover statistics available from Co-operative Development Scotland.

· Questionnaires were deployed to organisations by post during October 2007 backed up by an online form deployed to those organisations for whom SCVO holds email addresses.

SCVO.

www.scvo.org.uk/almanac

Charts

Figure 1

Figure 2: Optimism about the prospects for your organisation over the next 12 months

Figure 3: Growth of organisation size

Figure 4: Funding environment for organisations’ work

Table 1

Figure 5: Most important challenge around funding/income generation over the coming year

Table 2: How do voluntary organisations work together with other organisations

Table 3: Benefit of SCVO’s work in order of importance

Table 4: Priority concerns for organisations