Research blog

As we moved out of peak Covid with its lockdowns and social distancing and into more of a recovery phase, the key financial trends based on our analysis of charity data for the period 2021-22 show a sector slowly returning to normal. Last year we pulled out six highlights for the... Read more

This report provides an overview of the key insights from the first six Waves of the Scottish Third Sector Tracker, from August 2021 to April 2023. Trends relating to key challenges, financial health, service delivery, staffing and volunteering, and emerging needs have been... Read more

The findings from wave seven of the Scottish third sector tracker indicate that financial pressures on third sector organisations continue to grow, with financial and cash flow restraints appearing in the top three challenges for the first time. Seventy-six percent of... Read more

Back in 2015, SCVO and TFN surveyed around 1,000 sector workers about their experiences working in the voluntary sector. Eight years, four UK prime ministers, two referendums and a pandemic later, it was high time for a refresh. Last month GCVS and the Scottish Centre for... Read more

The figures below are from SCVO’s Sector Stats 2022. As well as an overview of the latest key stats we’ve taken a more in-depth look into six highlights. Most charity accounts analysed for the Sector Stats 2022 covered the period April 2020 to March 2021 and show the financial... Read more

SCVO commissioned an independent consultant, Arrivo Consulting, to conduct depth interviews with several of our members. The aim of the project was twofold: To deepen our understanding of the key challenges faced by third sector organisations, specifically in relation to funding... Read more

This case study is part of a series of work undertaken by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) looking into the funding situation of Scottish voluntary organisations. In this paper, we draw upon the experiences of voluntary sector intermediaries to shine a... Read more

Wave one - Summer 2021 The Scottish Third Sector Tracker is a community of third sector organisations based in Scotland. This large and inclusive community of organisations share their experiences and challenges in a quarterly survey. The information gathered from the community... Read more

Introduction As my colleague Sheghley posted at the end of June, SCVO wanted to learn more about the sector's use of the furlough scheme. In order to do so, we asked organisations to complete a short survey about their use of the scheme and any potential implications for their... Read more

A review of the literature - September - December 2020 Coronavirus Literature Review Q4 2020Download Introduction This paper, the third in the series, presents a summary of the existing literature on the impact coronavirus is having on voluntary sector organisations in Scotland... Read more