Scottish charities & funders urged to feed into Holyrood inquiry on third sector funding

Melanie May | 20 June 2024 | News

• Tagged with:
• funding
• Scotland

A Scottish Parliament inquiry into third sector funding is seeking views from nonprofits and funders.

Holyrood’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee have launched a consultation, which runs until Friday 16 August, to understand what can be done now to make the funding process more efficient, so available funding can be used more effectively.

Every year, the Committee looks at what the Scottish Government could consider when developing its budget. In response to the funding challenges faced by the third sector, this year it wants to examine “how the Scottish Government’s approach to fair and efficient funding can contribute to the continued effectiveness of the third sector”.

It says that it is aware continued economic challenges mean it is unlikely the financial outlook for the sector will improve over the short-term.

It also notes that in response to these challenges, there have been calls from the sector to have access to:

• longer-term funding of three years or more
• flexible, unrestricted core funding – this helps organisations to provide security, plan effectively, and fulfil good governance requirements
• sustainable funding that includes inflation-based uplifts and full costs, including core operating costs
• funding that accommodates paying staff at least the Real Living Wage
• accessible, streamlined, proportionate, and consistent approaches to funding applications and reporting
• timely process and payments
• partnership between the funder and funded organisation

It now wants to hear from both funded and funding organisations to help it work out how to improve the funding process. Views can be submitted on the Scottish Parliament site.

About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.