Scale of Scottish voluntary sector

Howard Lake | 16 January 2002 | News

The Scottish voluntary sector has grown by 10% in real terms in the last three years, according to research by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and its sister organisations across the UK.

The Scottish voluntary sector has grown by 10% in real terms in the last three years, according to research by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and its sister organisations across the UK.

The sector now has has an income of over £2bn, employing about 100,000 people in the equivalent of 80,000 paid posts. Of these 44% of paid employees work in the top 1% of organisations.

This concentration of resources is reflected in fundraising. Scottish voluntary organisations generated £2.01 billion during the financial year 2000/2001. As elsewhere in the UK a few large organisations raise the majority of funds: 1% of organisations receive 50% of total income.

Grants and donations make up 57% of the sector’s total income, with income generation through trading, rents, investments and service contracts makes up 43%.

The general public gave £387 million to Scottish voluntary organisations, representing just under 20% of total sector income. Public donations are increasing, but per capita donations are decreasing.

Read Scotland’s Third Sector now ‘major economic player’ at SCVO.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.