The Scottish Government has been urged to adopt a Fair Funding model. 

Voluntary organisations in Scotland are facing their worst financial situation since the Covid pandemic, a new report shows. 

Analysis of the latest wave of the Scottish Third Sector tracker shows an overwhelming number of groups facing challenges. 

The percentage of organisations reporting financial challenges has steadily increased – driven mainly by rising costs and inflation - with 95% facing challenges and 76% seeing one of those as financial, both up from December 2022 and earlier last year. 

Funding issues are a longstanding challenge, but Covid and rising costs such as energy have exacerbated those structural issues and are really coming to a head, the report warns.  

The research was highlighted by BBC Scotland news, with figures from within the sector underlining the need for the Scottish Government and others to adopt a Fair Funding model. 

SCVO’s head of policy and research, Kirsten Hogg, told BBC Scotland: “This is a more difficult time for the sector than during the pandemic because during the pandemic emergency funding was available. 

“The Scottish Government in particular talk a lot about how much they value the sector, there are a lot of warm words about how important the sector is, but they haven’t passed on money that came from Westminster for support with energy costs, there's no provision for increases to grants and contracts for inflation, and that’s simply not sustainable for the sector. 

“We know that times are financially very tough, but some of the things we’re asking for, like letting organisations know in good time when their money is coming or letting them know they’ll have funding for more than one year, doesn’t cost any money, and we’re not even seeing those things.

“We’d like to see them put their money where their mouth is.”