Calls for more Scottish Government support for grassroots. 

Charities in Glasgow have said the government must provide more help for grassroots organisations as third sector groups hit funding “burnout”. 

Charities and voluntary organisations in the city said “hard decisions” had already been made as a result of the scarcity of some streams of financial support. 

Speaking to Greater Govanhill magazine, a number of smaller groups from the sector said they are struggling to compete with larger charities. 

South East Integration Network (SEIN) is a non-profit organisation in Glasgow. The groups’s development manager, Hester Wylde, said too much time and resources are spent on maintaining their survival leaving the organisation “playing catch up.”

They told the magazine: “We’ve had to make hard decisions about staffing in the past year, we simply don't have the funding security we need to be able to run at full capacity.”

“The Scottish Government needs to support the third sector more by making the funding process as straightforward, and accessible as possible. They need to trust the organisations that they fund, and stop putting such an administrative burden on organisations, which decreases their ability to provide for need.”

Alicia Macrae, head of partnerships and communications for The Well, also told Greater Govanhill: “Smaller local charities may not have the resources of larger national third sector organisations to weather the funding drought…You need to read the small print often found at the bottom or end of the funding guidelines.

“It can say things like 'funding is indicative and may change', particularly if you are fortunate enough to receive multi-year funding. It can be really demotivating for staff and volunteers.”