For Small Charity Week, which runs till 28 June, TFN's Niall Christie spoke to two grassroots groups to explore the challenges they face
Small charities are the heartbeat of communities, tackling social challenges and transforming lives with limited resources.
Running from June 23, Small Charity Week, seeks to empower them to have an even greater impact on society, and to address the challenges they face.
Small charities – defined as voluntary organisation with a social or charitable purpose with an annual income of less than £1 million - carry out amazing work, but this year’s focus looks to give them an even greater impact on society, and to address the challenges they face.
Costs are rising, demand is increasing and funding is falling - so how will those already doing lots with very little in the way of finances continue this work?
TFN spoke to some of the smaller organisations doing fantastic work north of the border, showcasing finalists from the Scottish Charity Awards, also due to take place this month.
Boleskine Community Care (pictured abive)
- What are the biggest challenges with being a small charity in Scotland?
As a small charity in a rural area, one of our biggest challenges is capacity. We often wear multiple hats across a small team, and resources - both financial and human - are limited. Geographic isolation presents another major challenge; public transport links in south Loch Ness are minimal, meaning our community transport service is vital, but also resource intensive. Poor transport links also affect care staff recruitment. Attracting and retaining staff and volunteers in such a sparsely populated area can be difficult, especially when larger urban organisations can offer more competitive wages or easier access.
- With small teams of staff/volunteers, how do you maximise your impact as an organisation?
We focus on collaboration, communication and community ownership. Our staff and volunteers are deeply connected to the people we support, which allows us to respond quickly and flexibly to local needs. We build strong partnerships with organisations like Highland Hospice and the local trust, and we constantly seek feedback from the community to make sure every project or service has genuine impact. Importantly, we prioritise services that support physical and mental wellbeing, and are inclusive of all ages - from care-at-home to social groups and transport services - ensuring every resource is used meaningfully.
- With funding being both competitive and increasingly difficult to come by in the current climate, how has your organisation funded itself, and what support (if any) would you need to continue your fantastic work long-term?
We rely on a mix of income sources - grant funding, donations, fundraising events, service provider contributions and activity donations. We’ve been fortunate recently to secure three years of core funding, which gives us essential breathing space to plan ahead. However, ongoing sustainability remains a concern. We need more consistent multi-year funding opportunities for core costs, more support with capacity building, and accessible opportunities to upskill our team in areas like bid writing and financial planning. Support with digital systems and communications would also help us to diversify income further and reduce admin pressure on our small team.
- As a small charity, do you have any concerns about cyber-resilience? What support would you like with this? What steps have you taken yourselves (if any)?
Yes, cyber-resilience is a growing concern. With limited technical capacity, small charities like ours can be vulnerable to cyber threats. We’ve taken steps to improve this - such as using cloud-based secure storage, regularly updating our software and being cautious with data access - but we know there's more to do. We’d welcome free or low-cost cyber-security training tailored for small charities, as well as access to simple, cost-effective tools and IT audits to help us identify and address risks without overwhelming our team.
- As a small charity, how does your work interact with the environment, and why is action from small charities important to tackling the climate emergency?
We take environmental responsibility seriously. Recently, we secured funding for electric vehicles for our care team, along with charging points, to reduce our carbon footprint while delivering essential services across a rural area. We also are in the building stage of our community larder where we will promote the reduction of food waste, reduce non-essential travel to Inverness and be able to offer locally grown produce. Small charities play a crucial role in grassroots climate action - we’re trusted by our communities and can help embed sustainable practices into daily life. If every small charity builds in climate awareness, the collective impact can be significant.
- What can larger organisations be doing better or more to support small charities like yourself?
We’d love to see more targeted support for small, rural charities - especially in terms of funding access, digital tools and training. Application processes for grants can be overly complex or geared towards larger organisations. Flexible funding, simplified processes and more one-to-one support would make a real difference. We also value the role SCVO plays in amplifying the voices of small charities - continued efforts to include us in national discussions and policy development are essential so that rural voices aren’t left behind.
Touch of Love (pictured above)
- What are the biggest challenges with being a small charity in Scotland?
One of the biggest challenges of being a small charity in Scotland is having to stretch limited resources to meet a wide range of urgent and growing needs. Touch of Love (TOL) is often the first point of support for individuals and families in crisis, yet our capacity rarely matches the demand. Our team members wear many hats - from designing programmes to delivering services directly - which is empowering but also exhausting. The pressure to keep everything running with very few hands leads to increased workload and, often, burnout.
Another major challenge is funding. Small charities rely on fewer income streams, making them especially vulnerable to changes in funding. The short-term nature of many funding cycles creates financial instability and makes it difficult to plan ahead with confidence. While many funders focus on new projects, there’s still very limited core cost funding available. This affects our ability, to offer fair and competitive salaries and to hire the number of staff truly needed for the scale of our work.
The cost of living crisis has added another layer of difficulty. Demand for TOL services has surged, but the resources haven’t grown at the same pace. Recruiting and retaining staff and volunteers is becoming harder, especially as community cohesion weakens and fewer people are available - or willing - to give their time.
Even internships, which could be a solution, are often too short (six to 12 months) to meaningfully train people in essential areas like fundraising or administration before they leave again. This constant turnover only increases the pressure on the few permanent staff members we have.
All these challenges - limited funding, growing demand, staff burnout and the constant need to adapt - combine to make the day-to-day running of a small charity incredibly tough. And yet, we keep showing up because the need is real and the impact is worth it. But to continue making a difference, we need more stability, more recognition, and more sustainable support.
- With small teams of staff/volunteers, how do you maximise your impact as an organisation?
We’ve learned that impact is not just about size - it’s about connection, cultural relevance, and community trust.
In TOL, we maximise our impact by taking a deeply community-led approach. We currently have 35 volunteers and many volunteers are themselves from the ethnic minority communities we serve, which helps us build relationships grounded in shared experience and understanding. This trust means that people open up to us, and that makes our support more targeted and meaningful.
TOL programmes are designed with direct input from those we support. We constantly gather feedback through informal conversations, focus groups, and reflective practice. This keeps our work relevant, cost-effective and rooted in lived experience. Whether it’s our youth-led activities, our holistic mother-and-baby group, or employability workshops,
We also design multi-layered programmes that address overlapping needs - for example, a single youth club session might include cultural identity workshops, sports for wellbeing and peer mentoring. This integrated approach ensures that each touchpoint delivers more than one outcome.
Finally, our partnerships with local schools, health services and other charities allow us to extend our reach without duplicating efforts. By being strategic, listening closely, and staying responsive, our small team delivers a big impact where it’s needed most.
- With funding being both competitive and increasingly difficult to come by in the current climate, how has your organisation funded itself, and what support (if any) would you need to continue your fantastic work long-term?
Our strength is in our lived experience, deep community trust and cultural relevance.
We have primarily sustained our work through a patchwork of small grants, in-kind community support, and the dedication of our volunteer base. We’ve received project-specific funding from charitable trusts, while relying heavily on local fundraising, food donations and goodwill to keep core services running - particularly our foodbank and youth club sessions.
However, the increasing demand for our services - especially from ethnic minority families and newly arrived migrants with no recourse to public funds - is growing faster than our current capacity. Rising living costs, greater mental health needs and persistent digital and language barriers all compound the pressure on our small team.
To continue our work long-term, we urgently need core funding to sustain our operational backbone - this includes staffing, venue hire, transport, volunteer coordination and wellbeing support. We also need flexible, multi-year funding that allows us to be responsive to community needs without constantly pausing to reapply for short-term project grants.
Additionally, support in capacity-building - particularly around digital infrastructure, monitoring and evaluation and partnership development - would help us scale our impact and plan more sustainably.
With the right investment in our foundation, we can continue offering lifelines to families who are otherwise left behind by mainstream systems.
- As a small charity, do you have any concerns about cyber-resilience? What support would you like with this? What steps have you taken yourselves (if any)?
Yes, as a small charity with limited technical capacity, we do have concerns around cyber-resilience. While much of our work is community-facing, we increasingly rely on digital tools - from email communication and cloud-based files to social media and donor platforms. That means our exposure to digital threats is growing, even though we may not have the dedicated IT staff or training to fully manage the risks.
So far, we’ve taken some basic but important steps: we use strong passwords and two-factor authentication across our email and cloud storage platforms.
Only core staff and volunteers are granted access to sensitive data and we’ve started using cloud-based systems like Google Workspace to better secure our files.
We’re mindful of GDPR and avoid storing unnecessary personal information.
However, we acknowledge these are early steps, and we would really benefit from tailored cyber-resilience support, especially training for staff and volunteers on safe digital practices – for example, spotting phishing scams and using secure networks.
We need help setting up secure data storage and back-up systems and advice on low-cost cyber-security tools appropriate for small charities.
It would be great to have support to develop a simple cyber-security policy we can embed into our operations as we grow.
Cyber-resilience is increasingly essential, even for community charities like ours, and we’re keen to strengthen this area - but we’d need accessible, realistic guidance and possibly subsidised support to do so confidently.
- As a small charity, how does your work interact with the environment, and why is action from small charities important to tackling the climate emergency?
TOL focuses on supporting vulnerable families living in Torry and wider Aberdeen, as well as young people, women and ethnic minority families. Environmental issues are deeply connected to the wellbeing of the communities we serve. Many of our families live in areas with limited access to green spaces, poor housing conditions and rising energy costs - all of which are made worse by climate change and environmental inequality.
Our work interacts with the environment in practical and educational ways. For example, through our Young Achievers’ Club, we organise regular nature walks to places like Maidencraig Nature Reserve. These trips introduce young people, many of whom have limited access to green spaces, to the value of nature, biodiversity and environmental stewardship. These experiences not only support mental wellbeing but begin to build an early awareness of sustainability, climate issues, and the importance of protecting our natural surroundings.
We are trusted voices and have the ability to weave climate awareness into everyday conversations in culturally relevant ways. Our role is essential in building local understanding and long-term behavioural change - particularly in communities that are often underrepresented in environmental discussions.
Looking ahead, we are keen to explore more green initiatives - from community growing spaces to energy-saving awareness workshops - and would welcome support or partnerships that help us link social justice and climate action more intentionally.
- What can larger organisations be doing better or more to support small charities like yourself?
Many small charities often work with limited staff, volunteer capacity and funding. Touch of Love needs to be better supported to do what we already do so well: serve, listen to, and walk alongside the people in our communities.
While the impact of small charities is significant at the community level, they sometimes feel invisible in larger systems. Organisations like SCVO and other national bodies have a real opportunity to champion small charities more actively by amplifying our voices.
Small Charities need help making their work visible. Many small charities are doing vital, culturally specific work that rarely gets national attention. Sharing our stories, connecting us with media or platforms, and inviting us into conversations that influence policy would help our communities feel seen and valued.
Access to funding and resources needs to be simplified: many small organisations don’t have the capacity or staff to apply for large, complex grants. They can benefit from smaller pots of funding with lighter-touch application processes that reflect our limited admin capacity, but still recognise the depth of our grassroots impact.
Targeted capacity building needs to be provided: while we’re experts in working with our communities, we often lack training in areas like cyber resilience, digital tools, governance and impact reporting. Access to practical, hands-on support (especially face-to-face or locally delivered) would make a big difference.
Then there’s brokering local partnerships: it would be hugely helpful if SCVO and larger organisations could play a more active role in connecting us with potential partners - whether other charities, local authorities or funders - who may not otherwise know about us.
Finally there’s fairer representation in decision-making: policies are often shaped without input from those who work closest to the ground. Involving small charities in co-designing strategies, particularly those targeting inequality or community wellbeing, would ensure more relevant, inclusive solutions.
