It’s easily forgotten that our third sector faced seismic challenges before the pandemic made everything unimaginably worse. Yet here we still are doing what we do, and that’s not just surviving; it’s creating, adapting, leading change and, believe it or not, thriving.
Few sectors are pitched to achieve what Scotland’s voluntary organisations do on a daily basis and more than any other time, April, the winter’s end which TS Eliot characterised best as “breeding lilacs out of the dead land”, is the month of opportunity, renewal and revival, even in these straightened times.
As such this issue of TFN takes an optimistic slant on what’s ahead and the opportunities that lie therein. While the UK Government sees the sector as little more than a constant complainer who always appears ill at ease with its policies - a critical enemy whose voice it constantly endeavours to stymie - the reality is charities and voluntary organisations continue to shape society exactly because the opposite is true: they represent the sanguine, grounded antidote that remains independent of the cynical machinations of politicians.
As support from local authorities and the Scottish Government becomes increasingly scarcer, Graham Martin hunts out the lesser-known avenues charities can go down for funding and compiles a well-researched retinue of “sleepy” trusts – funds that use dormant cash to give back much sought after funding to communities. Foundation Scotland, in partnership with charity regulator OSCR, identified charitable trusts registered in Scotland that appear to be inactive and reactivates them by using funds that are lying dormant. More than 200 have been identified, potentially unlocking a huge source of much needed funds for Scotland’s hard-pressed charity sector.
For smaller charities we also feature the best, most effective ways to get the public to donate. From mass participation events to smaller challenges, getting supporters to raise money on a charity’s behalf can be a huge boost to a small organisation’s coffers. One community group which posted a viral video on TikTok, managed to get supporters to raise enough cash to pay its running costs for at least two years, proving how vital it can be to get the public os-side with your cause.
And Niall Christie heralds lighter days and warmer weather with his piece on active travel, in which he highlights how the car can be ditched for more physical pursuits, such as walking and cycling, to be harnessed and enjoyed which in itself has become an area of huge growth for Scotland’s third sector and one ripe for development as more organisations form to promote this vital cause.
All this is not to ignore the immediate challenges at hand. The running cost crisis compounded by the cost-of-living crisis will continue to dominate much of what charities do for the foreseeable future. However, there is more than hope that through creativity innovation and perhaps our sheer bloody mindedness we’ll come back stronger and soon look back and learn from the “cold coming we had of it,” to leave the last words to Eliot’s oft misinterpreted hope for the future. So here’s to April!
Graham Martin is currently on leave
