Open Members’ Meeting | ‘Reflecting on 2024 and looking ahead to 2025’ | 11 December 2024
Present:
Ali MacLachlan, The Wood Foundation (SGM Chair)
Nick Addington, The William Grant Foundation
Matthew Bruce, The WS Society (SGM Assistant Co-Ordinator)
Jo Elliot, Binks Trust (SGM Vice Chair)
Melanie Hill, Scottish Power Foundation
David McNeill, SCVO
Sophie Mills WS, WS Society (SGM Co-Ordinator)
Gareth Morgan, The Paristamen Charity
Bethany Reid, The Wood Foundation
David Sinclair, The National Lottery Community Fund
Blair Thomson, The Northwood Charitable Trust (SGM Trustee)
The final Open Members’ Meeting of 2024 took place at B-Corp venue The Social Hub in Glasgow. The theme of this meeting was to reflect and to look forward. David McNeill, Strategic Director of Development at SCVO, presented on what is in store for Scotland’s voluntary sector in 2025.
Ali MacLachlan, Chair of Scottish Grantmakers, opened the meeting and thanked all Members for their enthusiastic participation in 2024’s events programme. Ali reported that there had been increased activity at SGM’s online events but that Members were always keen to meet in person. Ali noted that SGM had hosted 11 events in 2024, with 18 speakers and 166 individual attendees. By the end of 2024, SGM had 58 Members who made a £300 million contribution to society.
Ali asked Members to reflect on the successes of 2024 and what they hoped to achieve in 2025 – two stars and wish. Ali’s highlights of the year were SGM’s event co-hosted with Migration Policy Scotland and the increased focus on philanthropic work in Scotland. Ali considered the work of her own organisation, the Wood Foundation, which had supported the philanthropic work of 1,200 young people engaged in public policy. Their time, talent and desire to apply skills had led to over £800,000 being contributed to those in need. Ali’s wish was for wider participation and succession planning in grantmaking, making sure these were applied at all levels in SGM and beyond.
Other Member highlights of 2024 included:
Working with partners to best utilise funds and support communities.
A move towards collaborative funding models.
Starting a new role in grantmaking.
A large grant provided for an engaging and topical project.
The appointment of new Trustees with key skills.
Increased engagement in projects and new projects under development. Seeing positive results from grants being made during the year.
Members’ wishes for the year ahead included:
Continued support of those third sector organisations which will find 2025 a challenging year.
The continued success of third sector and voluntary organisations in 2025.
Learning more about collaborative funding as this could be increasingly necessary in 2025 to maximise the impact of funding.
Grantmakers working together and learning from each other.
Planning ahead to ensure portfolios are best utilised.
With the group’s thoughts in mind, David McNeill presented what SCVO was hearing from its membership of voluntary organisations about the likely challenges and opportunities which could arise in 2025.
Davud began by highlighting the increased global uncertainty all organisations are operating in. At home, there is a new UK Government and challenging public finances. The new government has issued its Covenant which outlines a new relationship with civil society. It is not yet clear how this will apply in Scotland or whether the Scottish Government will adopt a similar approach. There is continued engagement with the sector but the levels of funding it receives from the Government is still uncertain – grantmakers may be required to step in to fill this gap. OSCR’s budget has not been increased by the Scottish Government despite an increased workload. Within Scotland there is increased tension between central and local governments. Within the sector there are 80% fewer jobs being advertised.
The general perception is that the third sector is dealing with a constant series of crises caused by a variety of factors. However, SCVO’s Scottish Third Sector Tracker does not show such concerns within its membership. There is great resilience within the third sector. There is an awareness of attrition and governance challenges within the sector – with these being the main causes for organisational problems or failure.
There is an awareness of gaps in funding and unsustainable use of reserves with an increased number of projects not being able to conclude and returning money to their funders. It is not yet clear if this is a one-off problem or a new trend. There could be an increased need for emergency funding bids. Organisations should seek support when needed before they reach a point of failure.
Key challenges identified by SCVO are volunteer and staff recruitment, increasing redundancies with 11% of SCVO members having made at least one person redundant, financial sustainability concerns with 56% of organisations having less than 6 months of financial reserves. However, fewer organisations are reporting unsustainable reliance on their reserves and are increasingly engaged in innovative practices to adapt going forward.
David noted that grantmakers can support the sector in any way; there is no restriction on where support can be directed. The sector can respond and adapt as required and funders should continue to keep an eye on how the sector is changing.
The key themes which emerged from this meeting were resilience, collaboration and innovation. Scottish Grantmakers looks forward to continuing to champion the work of funders as we move into the New Year.
