Impact of COVID-19 on Scottish Charities
10 Jul 2020
We have updated our surveys page to show more of the overall findings from our survey on the impact of COVID-19 on Scottish charities.
The survey was carried out between 5 and 15 May and almost 5,000 charities responded. A summary of the key findings was originally published on 5 June. They told us that:
- charities have been active in countering the impact of COVID-19 on their organisation, with 95% having taken some type of action
- cancelling or postponing planned work or events was the single most common impact of COVID-19 and the associated lockdown upon charities, with 78% affected in this way
- over half of the charities (51%) had lost income from fundraising. Two in five (42%) had lost income from other sources such as trading
- nearly a third (29%) of charities had seen a decrease in the number of volunteers with which they engaged
- one in five (20%) reported a critical threat to their financial viability in the next 12 months
- one in five (20%) Scottish charities predicted that they would be unable to do the work they were set up to do at some point in the next 12 months.
These findings will be used to inform OSCR’s work, as well as to help local and national government, funders, public bodies and others in supporting the Scottish charity sector.
The updated information provided on the surveys page details the overall response to each question, including:
- how charities have been affected
- how charities have responded
- impact on number of volunteer numbers
- financial threat
- ability of charities to continue to operate
- recommendations for OSCR and other support providers