The First Minister, Humza Yousaf, addressed the SCVO conference at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) first thing on Wednesday morning, making it clear the Scottish Government are considering longer term funding for third sector organisations in its budget deliberations.
This has already been used in the case of The Yard in Eyre Place Lane, where the government has promised funding of £2 million over three years and which he used as an example in his speech. The charity that provides support to disabled children and young people had pointed out to the First Minister that this funding model – rather than just a one off annual sum – would offer some stability to their work.
Mr Yousaf said to the audience at the SCVO Conference: “The challenge from The Yard to the government was not just the pounds and pennies, important as they are, but the point that the team at The Yard continue to make was stability. They said: ‘We need to know, we cant just live with one year funding sources, hand to mouth, chasing our tail, thinking what we have to do next, how do we fit into project funding’ as opposed to getting on with what they do best – transforming and saving lives.
“When I visited The Yard I heard that time and time again from parents. They said to me they would not be here – literally not here – if it was not for the support from the charity.”
The First Minister confirmed that potential multi year funding is being worked on at this “pivotal time” – just ahead of the budget. He said: “I can absolutely give you a firm assurance that work, consideration of how we give you stability in terms of funding and multi years funding is very much underway.”
He confirmed that he and the Social Justice Secretary have instructed officials around the current funding process and it “should include a greater number of two year grants” for more charities.
Chief Executive of The Yard Celine Sinclair said when the funding was announced: “We are absolutely thrilled that First Minister has committed to working with us to grow our services in Scotland. This announcement is transformational for disabled children and their families, and we look forward to working with our partners to ensure that our children get the support they need to get the best start in life and thrive.”
The First Minister’s speech is here in full.
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