Scotland Funding Community and Learning Hub

Since early in the first national lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland, SCVO has hosted a series of informal monthly meetings bringing together Scottish funders, grant makers and representatives of voluntary and community sector organisations and regulatory bodies. There is clear interest in the continuation of what is now titled the Funding Community and Learning Hub ('the Community').

The Community is a group of funders, representative organisations of voluntary and community sector organisations and regulatory bodies. The purpose of the group is to address the needs of Scottish voluntary organisations and the communities they serve to achieve positive outcomes for the people of Scotland by building on and taking advantage of emergent learning.

The Community aims to enable open and honest conversations on the place and purpose of funding in areas and activities of common endeavour, which will enable voluntary and community organisations to overcome challenges and find solutions. It will provide two online sessions per month – one informal ‘roundtable’ open session for sharing learning and up-to-date information; and one themed conversation focussed on topics of interest to the sector bringing in expert voices where appropriate. Supplementary to meetings, SCVO will support an online community based on a shared communication platform such as Slack. Meetings will be online to ensure the ability to respond flexibly to the changing landscape and needs of the voluntary sector.

The convenors of the Scotland Funders’ Forum, Scottish Grantmakers and the Funding Community and Learning Hub have published a joint statement to clarify how these groups operate and intend to work alongside one another for the benefit of the Scottish voluntary and community organisations and those who benefit from their support.