A campaign, a new strategy and ensuring your TSI delivers for local groups and communities

23 May 2025

The image above was surprisingly developed by the DCMS and partners in 2018 but the ambitions and principles are ones that many of us might support. Indeed the new(ish) Westminster Government is consulting on a new VCS Covenant so this trajectory continues. But if public sector finances continue to tighten and competition for funding is as intense as ever what can we do in Argyll and Bute to ensure our community organisations continue to thrive?

The Scottish Government is on the right track with its ambitions for Fairer Funding but our challenge is that right now many of our valued organisations and community assets are under financial pressure. We can also continue to lobby for a fairer share of resources as valued local partners to help us achieve sustainability and contribute to the prevention agenda – as we did in a recent meeting with our own Jenni Minto in her capacity as Public Health Minister – but there are things we can still do to improve our outlook ourselves as a collective.

The Third Sector is Scotland’s third largest employer with over 133,000 paid staff but it is very difficult for us to speak with one coherent campaigning voice given the diversity in activity and size of our sector. So today Argyll and Bute TSI is launching the start of a new local campaign and conversation to set out the state of our sector and underline the contribution we make locally everyday. We know for instance that continual cuts to social care is often a false economy as that leads to higher needs in the longer term, as well as poorer outcomes for people. Working together and by showcasing examples of local collaboration we can build our case for more local investment in community action and ask public sector partners to focus on what they do best.

To underpin this campaign and conversation we are seeking a research partner (deadline 9th June 2025) who will conduct local surveys, gather data and run focus groups to find out your daily challenges and issues and find out what support you need to thrive and prosper in your work strengthening our communities. This will in turn drive the direction of your TSI as well as the type of support we offer you. In the spirit of Community Wealth Building we want that research partner to work with local people so that survey and engagement techniques can be retained locally. This could take the form of employing local researchers, experts by experience or setting up an apprenticeship.

The end product will be a campaign, a five year strategy for our sector and a strategy for your TSI.

With this information we will be able to speak more powerfully with one voice and lobby collectively. Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire started a similar approach in 2024 so it would be good to discuss what might work for us.

So how can you help?

If you would like to be part of a strategy oversight group please do contact me directly as this group will help shape the direction and approach to the development of the campaign and strategy. In addition we hope to be sending out surveys from July and August and we will also be looking for participants to join smaller, perhaps thematic based focus groups so we can drill down a bit more comprehensively into the issues.