SCT grant spend jumps to £16.4m next year as major building repair scheme is speeded up

November 25th 2021

Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) is to dramatically increase its grant spending by nearly £6.7m next year, awarding a total aid package of £16.4m across its three funding schemes.

SCT grant spend jumps to £16.4m next year as major building repair scheme is speeded up

Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) is to dramatically increase its grant spending by nearly £6.7m next year, awarding a total aid package of £16.4m across its three funding schemes.

The spending hike is largely to meet strong demand from four major charitable organisations which face mounting bills to repair venues and sports buildings dotted around Shetland.

SCT is seeking to front-load its new three-year £12m Capital Grant Scheme with a spend of up to £7.7m in its first year instead of the £4m proposed previously. The increase comes after SCT received bids totalling £9.8m in the first round of applications and with most of those funds requested for spending in 2022/23.

Under the scheme Shetland Recreational Trust, Shetland Amenity Trust, Shetland Arts Development Agency and Voluntary Action Shetland can access funding for major projects to renovate or renew fittings and equipment in well-used buildings like leisure centres, swimming pools, museums and heritage centres and the Market House voluntary centre.

The increased spending for 2022/23 was approved by SCT trustees meeting remotely on Thursday via Zoom.

Trustees also agreed payments of £8.6m under the Main Grant Scheme, an increase of £280,000 on this year. These comprise funding packages for over 30 local projects and organisations, including support for Shetland Islands Council’s community care service throughout the islands. Details of the allocations for the Main Grant Scheme will be released next week once applicants have been informed.

SCT chair Dr Andrew Cooper said: “The continuing success of our external investment policies put us in the fortunate position where we can afford to keep revising our budgets upwards. It’s important that we seek to optimise our help to the local voluntary sector and other key charitable organisations.”

SCT’s invested funds were valued at £485.2m at the end of September, up £46.5m during the six-month period and representing a return of 10.6 per cent. At the same time last year funds stood at £411.8m.

SCT reported that equity markets performed strongly in the three months to June as economies opened up with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. However, the following three months to September saw the recovery slowing and inflation starting to take effect.

Since the trust was set up in 1976 it has paid out around £335m in grant aid to local organisations.

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Testimonials

The funding COPE Ltd receives from the Shetland Charitable Trust supports us in many ways. It allows us to develop and maintain a strong foundation to our core business and assists us to provide on-going employment skill development opportunities to people with disabilities living within Shetland. COPE Ltd highly values the support provided to our organisation by The Shetland Charitable Trust.

“The substantial grant made to us by Shetland Charitable Trust every year allows us to provide first-class facilities and dedicated staff to underpin sporting success among people of all ages and abilities in the islands.”

Having this core funding from the Charitable Trust means that we can use that money where we need it at any given time. It's multi-year funding which really takes the pressure off. To have the funding to keep going is really important as it is improving the lives of disabled folk in Shetland.

The funding that we get from the Charitable Trust pays for part of staff support and matching with other funders. Without local funders we wouldn't have national funders, and without either of those funders, we wouldn't be able to do this, so funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust is incredibly important.

The funding Shetland Arts gets from Shetland Charitable Trust is about making sure the organisation can thrive, access other funds, and deliver on behalf of the community of Shetland. Our funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust really helps us with our conversations with national funders because it shows that we're working on behalf of what the local objectives and priorities are.

The Access to Leisure scheme was introduced to allow folk to be able to get access to classes and activities for a lower cost. I feel that the SRT play a critical role in every community across Shetland and that's all down to the funding of the Shetland Charitable Trust that we're able to maintain that.

Unpaid carers do an amazing job looking after people 24/7 in their own homes, keeping them living at home safely, and they really need help to do that. Thanks to the funding from Shetland Charitable Trust, we've been able to employ a deputy manager, recruit more care attendants, and provide overnights. We're also really grateful for the funding because it means that everybody can get the service for free.