Strong growth in invested funds despite volatile world markets

September 15th 2025

Funds invested globally by Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) climbed in value to £489.4 million last week. That’s up more than £58m since the start of the financial year in April.

These external investments generate the earnings which the SCT aims to spend on community grants with £9.8m already allocated this year to more than two dozen charitable organisations.

Trustees at last Thursday’s SCT meeting heard that the success of investments in world markets comes despite continuing volatility and Trump’s rapidly shifting tariff wars.

A report pinpointed strong performance in the technology and AI sectors between April and the end of June but weak returns from the energy sector with falling oil prices and uncertainty over trade policy.

SCT chair Robert Leask said future generations of Shetlanders would depend on the trust continuing its investment success in the face of major fluctuations in the markets. It aims to spend the earnings from the invested funds rather than eating into the capital itself.

He said: “One of the key things the trust does is manage the market volatility in the background so that we don’t have to reduce our multi-year grants to so many organisations throughout Shetland. We stand by them and manage the risk in the background.”

SCT also held its AGM on Thursday to approve its accounts for last year to 31^st March 2025. Grants worth £9.4m were spent on community services in sport, leisure, arts and heritage, elderly care and the voluntary sector.

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.