Trust plans £17.9 million spend

November 28th 2022

Trust plans £17.9 million spend despite early year losses on the stock markets

Shetland Charitable Trust funds saw a marginal reduction during the second quarter of 2022/23, to stand at £370.6 million at the end of September.

Overall, for the first six months of the financial year, the trust saw a negative return on these external investments of 13.5 per cent. The SCT is a long-term investor and current returns over a three-year period stand at 9.4 per cent.

Meeting on Thursday, trustees signed off on spending plans for 2023/24 worth nearly £17.9 million. The biggest outlay is on the £8.68m Main Grant Scheme which helps fund leisure centres, rural care centres, museums, arts centres and over 20 voluntary organisations.

Trust chair Dr Andrew Cooper said: “Clearly, these are turbulent times and there are few signs of stability returning yet. That makes it all the more important for the trust to provide a bit of certainty to the local organisations and valuable services that rely on it.

“We are fortunate that we still have the funds to give Shetland at least some protection from the harsh realities that are starting to bite everywhere.”

SCT aims to use its available funds to “benefit and improve the quality of life of all people living in Shetland and to preserve the trust reserves for future generations”.

Up to £6.8m from the 2022/23 budget is earmarked for the second year of the Capital Grant Scheme, which pays for repairs and improvements to the buildings and infrastructure of the three large trusts and Voluntary Action Shetland.

The scheme has seen a slow start in its first year. Only £900,000 is expected to be claimed before April due to what the trust said was “a variety of pressures and delays” encountered by the funded bodies.

While the stock market investments may not always turn a profit, SCT does expect to earn income of £500,000 from local sources in the form of rental payments from oil companies for the land that Sullom Voe is built on and potential profits from the trust’s subsidiary company Shetland Heat and Power Limited, which runs the district scheme.

For more information

Contact: Shetland Charitable Trust - mail@shetlandcharitabletrust.co.uk - Tel: 01595 744 994

Media Contact: John Robertson - noostmedia@gmail.com - Tel: 07775 407 796

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.