Trust set to issue core funding support for new financial year

March 24th 2020

Shetland Charitable Trust is preparing to pay out its core funding grants to local charities and community organisations, which will help keep them going during the coronavirus crisis.

Trust set to issue core funding support for new financial year

Shetland Charitable Trust is preparing to pay out its core funding grants to local charities and community organisations, which will help keep them going during the coronavirus crisis.

Grants due from 1^st April will proceed as planned, providing cash support for the network of rural care homes, Shetland Recreational Trust, Shetland Amenity Trust, the Shetland Arts Development Agency and a host of voluntary sector organisations.

Chairman Dr Andrew Cooper said: “It is crucial that Shetland is able to retain the network of trusts and charities whose services we are grateful for in more normal times. These activities have had to be curtailed greatly to help stem the spread of the virus but these organisations will continue to incur wage and running costs.

“Payment of grant instalments will provide some reassurance and stability for the coming months while we all watch and await developments with grave concern. It is still early days and the Trust will aim to respond and adapt its role as required in the best interests of the Shetland community.”

The latest virus-related restrictions have forced SCT to suspend its new funding scheme which was offering £880,000 in extra grants to help tackle inequality and social exclusion. Many of the new activities that were being proposed to the Trust for the Main Grants Scheme would not have been able to proceed as planned due to the circumstances.

Meanwhile, the Trust’s externally invested funds continue to be impacted by the difficult financial markets worldwide resulting from the spread of Covid-19.

Dr Cooper said: “We are fortunate that Trust funds benefited from strong growth early in the financial year, which helped reduce some of the impact of markets plummeting in recent months. As it stands, Trust funds are basically back where they started the financial year. The externally invested funds are currently valued at around £280 million, having begun 2019/2020 at £284m, before we spent around £9m on annual funding for local organisations.

“The Trust invests for the long term and trustees put in place a prudent financial strategy in September. We don’t anticipate having to amend our approach at this stage but we continue to monitor events closely.”

Contact: John Robertson 07775 407 796 or noostmedia@gmail.com

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.