History of Shetland Charitable Trust

Shetland Charitable Trust has its roots in the transformational arrival of the oil industry to the isles during the 1970s.

The arrival of the oil industry during the 1970s was transformational for Shetland.

In recognition of the enormity that the creation and presence of Sullom Voe Terminal would have on the area and its people, the industry paid money which formed an investment fund.

The reason for the fund’s existence was - and continues to be - to improve life for all living in Shetland now and in the future.

The Shetland Islands Council Charitable Trust (SICCT) was created by Deed of Trust in 1976, with the local authority acting as sole trustee. By 1979, all disturbance payments from the oil industry were being passed into the Trust.

Over the following decades, the Trust invested and disbursed income to a wide range of local charities and organisations, helping to create much of Shetland’s modern community and cultural infrastructure.

A number of key changes were made to ensure the Trust remained fully independent and could adapt to new legal obligations:

1997 – A new version of the Trust Deed was adopted to remove restrictions on accumulating income and make future updates easier to implement.

2003 – The Trust was renamed Shetland Charitable Trust and began employing its own staff, marking a formal move away from the local authority.

2011 – In response to the Charities and Investments (Scotland) Act 2005, the organisation was reconstituted as a fully separate Scottish charity, with a majority of appointed trustees rather than councillors.

2018 – Trustees voted to reduce the size of the Board to a maximum of 12 appointed members, creating a more streamlined governance structure.

Since 1976, the Trust has distributed over £370 million on charitable activities in Shetland.

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.