"While there is an opportunity for funders to think differently about how we invest in the capacity building needs of our grant holders, it is important that we ensure the third sector has a greater role to direct and inform the areas of support that we provide our grant holders."Funding Manager
‘Capacity Building’ in the third sector has traditionally been driven by those who commission or fund support, often with short-term goals in mind including training rather than developing the capacity of an organisation in the long-term.
As a learning organisation, The Robertson Trust is committed to considering our role, and how we can add value, to support the capacity, skills and capability of the organisations we fund, and the third sector more broadly. To make our role as strategic as possible, we want to better understand the needs of our grant holders and partners in the third sector in order to improve the lives and wellbeing of people affected by poverty and trauma across Scotland.
Working with our grant holders and partners, we want to make our support proactive, so that organisations become stronger, more resilient and are better able to meet the needs of the individuals and communities they support.
With that goal in mind, we devised this Third Sector Capacity Building Survey to understand ‘what works?’ and what our partners and grant holders need to build their capacity in the long-term. The results of that engagement, including observations and reflections on next steps, are presented in this report.
Download the full survey findings here.
Download our infographic which shows the key findings from the survey.
We will use these anonymous findings, gathered from across the third sector, to contribute to the design of our current and future offers; helping us to respond to the challenges organisations are currently facing whilst also informing the development of a longer-term package of support.