Tag: Third Sector Reference Group

Third Sector Reference Group: New Members Needed

Edinburgh’s Third Sector Reference Group is a place for sharing ideas and insights to help city leaders make better policy and investment decisions. The Group is looking for new members to shape decisions and help make positive change:

Edinburgh’s Third Sector Reference group is looking for new members to shape decisions, amplify community voices and create positive change.

The Third Sector Reference Group is a place for sharing ideas and insights from our sector to help city leaders make better policy and investment decisions.

The group aims to harness the power, knowledge and impact of our sector and to take that directly to the heart of decision-making to help influence policy, strategy and service design that affects communities across the city.

TSRG Terms of Reference 2026 (pdf) 

Can you help us do that?

As a Reference Group member, you will:

  • Share your experience and help shape better policy and services
  • Work collaboratively with peers, public sector partners and decision-makers
  • Influence decisions that impact communities and the third sector
  • Strengthen the collective voice of the third sector in the city’s decision-making

You will:

  • Act as an advocate for the third sector and the communities we serve
  • Contribute to meetings, workshops and consultations
  • Share insight, lived experience, challenge and constructively support advocacy and influencing activity that benefits the sector
  • Work collaboratively, in partnership and uphold high standards of integrity and accountability

Who We’re Looking For

We welcome applications from people who:

  • Are involved in the third sector and understand organisational sustainability
  • Bring lived or professional experience of working with communities
  • Are effective communicators and collaborative team players
  • Care deeply about equality, inclusion and social justice
  • Can commit time to attend meetings and contribute to written feedback on public policy, reports and design of future provision and support for the third sector

Time Commitment

  • Monthly Reference Group meetings, typically 60- 90 minutes.
  • Occasional events
  • Contribute to consultations/policies/reports

We value diversity and strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, communities and experiences and are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive environment.

How to Apply

Please submit a short expression of interest (no more than one side of A4) outlining:

  • Your background and connection to the third sector
  • What you feel you would bring to the Reference Group
  • Why you are interested in the role

Please email it to: tsrg@evoc.org.uk

Deadline: Mon 16 Mar 2026

Find out more: https://tinyurl.com/ywkbd4kk

Edinburgh’s community groups welcome emergency council support for the third sector

Local organisations have welcomed moves to provide greater support to the third sector in Edinburgh.

Following the launch of emergency funding and an extensive review of how the city works with not-for-profit groups to prevent poverty, Councillors heard how moves to bring stability to the sector are being well received.

Over £3 million has been injected by the Council towards at risk groups this year, with an extra £284,192 in Third Sector Resilience Funding agreed by elected members at a full Council meeting last week (Thursday 28 August).

The one-off emergency support has been provided to third sector organisations in Edinburgh who are working to end poverty in the city but who have been faced with growing financial challenges.

The final phase of this funding will help small and medium-sized charities this winter, with 31 organisations agreed to receive up to £10,000 each towards running costs.

With the Council moving towards greater partnership working to prevent poverty, extensive engagement on third sector support has also taken place – including a 14-week consultation to gather experiences and concerns of organisations in Edinburgh.

Involving over 239 workers from at least 100 organisations, this engagement will shape future opportunities to better collaborate and support the third sector, with the aim of helping the city’s most vulnerable and preventing inequality.

In deputations presented to members of the Policy and Sustainability Committee last week (Tuesday 19 August), work was welcomed by groups including Edinburgh Community Food, NESSie (North Edinburgh Support Services consortium), Feniks and the Cyrenians. Feedback has been strongly positive, recognising the speed and efficiency of the support the Council has provided.

Benjamin Napier,(above, left) speaking on behalf of the Third Sector Reference Group, said: “I’d like to give my thanks to Council officers for their excellent role working very effectively with the third sector to make sure funding gets out quickly.

“There has been a diligent approach to how we work together and the key now is to look at the next stages of funding.”

Ewan Aitken, CEO of Cyrenians, said: ““It’s good to see a problem turned into an opportunity by the Council.

“We have strong communities and we need to be prevention-led. We need reform and a long-term approach to supporting charities in the city.

“I hope the Council can be bold, take risks and focus on anchor organisations to make this good work transformative.”

Council Leader, Jane Meagher, said: “The £3 million we’ve provided in emergency funding has been vital at a time when the cost of living is high. This final allocation of funding will support even more projects, from advice for young parents to help with clothes and funeral costs.

“Edinburgh’s third sector sits at the heart of our work to tackle poverty, but it is an incredibly difficult time for community groups in Scotland. The engagement we’ve now carried out reveals many organisations are in a precarious position as they experience changes to funding and face greater demand for their services.

“It has never been more important to reset the relationship between the public and third sectors and I’m proud of the work we’ve carried out to truly listen to and learn from those involved, so that we can work to get it right.

“We need to improve how we work together to prevent poverty in our city, and I’m grateful to the hundreds of third sector workers who have spoken to us.”

EIJB funding crisis averted: Third Sector Emergency Resilience Fund opens tomorrow

Charities due to lose funding from the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) will be able to apply for emergency support from the City of Edinburgh Council.

A one-off Third Sector Resilience Fund will launch tomorrow (Friday 28 March) and will remain open for two weeks. It will only be open to organisations in Edinburgh directly impacted by the closure of the EIJB’s third sector grants programme and applications must be made by 12 noon on Friday 11 April.

This package of support will include a funded programme worth £1m to allow third sector advice providers to continue to offer income maximisation, debt, and welfare advice services previously funded by the EIJB grants programme.

Applications will be reviewed and reported to a special meeting of the Policy and Sustainability Committee on Monday 12 May, with the intention of releasing funds in June.

Further work is progressing to review the relationship between the public sector and third sector in Edinburgh, to improve funding certainty in future years.

Council Leader, Jane Meagher, said: “Many of these local charities are at the forefront of helping those in our city with the greatest need. We’ve urgently been working to provide a lifeline to those affected by the closure of the previous grants programme, and I’m really pleased that we’ve found a way forward.

“This fund should provide enough money to potentially support all 64 affected organisations for up to nine months. It must be said that this is a one-off emergency fund – we need to act quickly, and I urge applications to be made as soon as possible.

“Alongside this we must develop a stronger way of supporting the third sector in our city. We recognise that the EIJB, like the Council, is under significant financial pressure and there needs to be longer-term change.

“Tackling poverty and inequality is one of the biggest challenges we’ve set ourselves as a city and this will be a really important piece of work – for us, for our partners and for the whole third sector.”

Benjamin Napier, CEO of Citizens Advice Edinburgh, is a member of the third sector reference group which the Council has set up as it reviews the funding relationship the city has with charities.

Benjamin said: “We welcome this investment in the third sector and hope it will go some way to providing resilience, while we continue our work with colleagues across the Council to find a longer-term solution.

“We recognise the pressures on public funding and thank the Council for their efforts in securing this funding. The third sector in Edinburgh plays a vital and very cost-effective role in supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

“We look forward to strengthening the relationship between the Council and the third sector. By working together in this way, we can create real and lasting change for our citizens.”

The City of Edinburgh Council Third Sector Resilience Fund is a short term, one off, draw down resource using reserves agreed for use during 2025/26.

The fund aims to:

  • Provide financial support in 2025/26 for Edinburgh based third sector organisations significantly impacted by the closure of the EIJB Grants Programme
  • Ensure that the closure of the EIJB Grants Programme does not affect, disrupt, or delay the delivery of other grant funded or commissioned projects and services in the city during 2025/26.

Towards these aims:

  • The funding is for the period 1 July 2025 to 31 March 2026, whilst the wider review of the Council’s approach to supporting the third sector in Edinburgh is undertaken during 2025/26
  • Is intended to ensure the viability and survival of the third sector organisations whilst a new sustainable long-term approach, aligned with the Council’s Business Plan priorities, is developed for implementation from 2026/27 onwards
  • Not intended to provide costs associated with closure of an organisation because of the loss of EIJB grant funding, and
  • Not intended to be used for delivery of any specific projects or services that would be the direct function of the EIJB(noting that this fund will provide resilience until such time as the EIJB’s Strategic Plan is published and any future procurement processes are confirmed and made available to the 3rd sector).

Please email policyandinsight@edinburgh.gov.uk for the full criteria for the fund and to apply.

EVOC: The Future’s Looking Brighter

It is the 21 February and the days are getting longer but more importantly, the future is looking brighter (writes EVOC CEO BRUCE CRAWFORD).

EIJB Fund Cuts

On Thursday (yesterday) the City of Edinburgh Council held a full Council meeting. I was in attendance to make a deputation on behalf of the voluntary organisations impacted by the cuts by the EIJB grants programme for social care.

This followed months of work by colleagues from across the sector who have worked tirelessly for the affected organisations. The work was largely done by members of the Third Sector Reference Group that came into existence after the EIJB meeting on 1 November which led to a three month extension to June 2025.

The eventual outcome is that the £4.5m grants programme has been replaced for the next financial year, so services can continue to be delivered to many of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

Further work needs to be done in the coming weeks and months to help the officers to create the mechanism for disbursement of the funds.

I want to thank all the individuals who contributed to this success, it is evidence of the need to work together, focus on the needs of our communities and stand up for what is right.  I hope that we can build on the experience to generate continued investment into the sector as this will not be the last challenge we face.

A key function of EVOC is advocacy and this includes responding to consultations on proposed legislation and strategies. A current example of this is the draft Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board’s strategy 2025-28.

We have published information on our work in this area on our website. It includes a presentation and a video that explains the draft strategy.

 To inform our response we have asked a number of questions through an online survey.  Despite our request for an extension, the deadline from the EIJB is this Sunday (23 Feb 2025) and there is still no easy read version available. 

We encourage everyone who is interested in, or affected by this, to submit a response here.

Looking Forward

On 29 January I attended my first EVOC board meeting and found it to be useful and productive in equal measures. In the spirit of openness and transparency the directors unanimously agreed to my proposal to publish minutes of EVOC board meetings on the website. The minute of that meeting can be found here.

Following the challenges faced by EVOC in 2024 we created a recovery plan and are well on the way to developing a more robust and resilient organisation.

Some key changes are: improved policies and procedures, greater financial scrutiny and forecasting, better communication, along with a new risk management policy and risk register and a new strategic plan that focuses on the core purpose of the organisation to serve the needs of the sector. 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the survey that we issued last month to inform our understanding of the needs of our members. We received a great deal of useful feedback and it will help our thinking as we develop the strategic plan for EVOC for 2025-2030.

Finally I am looking forward to our AGM on 26 February.

It is being held online to help make attendance as easy as possible. Details of how to register for the meeting are available here.

EVOC: No Time to Lose

A Third Sector Response to the Draft EIJB Strategic Plan for 2025-28

In response to the EIJB consultation inviting people and organisations to have a say on the draft Strategic Plan for 2025 – 28, the Third Sector Reference Group is working on a contribution on behalf of our sector.

This is another in a series of actions in light of the future funding crisis third sector organisations are facing across the city.

Download the draft Strategic Plan

Take Action

Your input to this response is vital and we would ask any and all third sector groups and organisations to share your hopes, fears and priorities, by answering the 9 questions in this short survey.

You are also encouraged to submit a separate response individually, feeding back on the identified priorities, planned actions and measures of success.

You can find out more and submit a response to the consultation here.

Please be aware that the deadline for the consultation submission is extremely tight – Sunday 23rd Feb 2025. 

This is strongly influencing the actions we are focusing on to deliver the best outcome for the sector.

The Reference Group has pulled together several resources that you might find useful:

EIJB draft Strategic Plan 25-28Download