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June 13, 2023
Crisis recovery
Much is made of the ecosystem of support that now serves our sector. In particular, social enterprise has received sustained, targeted investment from the Scottish Government over many years into a range of initiatives designed to encourage more start ups and growth. Which is all very encouraging and good news for those who can benefit but as everyone knows, life doesn’t always follow an upward, positive trajectory. Sometimes, often in fact, community and voluntary organisations of all shapes and sizes can find themselves in a crisis with no one to turn to. This new recovery service might help.
We’ve had a perfect storm and it’s not over yet. Covid, Brexit, funding constraints and severe cost increases are putting exceptional pressure on the whole of our sector. We know that an increasing number of organisations are facing highly challenging circumstances and may be in need of help.
Difficulties can range from financial viability to governance and organisational dynamics with the board. Scotland already has a renowned and well-supported ecosystem of support but we know that sometimes the right kind of support can be hard to find or access especially when a group is stressed about its future.
To address this, some key partners, (Scottish Community Alliance, Development Trust Association Scotland, CEIS and Community Enterprise) have come together to begin the process of providing that support. We hope others who can help in this endeavour will soon join us.
As a starting point, a new Crisis Recovery button has been added to the social enterprise support map which can be accessed here.This leads to a very quick “request for support” form which will be responded to within 24 hours and a support package put in place.
Crucially this is not a new service or programme. It is a smarter, quicker and more collaborative way to access the ecosystem of support that already exists. Please spread the word to any organisations that you are aware of who might need to access this support.
For further information, please contact Douglas on douglas@communityenterprise.co.uk