Call for donations to hospice

Strathcarron Hospice is asking people to continue to donate what they can.

It's after a new report by SCVO shows a drop in the amount of donations to charity across Scotland.

Strathcarron Hospice need to raise £115,000 a week to keep their services running.

Jackie Johnson is Fundraising Manager:

"Everybody who does support the hospice, thank you so much. Every penny that you give us goes directly into patient care and we genuinely could not do this without you. So thank you so much and please do keep up your support of our services."

£1.2 billion in donations to charities were recorded in 2023 - down 20% from five years before.

The SCVO says charities across the Forth Valley are working "harder than ever".

SCVO head of policy, Kirsten Hogg, said: “Individual giving is an important part of the complex patchwork of funding sources that Scotland’s voluntary organisations rely on, and these findings are really concerning - especially when combined with what we know about cuts in public sector funding and the increasing costs and demands that voluntary organisations are facing. 
 
“The cost of living crisis has hit individual giving hard, impacting on people’s ability to put their hands in their pockets – including for legacies, donations, fundraising and trading.  Over the same period, we saw a reduction in the number of people volunteering their time, and together these paint a worrying picture about the extent to which people are able to support charities and community groups.  
 
“While we remain hopeful that we may see a slight upturn in both donations and volunteering numbers, the resource difficulties that voluntary organisations are facing mean that many will continue to encounter challenges on a scale we’ve not seen before. 
 
“Scotland’s voluntary sector is a fundamental part of Scottish society, and demand for support is rising. Vital support continues to be delivered to every community in Scotland, and we must do everything we can to protect organisations from the pressures they are facing.”