3rd March 2026
Our night in Parliament!
On Thursday 19th of February colleagues from across Scotland voluntary sector gathered at the Scottish Parliament for an evening of celebration and challenge at Volunteer Scotland and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) joint parliamentary reception. Our Research and Policy Manager, Bethany Sikes, shares her reflections on the evening.
The opportunity to host a parliamentary reception does not a come along very often, so when SCVO offered to co–host an event with Volunteer Scotland in the lead up to the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary elections we jumped at the chance! And months later our hard work paid off when we hosted over 100 colleagues from across the voluntary sector as well as Kaukab Stewart, Minister for Equalities, and several MSPs for our evening showcasing Scotland’s voluntary sector.
For Volunteer Scotland the reception was an opportunity to highlight the messages of our ‘No Volunteers, No Community’ campaign. We invited our campaign partners Food Train, the Royal National Lifeboats Institute (RNLI) and Girlguiding Scotland to host stalls showcasing their volunteer programs and to bring along some of their volunteers to celebrate the campaign with us. This was the first opportunity we’d had as campaign partners to meet in person since the launch of our successful Parliamentary exhibition which launched the campaign, and it was wonderful to bring all of our volunteer programs together to emphasise the contribution of Scotland volunteers to thriving communities throughout the evening. The contribution of volunteers was apparent – from people wearing our ‘I support volunteering in my community’ badge and in a big group photo marking the United Nations’s International Volunteer Year 2026.
The Garden Lobby was buzzing with people enjoying the wine and canapés and catching up with folks they usually only ever see on MS teams! However, the evening was not only about celebrating the dedication and impact of Scotland’s voluntary sector, it was also about sharing the challenges we face and raising awareness of how the Scottish Government can better support us.
The reception was kindly sponsored by Jeremy Balfour MSP, co-convener of the Cross Party Group on Volunteering. Mr. Balfour opened the evening speeches by acknowledging these very challenges and calling on the Scottish Government to provide further support. Speeches by Anna Fowley CEO of SCVO and Alan Stevenson CEO of Volunteer Scotland brought this to life, by referencing research and our respective manifestos.
A particular highlight of the evening was a speech by Kaukab Stewart, Minister for Equalities, who provided a reflection on behalf of the Scottish Government on the important role of the voluntary sector in Scotland. It was encouraging to hear from Ms Stewart that she understood the challenges facing our sector as well as the opportunities for better collaboration. One such opportunity is the newly announced Third Sector Partnership which the Scottish Government see to develop to support partnership working between the Scottish Government and the voluntary sector. The Minister also referenced the Scottish Government’s Fairer Funding pilot and recent commitments to provide multi-year funding to disabled peoples organisations as a step in the right direction towards a better funding agreement for the sector – however the Minister acknowledged that there is room for further improvement. The Minister also reflected on the hard work that Volunteer Scotland has led to develop a new National Framework for Employer Supported Volunteering which we look forward to launching later this year.
In all, the Parliamentary Reception was a joyful occasion, and it was deeply encouraging to see the sector gathering with a shared voice. As Alan Stevenson, CEO of Volunteer Scotland, reflected:
“The joint Parliamentary Event between VS and SCVO, provided a hugely valuable opportunity for sector colleagues, the Minister for Equalities, Kaukab Stewart and other elected representatives, to not only celebrate the work of the sector, and the critical role that volunteering plays, but to also focus in on the need to recognise, protect and support volunteering in future. Our manifesto campaign ‘No Volunteers No Community’ aligns with the UN International Volunteer Year 2026 in this respect. It was encouraging to hear (and see) the tangible support for these campaigns and to be part of such an engaged room, keen to understand the critical role of volunteers and the 'more' we can do. I’d like to thank our campaign partners, RNLI, FoodTrain and Girl Guiding Scotland, and all of the stallholders, staff and many Volunteers for the great conversation, shared experiences and inspiration that all we took from the evening.”
I’d also like to extend my thanks to SCVO for their continued support in the policy space. Our work is complimentary and we often work in collaboration – you’ll see this in our respective manifestos which support each other’s calls. Our manifesto echoes SCVO‘s calls for fair funding as well as calling for a review of charity regulation. Similarly, SCVO’s manifesto calls for a secure future for volunteering. Events like are a great opportunity to combine our voices and amplify our advocacy efforts!
With the Scottish Parliamentary elections only a few months away, the Research and Policy team will continue to share the messages of our ‘No Volunteers, No Community’ campaign with political party policy teams and election candidates. Let’s create a nation of volunteers!
Bethany Sikes
Research & Policy Manager