The Interactive Evidence Library

The Interactive Evidence Library (IEL) has been developed by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and is funded by the Scottish Government. It is an information resource whereby research into Third Sector issues in Scotland can be easily browsed, accessed at speed and stored, if required, in a personalised document briefcase for future reference. The Evidence Library is interactive because it also facilitates comment and discussion, the exchanging of ideas and the sharing of knowledge.
To register as a user and to receive the quarterly IEL e-bulletin please click here.

What is the Third Sector?

The 'Third Sector' is a commonly used term, covering voluntary and community organisations, volunteering bodies, charities, social enterprises, co-operatives and mutuals. The term makes clear that these organisations are not in the public or private commercial sectors, driven as they are by a particular cause or set of social values and principally re-investing any financial surpluses to further these objectives. The term is not defined in legislation and is sometimes used interchangably with the term 'voluntary sector'.
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The Voluntary Sector in Scotland

The voluntary sector in Scotland consists of the estimated 137,000 professional paid staff and 1.2m volunteers who help to invigorate Scotland’s communities through their work in an estimated 45,000 diverse organisations. These organisations are non-profit driven, non-statutory, autonomous and run by individuals who do not get paid for running those organisations. Some voluntary organisations are recognised by HM Revenue and Customs as charities and are regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). The sector in Scotland also has wide and varied international connections and an abiding stake in the welfare of society.
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Third Sector studies

The Third Sector in the UK has developed a greater profile over the last 25 years, within academic study, across the media, and among public policy analysts. Three main factors have been put forward as contributing to this growing visibility: increased government interest, the growth of social science as an academic discipline, and the accumulation of changes occurring to voluntary organisations themselves, including the rapid growth in the number of registered charities (Halfpenny and Reid, 2002 ©). Work on developing the Charity Register in Scotland (CRIS) database - a general framework for understanding the size and shape of the Scottish sector - was first undertaken by SCVO in 1994. SCVO has been producing research on the Scottish voluntary sector since 1996.
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Third Sector policy and practice: the role of research

In March 2008, SCVO held a roundtable discussion on the current and future status of research into the Third Sector. The seminar brought together a selection of key academics, sector representatives, funders and government officials - all with a strategic research interest in the Third Sector. One of the clear messages which emerged from the event is that there are tremendous opportunities for the policy, practice and research communities to work together to produce results that make a positive difference to people's lives. The Interactive Evidence Library fully endorses this ambition - for insofar as is the job of research to describe the world, to investigate practice and to help shape enlightened policy, then the IEL is an essential gateway for anyone seeking to understand or engage the Third Sector in Scotland.


© This article is reproduced with the permission of The Policy Press.