The DTAS AGM is taking place on Tuesday 1st September 2026 at 10am at Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow.

Here are  the AGM papers :

– Agenda: Item 1 – AGM 2026 Agenda

– Minutes of 2025 AGM: Item 3 – 2025 AGM Minutes

– DTAS accounts to 31^st March 2026: Item 4 – DTAS – 2025-2026 Full Accounts

– Board of Trustees nominations for 2026-27 including trustee profiles: Item 5 – Board nominations 2026-27

– DTAS membership fees: Item 6 – DTAS Membership fees

The AGM is part of the DTAS conference running from 1st September – 2nd September 2026. Bookings are now closed. If you wish to attend the AGM only, please contact info@dtascot.org.uk.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Over the last year, the Democratic Finance team has been exploring the community bond landscape in Scotland and across the UK. We knew of a handful of examples of community bonds (a type of debt security issued by community groups) in Scotland, and we knew that they were being used extensively in community renewables in England on platforms such as Ethex, but we wanted to gain a deeper understanding of what community bonds looked like in practice, what they were used for and who was using them. This will help us develop the Democratic Finance Scotland programme and ensure that we understand the demand for this type of finance in Scotland and how we can best support groups access it, if there is indeed demand.

We’re publishing two documents today:

• A brief summary report looking at what community bonds are, who can issue them, and a high level summary of our findings on what community bonds look like across the UK and in Scotland,
• A full report for those of you who like to dig a little deeper into the data.

This research has highlighted some areas that we’d like to explore further. We can see that the use of community bonds in Scotland has been quite limited to date in comparison to England – we have some hunches about why that is but more research could open this up further. We would like to compare this type of finance to commercial and social investment, as well as community shares to understand why people choose to use this type of finance as well as/instead of others, and in what circumstances. This will help us understand when we could suggest this to groups we’re working with as we explore their democratic finance options.

We can also see that there’s a need to raise awareness about this type of finance in Scotland as part of a suite of democratic finance options, and discuss whether this is a type of finance that groups would be interested in, and could see the use for alongside options more commonly used in Scotland such as community shares or social investment. That’s why we’re planning to run a session for DTAS members and clients of the DF programme in September to present this research in a bit more depth, with a discussion about whether groups can see the application of this type of finance to situations they’ve faced historically or projects they are currently developing.

Look out for more information on this session on the DTAS Eventbrite and we’ll send a reminder out nearer the time. In the meantime, enjoy the reports and fire over any questions to laura@dtascot.org.uk

Last week I did work experience at Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS).   During my time I attended the Scottish Towns Partnership summer session in Stirling with DTAS CEO Pauline Smith and I wanted to write some of my reflections and how it relates to the social media ban for under 16s and AI.

“My generation never really experienced thriving town centres as places to meet friends and spend time and we have online to buy things at the touch of a button….If we are serious about helping young people spend less time online, we also need to rebuild the places where real life happens.”

Read more here  If You Want Us Offline, Give Us Somewhere to Go

A Week in the Life of Amy: How Development Trusts Look After Their Staff

Most small charities and development trusts are stretched. Limited budget. Big ambitions. Small teams doing massive work. When you’re in survival mode, it’s easy to ignore something important: looking after your own people.

But here’s the thing. If your staff are burned out and unhappy, everything else falls apart. Your work suffers. Your impact shrinks. People leave.

That’s why DTAS has a Wellbeing and Learning Officer. Amy does that job. She works with development trusts across Scotland on their wellbeing and culture challenges. She also works on DTAS’s own internal wellbeing, equity and diversity, and developing resources that help the sector. It’s all mixed together—some days member-focused, some days internal, some days both.

We asked her to walk through a typical week. Here’s what she does.

Monday: Understanding What’s Actually Happening

Amy’s back from holiday. First thing—she doesn’t dive into emails. Instead, she sits down and plans her whole month. What matters most? Where should she focus?

The morning goes into analysing DTAS’s staff survey. This is real work. People have answered questions about their jobs, their stress levels, whether they feel supported. There’s loads of detail in the responses.

It takes a few weeks to go through properly, Amy explains. There’s so much useful information, and we want to make sure we don’t miss anything.

If you don’t ask your staff how they’re doing, you won’t know they’re drowning. The survey tells DTAS what’s working and what isn’t.

Tuesday: Turning Numbers Into Decisions

Tuesday is about getting the survey report ready. Raw numbers are just numbers. The People, Wellbeing and EDI meeting is on Thursday—that’s where the real conversation happens.

Amy writes the report. She pulls out what matters. She explains what it all means in a way that makes sense. By Thursday, Amy and the Head of Central Support Services, Kay, will read it and talk about what DTAS should actually do about it.

Those recommendations then go to the Senior Staff Team, who decide what DTAS commits to.

She’s also working on DTAS’s Annual Review—the report we share with members. It shows what we’ve done, what we’ve learned, where we need to focus next. This stuff matters even if nobody’s watching.

Wednesday: Making Sure Everyone’s on the Same Page

Wednesday is meetings and coordination. One thing stands out: planning the relaunch of Come Dine with DTAS.

This is just staff getting together for a meal, outside of work meetings. Sounds simple. But it matters. When people connect informally, teams get stronger. People feel less alone. The whole organisation feels better.

Culture doesn’t happen by accident, Amy says. You have to actually create the space for it.

She also attends the Central Support Services (CSS) weekly team meeting. The internal wellbeing part of her role is relevant to that team, so she’s there to hear what they’re working on and how it connects to the wider organisation. It’s about making sure everyone working on different parts of the organisation—member support, central services, wellbeing—is talking to each other. That Amy isn’t working in a bubble. That the efforts join up.

Thursday: In the Office

Thursday, Amy’s in the office. Deliberately. Working from home is fine most of the time. But sometimes you need to be in the same room as people.

She has a team meeting with Member Support colleagues spread across Scotland—some in the office, some joining in remotely. It’s a hybrid meeting where people share what they’ve been working on with members. What challenges they’re seeing. How things are moving forward.

One-to-one with Errin, Head of Member Support. Real conversation about where Amy’s role is going. What DTAS should focus on next.

In the afternoon, Amy and Kay plan the year ahead. They look at what worked last year. They look at what the staff survey says. They decide what to focus on. The table gets covered in post-it notes—ideas, priorities, themes. It’s messy and visual and it works. There’s something motivating about it, Amy says. About seeing everything laid out. About making decisions together. About knowing that what you’re doing actually matters and will shape how the organisation moves forward.

This is invisible work. No one sees it. But it’s where real change happens.

Friday: Talking to Other Organisations

Friday’s about the Funders Plus Forum. That’s a group of funders and support organisations that work together to understand what is happening for grantees across Scotland’s third sector.

This quarter they’re asking: do charities struggle with staff wellbeing? And if they do, what could the sector do together about it?

Amy’s preparing for that conversation. She’s got data. She’s got evidence. She’s ready to say: yes, this is a real problem. Here’s what we’re seeing.

What Amy’s Week Shows

If you just skim Amy’s calendar, it looks like meetings and reports. But there’s something underneath.

She listens to what DTAS staff are telling her through the survey. She takes that information to the People, Wellbeing and EDI meeting on Thursday, where actions are suggested. She makes sure different parts of the organisation are talking to each other. She feeds what she’s learning into bigger conversations with other funders.

That’s what looking after your organisation actually looks like.

Most development trusts know they should care about their staff. But many don’t know how to start. They don’t have data. They don’t have a plan. They’re not sure if their problems are unique or if other organisations struggle the same way.

That’s where DTAS comes in.

Why This Actually Matters

This is obvious but easy to forget: if your staff are exhausted and unhappy, your work gets worse. Your impact shrinks. People leave. You have to start over again with new people.

The evidence is clear. Organisations with happy, supported staff do better. They keep people longer. The work is better quality.

Yet most development trusts treat wellbeing like a nice extra. A wellness app. A team away day. Not as something central to how they run.

Real wellbeing isn’t like that. It means asking your staff how they’re doing. Listening to what they tell you. Making changes based on what you hear. Doing it consistently, not just once.

Three Things Amy’s Week Shows

1. Ask before you fix. Amy spends weeks going through the survey properly because you need to understand what’s actually happening before you decide what to do. Guessing doesn’t work.
2. Leadership has to be on board. If the people at the top don’t care, nothing changes. The meetings and planning sessions Amy does are about making sure leaders understand the problem and commit to solving it.
3. Culture needs real investment. Things like Come Dine with DTAS aren’t fluffy extras. They’re how people connect. They’re how organisations get stronger. But they don’t happen by themselves. Someone has to make them happen.

How to Start

If you work in a development trust and you’re thinking about this, here’s what matters:

Ask your staff how they’re doing. Really ask. Listen to what they say. Make at least one change based on what you hear. Keep doing it.

Get your leadership team in a room. Talk about what matters to you. Make actual decisions about how you’ll look after your people.

Create space for connection. Informal stuff. Not more meetings.

That’s it. You don’t need a massive budget. You need intention and consistency.

Ready to Build Better Organisational Wellbeing?

If this resonates with you—if you know your development trust needs to focus on staff wellbeing and culture but you’re not sure where to start—DTAS is here to help.

Our Member Support team works directly with development trusts across Scotland. We can help you understand where your organisation stands, develop a realistic plan, and support you through the change.

Whether you’re already a DTAS member looking to deepen your engagement with our wellbeing work, or you’re interested in becoming a member and accessing our full range of support services, we’re here.

Learn more about DTAS Member Support | Find out about DTAS membership

Infrastructure that works for Scottish communities

The Scottish Government’s new Infrastructure Investment Plan (2027–2036) and the supporting Needs Assessment are setting the direction for how Scotland invests over the next decade.  We recently responded to the consultation Draft Infrastructure Strategy 2027-2037 – Scottish Government consultations – Citizen Space

There’s a lot to welcome in both documents including a long-term approach and  importantly, a recognition that infrastructure investment needs to be more place-based.

But, community-led infrastructure is not being recognised strongly enough.

Across Scotland, development trusts and community enterprises are already delivering the outcomes the strategy is aiming for. Communities are:

• Repurposing public buildings
• Delivering affordable housing
• Developing renewable energy projects
• Managing land and local assets
• Creating local economic activity

In our consultation response, we made the point that communities should not just be seen as consultees, but as delivery partners, asset owners and long-term stewards of place.  A genuine place-based approach has to put community leadership and ownership at its centre.

We also challenged the continued focus on “driving economic growth” as a central outcome.  Instead, we suggested approaches rooted in community wealth building, wellbeing and inclusive local economies because that’s what many of our members are delivering every day.

The upcoming Live Needs Assessment process is a real opportunity to do things differently and we will actively promote this with our members going forward. Community organisations are often the ones identifying local need, filling service gaps and finding practical solutions.  That knowledge and experience needs to shape infrastructure planning from the start and ongoing over the 30 years that this needs assessment is live.

If Scotland is serious about resilient places, net zero and long-term stewardship, then communities need to be recognised as core infrastructure partners.

At DTAS, we look forward to continuing that conversation and ensuring community-led enterprise is part of Scotland’s infrastructure future.

Read our full response here  Response final

Looking Ahead by Pauline Smith, DTAS CEO

This review is not about judging manifestos, it is about setting out, clearly what communities across Scotland say they need in order to flourish and where those needs intersect with the current political debate.

What stands out is that community‑led development is no longer marginal and the language of place, participation, fairness and transition runs through many party manifestos.  That matters and it reflects the progress and drive of communities over many years.

What matters just as much is what happens next.

The experience of development trusts shows that communities succeed when they are trusted with responsibility, backed with long‑term support, and given real control over assets and decisions.  Where those conditions exist, communities deliver whether that is housing, vital social services, climate action, local enterprise or cultural or economic renewal.

DTAS is ready to work with the next Scottish Government and our focus is practical and embedded in the needs of the communities we work with.  Getting the systems right so community‑led action is viable in every part of Scotland, not just in spite of the odds or through necessity but because grassroots community-led action and delivery works.

The DTAS manifesto sets out that offer clearly and it is grounded in what communities are already doing and in what they are ready to do next.  With the right partnership between communities and government, Scotland can build an approach that is local, democratic, sustainable and fair – not as an aspiration, but as the best way to do things.

Read our full review here – Party Manifesto review Apr26 v2

Spring 2026

Hello and welcome to the Spring Edition of our newsletter. This year’s conference is filling up fast!

New Resource – Operational Plan Toolkit

We’re pleased to announce this brand-new resource! Available to DTAS Full and Provisional Members, our new Operational Plan Toolkit supports your Development Trust turn your vision into practical actions.

This toolkit is designed to help bridge the gap between “what we want to achieve” and “how we’re going to achieve it”. It guides you through creating a clear operational plan that everyone in your organisation can understand, follow, and feel confident about delivering.

To find out more contact your Member Support Advisor.

Do you have meeting or coworking space that has underused capacity?

Connected Hubs Scotland provides a free platform to promote community-based coworking and meeting spaces. It aims to:

• connect the operators of independent hubs across Scotland,
• enable mutual support and collaboration,
• increase the marketing of each space, whilst reducing the administrative burden.

To find out more and get included on the online map on the website, get in touch with polly@dtascot.org.uk.

Learning and Networking

Upcoming online events

Two upcoming webinars for Provisional and Full DTAS:
– Making the most of your DTAS Membership, 29 April, 10am-Noon
– Governance Essentials, 5 May, 10.30am-Noon

And for DTAS Members plus any community group managing a community facility, check out our Facilities Management Webinar Series:
– Facilities Management Risk Assessments: A How-To Guide, 28 April 10-11am
– Facilities Management Training 2026 – Two-day accredited training programme
– 8 & 15 May SOLD OUT – Join wait list
– 28 Aug & 4 Sept SOLD OUT – Join wait list
– 13 & 19 Nov SOLD OUT – Join wait list
– Facilities Management Day to Day: What You Need to Know, 26 May 10-11am
– Facilities Management Health & Safety Compliance, 30 June, 10-11am
– Facilities Management Operational Budgets, 28 July, 10-11am
– Facilities Management Fire Safety, 25 August, 10-11am

Follow the DTAS Eventbrite page to ensure you don’t miss out on more events being added in the new year!

Regional Gatherings

Supported by the National Lottery Community Fund, our first Regional Gatherings of the year brought together over 30 people from Development Trusts  across Perthshire, Stirling, Dundee and Angus. Thank you to the amazing Comrie Development Trust for hosting and showing us around their Cultybraggan Camp, and to Blairgowrie & Rattray Development Trust‘s Development Officer, Steve, for his presentation on their “whole town approach”.

DTAS Member Support Advisor, Chris Sanderson, commented: “ BRDT is a great example of a community-led organisation working to make their town stand out and be noticed and we very much appreciated Steve’s insight gained from more than a decade of experience volunteering and working in the sector.

Development trusts, like so many other community organisations, face challenges both on a day-to-day and a more strategic level and it was really valuable to hear how BRDT faces these challenges and discuss possible solutions.”

 

Our next Regional Gathering is in the Scottish Borders, hosted by Burnfoot Community Hub in Hawick on Wednesday 6th May. All DTAS Members and aspiring Development Trusts welcome!

Sign up for our next Regional Gathering

And follow us on our Eventbrite page to hear about Regional Gatherings being planned in Fife and East Ayrshire.

Community Ownership

Crowdfunding guide for community groups

Together with Democratic Finance Scotland the New Futures Programme have also launched a new Crowdfunding resource for community-based groups in Scotland who are considering taking ownership of a former place of worship.

The resource explains to communities their options, obligations and opportunities regarding crowdfunding.

Although it has Church groups in mind, this resource is useful for any community group looking to undertake a Crowdfunder.

Crowdfunder Guide

Scottish funders unite to improve support beyond grants

At DTAS, we know that grant funding is most effective when accompanied by the right support. Financial investment alone is not always enough to help organisations thrive in a challenging and fast-changing environment. That’s why we’ve created the Funders Plus Forum — a collaboration between funders to share knowledge, generate insight and identify practical ways to strengthen support for grantholders.

The Forum’s goals stemmed from learnings from our Recovery and Resilience Programme, which showed the need for DTAS members to help gain stability and future-proof their operations.

Understanding the need for this type of support beyond DTAS members, we established The Forum in partnership with the National Lottery Community Fund, The Robertson Trust and the William Grant Foundation; Inspiring Scotland has also recently joined. The first meeting took place in September 2025, and we will continue to meet quarterly.

Reflecting on feedback from grantholders and pressures facing the sector, Lorna Wallace, Funding Officer at Robertson Trust said:

“The funding sector is under immense pressure, facing growing demand for services alongside continued funding cuts. For some time, grantholders have told us they want funders to work more collaboratively, to reduce duplication and ease administrative burdens. The Forum is playing a vital role in responding to that call, enabling us to share knowledge and strengthen our collective approach so we can provide more effective, confident support. At a time of increasing strain, it is more important than ever that we work together to build a strong, resilient third sector.”

Each Forum member brings its own approach to supporting grantholders, shaped by different programmes, priorities and areas of focus. What unites us is a shared commitment to a Funders Plus approach: going beyond financial support to offer additional resources such as mentoring, peer learning and strategic advice to strengthen organisational resilience.

By sharing knowledge between us, Forum members will reduce duplication and improve coordination of support; we will actively signpost shared grantholders to other support available through members where relevant. We will also share information about nonfinancial support offers, to help organisations build long-term resilience.

Through the Forum, we’re working together to:

• Reduce duplication of services across Scotland and improve efficiency.
• Identify common issues affecting the funding landscape.
• Explore opportunities to scale up our support.
• Improve processes for organisations managing grant funding.
• Promote effective funding practice and share learning.

Mhairi Reid, Knowledge and Insights Manager at William Grant Foundation, added:

“The Forum is a space where funders can learn openly together about how best to support organisations and their people beyond the grant. Our collective effort matters – it means clearer signposting, less duplication and support that’s genuinely shaped around what grantees have told us they need to strengthen and thrive.”

Although still in its early stages, the Funders Plus Forum reflects a growing commitment among funders to work more collaboratively and thoughtfully. We believe aligning our efforts and taking a collective approach has the potential to strengthen the wider ecosystem of grantholder support across Scotland.

 At DTAS, we welcome this shared commitment to collaboration and look forward to seeing how the Forum’s learning will inform and improve funding practice – ultimately supporting stronger, more resilient organisations and communities.