In Scotland, social exclusion, disadvantage, and deprivation remain huge priorities to address. 

Levels of poverty were increasing long before the shocks of the last four years. The impact of the cost of living crisis on quality of life is profound, with a particularly devastating impact on vulnerable people who are more susceptible to experiencing harm, discrimination, or disadvantage. 

Through our new five-year strategy – Building a Brighter Future for Scotland – the needs and aspirations of vulnerable people will drive our work as we aim to fund, support and champion the small and local charities that work to improve their quality of life. 

Four strategic aims will determine our programmes of work over the next five years: 

• Flexibility and mutual understanding will underpin our work as we make more of multi-year and unrestricted funding, enabling charities to use their grants in the way that helps them best. 

• Through collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group, we'll be a source of added value for charities offering strategic development support and colleague volunteers. 

• Working with charities and other funders we aim to become more influential by championing the work of charities and raising awareness of the challenges vulnerable people face. 

• We'll keep listening and learning, and monitoring and evaluating to continually improve ourselves and ensure we work effectively and efficiently to maximise our contribution and the impact of the charities we support.

You can read more about our new strategy in our latest newsletter