Charitable benefits

How do we fund cultural, leisure and sporting activities during the economic downturn? The Glasgow Life charity model may be the way forward for other councils and institutions, as we work through the current economic crisis.

Culture and Sport Glasgow was first established in 2007 to deliver services previously provided by the City Council's Cultural & Leisure Services. I was appointed as one of the charity's directors shortly after the subsequent Scottish elections that May. I am also appointed to Culture and Sport Glasgow (Trading) CIC, the community interest company set up to generate income from retail and catering activities.

Glasgow Life delivers a wide range of services through 158 directly managed and leased facilities. Our annual budget is more than £100 million and we employ around 3,000 staff making us one of the city’s biggest employers.

Despite the recession, our services were used by 14.5 million visitors over the past year, up by almost one million on the previous year. The public like what they’ve seen in the last three years. Our museums and libraries attract a 97% satisfaction rate on the Glasgow Household Survey. The Glasgow Club has over 24,000 members using modern sports facilities across the city.

During previous recessions, Glasgow invested in its arts and cultural heritage and emerged stronger as a result. In 1983, we opened the Burrell Collection in Pollok Park and celebrated the Year of Culture in 1990. Glasgow has invested more than £120 million in sport and leisure facilities over the past ten years and will spend a further £150 million in the next five years.

This investment has created construction jobs at a vital time for the city economy, recognising that by building for the future - with the new Riverside Museum or infrastructure for the 2014 Commonwealth Games - Glasgow can emerge from this recession well-placed.

There will be cuts and savings to be found in the current financial climate, but as a charity we can work more flexibly and attract new funding.

We operate seven days a week. We’re asking our staff to change the way they work, in exchange for a commitment to protect both jobs and services. Although there are some points of dispute at present, it is important to remember that staff and trade unions have responded well to our changes as a charity since 2007, with significant improvements in absence rates benefiting colleagues at work and customers in venues all over Glasgow.

Set up as an independent charity, services are provided contractually to the local council - directly accountable to elected representatives as key stakeholders - on behalf of communities across Glasgow.

As a charity, we have achieved specific savings of £19.2 million in our first three years through reductions in non-domestic rates alone. This level of saving equates to around 1,000 jobs. Had we not been a charity, that £19.2 million burden would have been borne by our staff and local taxpayers, with a negative impact on jobs and services.

As a charity we can access trusts and funds which were simply not open to us when services were part of the Council. Almost a third of our overall income now comes from outwith funding agreed with the City Council. This is a much larger proportion than other established charities who provide services such as social care to local authorities.

Over the past three years, a total of £2.25 million has been raised from sponsorship, donations and voluntary income, against a target of £1.1 million. Our fundraising team has been exceeding its target, generating almost £1 million in sponsorship and donations from institutions and benefactors. That amounts to a quarter of the annual running costs at Kelvingrove, Scotland’s most popular visitor attraction and one of the busiest in the UK. A growing number of those visitors who enjoy our free museums and libraries or pay to use our sports centres and community halls are contributing by making donations of cash or giving time as volunteers.

With financial pressures across the public sector, other councils are now considering how best to deliver services and protect jobs and our experience as a charity may be part of the answer for many.