finance RHASS’ £2m fundraising campaign to secure future gathers pace Six months since the cancellation of the 2020 Royal Highland Show and the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland’s (RHASS) £2 million fundraising appeal is gathering momentum. Over £70,000 has been raised in just four weeks since the appeal’s launch, with RHASS’ members donating generously to secure the future of the Society, and that of the Royal Highland Show (RHS). This is the first stage of an ongoing fundraising campaign which will include appeal mailings to RHASSS members followed by a digital campaign targeting past show visitors.
The Society’s future, and that of the RHS, was called into question following the substantial loss of income due to mass cancellation of events as a result of the pandemic. This follows years of investment in showground infrastructure, including a new multi-million pound members’ area. A root and branch review of income and expenditure was instructed by RHASS Directors with across-the-board cutbacks implemented, including senior management salary cuts and a significant number of redundancies, mainly across the Society’s events team.
Taking advantage of Government support, RHASS took part in the furlough scheme and were successful in securing a Scottish Government Resilience Grant. Furthermore, in an unprecedented step for the Society, RHASS directors approved a £2 million fundraising campaign in a bid to raise additional income streams. Commenting on the campaign, RHASS Chief Executive, Alan Laidlaw said: “It is the right thing to do: we have a responsibility as a charitable organisation with thousands of supporters and stakeholders, to do all in our
power to make sure both Show and Society survive and that we increase our charitable impact for the next generation and for Scotland’s rural industries.” With funding being generated by the appeal, RHASS is now beginning to prepare for next year’s Royal Highland show, albeit against a backdrop of reduced visitor capacity and increased costs due to additional social distancing measures. Alan added: “We are committed to hosting the 2021 Royal Highland Show in whatever capacity we are able to do so, however, we also want to be able to celebrate the 200th Show in 2022.
SRUC tops UK list for SME consulting income New Universities UK report shows value of operating model Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) provides more business value to SMEs than any other higher education institution in the UK. This is according to a new study by Universities UK that found – over a four-year period – that SRUC generated more than £57.5 million of income through its consultancy and Veterinary Services. SRUC was ranked above the University of Liverpool (£54m) and the Royal Veterinary College (£31.5m), with the University of Edinburgh (£16.5m) and
the University of St Andrews (£12.5m) the only two other Scottish entries in the top ten. In terms of the UK, Scotland finished above the North West (£83.5m) and London (£76.1m), with SRUC responsible for more than half of Scotland’s £102m total revenue. The news is hot on the heels of SRUC being named as one of the top 50 UK universities by Times Higher Education (THE). Professor Wayne Powell, Principal and Chief Executive,
said the new report showed the value of SRUC’s modular operating model that embraces mission diversity, giving equal emphasis to research, education and business engagement through consultancy, contract research and services. He added: “While this is a tremendous accolade, this is not an overnight success story but builds on the long-term commitment that SRUC and its predecessor, SAC, has to serving the farming and rural
communities across the length and breadth of Scotland. “At a time when the education sector is under huge pressure and traditional university business models are being challenged, the most resilient institutions have multiple strings to their bows. This, together with our focus on the sustainable natural economy, puts SRUC in a strong position to build on this business model and play an important role in Scotland’s green economic recovery.”
Barclays launches £250m in financial support to help farmers drive Sustainability through Agri-Tech Barclays has teamed up with Nigel Owens MBE, worldrenowned rugby union referee and Welsh cattle farmer, to launch a new campaign to drive awareness amongst consumers on the benefits of helping the food system become carbon net zero. Sustainability Through Agri-Tech will also provide farmers with access to £250
million which is available to support their business to become carbon net-zero through AgriTech solutions. In a survey of 276 Scottish farmers from a larger sample of 1,000 across the UK, eight in ten (84 per cent) say that they believe they could be carbon neutral by 2035. This is ahead of the target set by the Scottish government to
reduce the country’s emissions of all greenhouse gases to net zero by 2045. One in five (20 per cent) believe their business has already reached the carbon net zero goal, while 60 per cent said they were thinking about how to make their businesses more sustainable in the wake of the pandemic. Almost two thirds of Scottish respondents (63 per
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cent) also said that becoming greener will increase their farm’s competitiveness after the UK has left the EU, indicating Brexit could accelerate their transition to becoming carbon neutral. More information on how farmers apply to the £250m available can be found at: www. barclays.co.uk/agriculturesustainability 93
