How is Believe in Scotland funded?

Neither Believe in Scotland Ltd nor Business for Scotland Ltd has ever received, asked for, nor donated to any political party and never will.

The main source of funds for Believe in Scotland's activities comes from donations via our annual and project crowdfunders and through memberships. Business for Scotland donors have in each crowdfunded agreed to match all public donations, thus doubling the public donations.  Business for Scotland Ltd provides the secretariat for Believe in Scotland without charge which declares only a minimal profit every year (upon which tax is paid) - as every penny made, over and above running costs, goes to fund Believe in Scotland activities and related campaigns. No dividends or payments to directors are made.

Both Business for Scotland Ltd and the Believe in Scotland campaign have membership revenues. Business for Scotland membership revenues, event revenues and sponsorships cover all the running costs of the business. The public donations and Believe in Scotland memberships and direct to the public sales for Scotland the Brief fund the Yes campaigning and research activities. 

We have also managed two crowdfunders which have both generated matching funding from Business for Scotland members/donors. In 2022, Business for Scotland donors offered £50,000 in matching funding and this was matched by public donations from 919 smaller donors to raise more than £100,000. The Business for Scotland donations take care of running costs, so all public donations go directly towards pro-independence campaigning. In 2023 the annual Crowdfunder raised £88,000 and the 2024 crowdfunder raised £100,000 with £48,000 of the donations being matched by business donors. 

We have also received grants for some of our larger projects from the Scottish Independence Foundation (to whom we have supplied free office space/mailing address).

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