Our Activities
Business for Scotland (BfS) operates as a limited company and is registered in Scotland. We have five full-time employees and two contractors and operate as campaigning business network and a Wellbeing Economics and business policy think tank/research consultancy Scotianomics. We seek to influence political and economic policy with a particular emphasis on promoting:
- The Wellbeing Economic Approach
- A Just Transition to Renewable Energy
- The Wellbeing Pension
- Scotland Rejoining the EU
- The Benefits of Scottish Independence
Transparency
We believe that transparency is fundamental to democracy and as one of Scotland’s most influential campaigning organisations, we wish to be open about how we fund our activities. The bulk of our spending is related to campaigning for Scottish independence and connected policies.
Business for Scotland received an A rating for its financial transparency from openDemocracy’s Who Funds You? project. A link to the full report can be found below:
click here to find out more ^
Lobbying Government
Please note that Business for Scotland do not accept payment for lobbying ministers or elected members in any parliament, nor do we lobby on behalf of any business organisation nor individuals.
BfS publishes the names and donation bracket of everyone who gives over £5,000. Reports are never funded directly by individuals as all donations are in support of our general causes, not specific policy work.
Relationship to Political Parties
We have no hidden agenda and are 100% political party neutral. We have never donated to, nor received money from (even in the form of of grants or loans) any political party and never will.
BfS is proud of our political neutrality, which allows us to champion the cause of Scotland’s Economic Wellbeing without interference or influence.
Our Main Sources of Income
Business for Scotland has significant event and membership revenues, specifically from our annual dinner which is one of Scotland largest business dinners and our Saltire Club Lunches. We also generate significant training, publishing and consulting revenues. We also receive donations from a wide range of individuals who wish to support our campaigns.
Crowdfunding
In total, in any year we expect to receive micro donations from approximately 2,000 individuals who wish to support our work.
Our annual turnover can vary from year to year depending on which campaigns we are running and obviously rises significantly in years such as 2014 and 2016 (the years of the Scottish Independence and EU referenda). That means that turnover can vary between £200,000 and possibly as much as £700,000 in any twelve month period. In the calendar year 2022 the turnover of Business for Scotland Ltd was £267,743.00.
Scotland the Brief
We have now sold more than 60,000 copies of our book Scotland the Brief. The bulk of those sales are to local Yes Groups who purchase the Mini version of the book for as little as 90p each (dependent on volume) which allows them to retail to members and supporters for the RRP of £3.50. Thus, Scotland the Brief helps to fund the activities of local grassroots groups.
Thanks to our dedicated and generous individual backers.
We would like to thank the 2,000 or so individuals that made micro donations during the last financial year. We would also like to thank our major donors for their contributions. All of our members and donors are individuals, not companies or organisations, with the exception of the The Scottish Independence Foundation.
Our thanks also to the major individual donors who contributed more than £5,000 in the 2022 financial year in alphabetical order:
Ian Forrester – £10,000
Françoise and Ian Henderson – £50,000
Willie Wilson – £10,000
Donald MacLean – £5,000
Niall McLean – £5,000
Les Meikle – £10,000
David Morrison – £5,000
Malcolm Purves – £5,000
Jim and Karen Reid – £10,000
The Scottish Independence Foundation – £10,000
Derick Turner – £5,000
This represents approximately 85% of our donors who have contributed more than £5,000. Two individual donors who contributed more than £5,000 cannot be named as their employment requires them to remain politically neutral in public or they are members of political parties that oppose our stated aims such as independence for Scotland and rejoining the EU.
Together we are going to make an independent Scotland a better, fairer, greener, wealthier, healthier, happier and more successful nation.
Please consider backing our Campaign for Wellbeing Economics and Scottish independence with a small donation here.
