Nonprofits in BC warn that they are facing a funding crisis that will affect essential community services.
More than two-hundred leaders of nonprofit organizations in the province have signed an open letter to funders to say they are “at the breaking point because of an unprecedented funding crisis that threatens to cut essential services in communities,” and warn many vital organizations in the province will not survive.
The nonprofits say the crisis is rooted in the way they are financed, through a “patchwork of government contracts, foundation grants and private donations,” that are often short-term, project-specific and highly restrictive.
Zahra Esmail, CEO of the non-profit Vantage Point which provides training and consulting services to non-profits and is the convenor of the BC Non-Profit Network, says the funding environment has always been complicated and obtaining support is getting harder.
“Non-profits in BC are asking for multi-year funding,” Esmail says, “we’re asking for unrestricted core funding, we’re asking for reduced administrative burdens, and to ensure through the funding we receive that we’re able to provide living wages and workforce supports for the people who do the important work.”
“Nonprofit work is essential, yet funding is not keeping up with the demand for services”, according to Anastasia French, Managing Director of Living Wage BC.
“Instead of delivering vital services, many leaders are stuck chasing grant applications and competing for shrinking resources. The funding crisis is pulling us away from the very work we need to do to exist.”
French adds, “This crisis is the result of decisions and structures so it can be fixed.”
Esmail says the workforce and the demands on nonprofits have changed over the last 50 to 60 years. It is now a professional workforce, but they are often unable to offer competitive salaries and struggle to offer benefits, medical and health benefits or retirement benefits.
She adds, nonprofits have a social impact in communities and are an important employer and contributor to the GDP.
“The non-profit sector in British Columbia contributes a huge amount to the GDP. We contribute 4.2 billion in BC, which is about 1.5 per cent of BC’s GDP. We employ around 96,000 people.”
We’re actually larger than mining, oil and gas and agriculture combined, but the sector is often dismissed and undervalued and thought of as a nice-to-have when we are quite essential.”
Esmail says the nonprofit workforce grew from volunteers and many people still think of nonprofits as volunteers.
She says many people don’t realize how their lives have been impacted by a nonprofit, all the way from early years and prenatal support to the very latest stages in life. Nonprofits support communities through social services, through health programs, art, sports, and environmental programming.
Esmail says we’re hearing about isolation in communities and nonprofits are a critical way to keep people in communities connected and to keep them healthier.
“So that’s really what our sector collectively contributes to as stronger and more healthy and better-connected communities across BC.”
In their letter to governments and funders, the nonprofits say as public systems fall short, nonprofits like food banks and health care and housing programs are increasingly serving as the safety net in BC communities.
