Too Essential to Fail Report, Queen's Jubilee Medal Recipients and CCVO's Provincial 2023 Pre-Budget Submission
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New Report: Too Essential To Fail and a Call For Immediate Sector Support
Our recently launched report Too Essential To Fail outlines the importance of Alberta nonprofits and reveals the current state of Alberta's nonprofit sector.
Nonprofits fill critical needs not provided by governments or the for-profit sector spanning poverty reduction, health, mental health, environmental protection, cultural and language support, sport and recreation. They contribute $5.5 billion to the economy and employ 285,000 people - 78% of whom are women. They also leverage astounding added value at 227 million hours of annual volunteer time. If this volunteer labour were conservatively valued at $21/hour, it amounts to nearly another $5 billion.
After two year of the pandemic though, nonprofits are in crisis. While no sector emerged unscathed, nonprofits were particularly under resourced and undervalued through the pandemic. Many supports made available by government for a broad range of businesses were not designed to specifically support the nonprofit sector. For example less than 4% of the total funding for the Small Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant (SMERG) went to nonprofits.
Alberta nonprofits now juggle heightened demand for services with increasingly complex client needs and decreasing revenues while also dealing with a labour crisis. Some of the key report findings include:
68 percent of respondents reported an increased demand for services
74 percent of respondents experienced increased need and complexity of the people/communities they serve
71 percent of respondents experienced negative impacts on staff mental health and well-being
88 percent of respondents experienced impacts of inflation
We are calling for an urgent, one-time top-up of $30 million in immediate relief to protect our programs and services. The $30 million in emergency funds would be used to provide short-term relief from inflation and ease recruitment and retention issues at nonprofit organizations across the province. Click below to send a letter in support of immediate relief. The deadline for this campaign is December 31, 2022.
The Nonprofit Vote: Day at the Legislature
Last week CCVO attended a day at the legislature with Volunteer Lethbridge, Integral Org, Volunteer Alberta, Volunteer Lethbridge, Fuse Social, Canadian Mental Health Association-Medicine Hat and the Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations as part of The Nonprofit Vote coalition.
Organizations met with the Ministries of Immigration and Multiculturalism; Mental Health and Addictions; Culture; Health; Finance; Jobs, Economy and Northern Development as well as the UCP caucus, NDP caucus, and deputy premier’s office. The purpose of these meetings was to advance The Nonprofit Vote’s campaign for $30 million in immediate relief by illustrating the need across Alberta in many different areas. The meetings were also used to help familiarize the government with our budget requests for the 2023 budget and elaborate on the progress that could be made with the Community Prosperity Fund for nonprofits.
Policy Highlights
CCVO's Submission for the Alberta Government Pre-Budget Consultations
CCVO's submission for the 2023 Alberta Government Pre-Budget Consultations is now live. CCVO’s submission outlines the key role that nonprofits play in Alberta, the current state Alberta nonprofits are in and some of the current initiatives that the UCP has undertaken to strengthen civil society and the nonprofit sector.
The two budget requests CCVO has put forward are:
A commitment to indexing all granting programs to inflation and growth in the budget. This would put Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) at $70 million, Community Initiatives Program (CIP) at nearly $58 million and Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) at nearly $130 million
An investment budget in a strategic Community Prosperity Fund, eligible only to nonprofits totalling $300 million over 3 years, with first year priorities focused on relief from the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and the historic under-resourcing of the sector in support of key priority areas: recruitment and retention of staff; digital transformation; mental health programs for staff and volunteers; and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Read more and see CCVO's full submission here.
Registered Charities Making Grants to Non-Qualified Donees Draft
The Income Tax Act was amended in 2022 to allow for charities to make grants to non-qualified donees (grantees). The Canada Revenue Agency has released draft guidance for making grants to non qualified donees and they are currently looking for feedback. The draft guidance aims to balance the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) role of overseeing the use of tax-assisted resources with the charitable sector’s need for accountability tools that are reasonable and flexible. Feedback can be submitted until January 31, 2023. Read the draft guidance and submit feedback here.
The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act
Bill 1, The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, has been tabled, passed third reading and will be law once it reaches Royal Assent. There is currently potential for this Act to impact any nonprofits and charities in Alberta that fall under the Act’s definition of “provincial entity”. In particular, this definition includes “an entity that receives a grant or other public funds from the Government that are contingent on the provision of a public service.” Read more about the Bill here.
Queen elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal
This week CCVO was grateful to have the opportunity to award the Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Medal to 10 recipients for their work in Calgary communities. CCVO was honored to present Danisha Bhaloo-Shivji, Iman Bukhari, Elder Pam Heavy Head, Leslie Hill, Saima Jamal, Chima Nkemdirim, Martha Parker, Zaher I. K. Shivji, Sable Sweetgrass and Paula Telfer their Medals and celebrate their amazing work in the community.
Funding & Grants
Canada Summer Jobs Wage Subsidy
Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees, to create quality summer work experiences for young people aged 15 to 30 years.
Nonprofit organizations can receive funding for up to 100% of the adult minimum wage.
The job must be 6-16 weeks in duration and be full time (30-40 hours) per week. The earliest job start date is April 24, 2023. The latest job start date is July 24, 2023. The latest job end date is September 2, 2023.
The following are required for the application:
your organization’s health and safety practices
work environment policies
supervision and mentoring plans
skills development plan
other details related to both your organization and the proposed job(s)
Applications are due by January 12, 2023 and funding confirmations will be sent to employers starting in April 2023. Find out more here.
Alberta Ecotrust Environmental Impact Grant
The Environmental Impact Grant is currently accepting Expression of Interest. Organizations can request up to $50,000 in funding for projects in the following categories:
1) Nature-based solutions and conservation
2) Climate Resilience and emissions reduction
3) Circular Economy
4) Overarching or foundational justice/equity
Alberta Ecotrust Foundation would consider disbursing up to $100,000 to multiple groups in equal partnership on a high impact initiative.
The deadline for expressions of interest is January 20, 2023.
Find out more here.
Blogs & More
Five Good Ideas for non-profits to manage their office space
George Georghiades for Maytree's Five Good Ideas
For many non-profit organizations, how to think about real estate, or their office space, is an important but often overlooked issue. From identifying specific requirements for space and location, ensuring relevant approvals are in place, to engaging key professionals to guide them through the process, there are many steps that non-profits need to consider before they can even start to negotiate their lease and occupancy terms. In this session, George Georghiades presents his five ideas on how non-profits can best prepare, manage, and use their office space. Watch here→
The nonprofit sector equipped with out-of-date digital technology will not achieve meaningful openness & transparency without first prioritizing technical modernization
Helen Knight for The Philanthropic Year
The Winchester Mystery House is a 160room house constructed one room at a time over 60 years. With no architect and no overarching plan, the house sprawls aimlessly over 4.5 hectares. Every room is out of alignment with the next, having windows that open into walls, stairs to nowhere, and skylights in the floor. The Winchester Mystery House is a physical allegory to the technical ecosystem of many nonprofit organizations, cobbled together from donated hardware and free software. Built and supported by limited engagements of cheap and sometimes under skilled resources, they seem to be equipped to address one problem at a time, not considering the requirements of a whole home. The unstable networks, barely functional workstations and antiquated data systems are not the enabler that technology promised. Read more here→