Society’s helpers need assistance

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2020 (2039 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The time has come to help the helpers.

As the demand for their programs and services is skyrocketing, Canada’s charities and non-profit organizations are facing a bleak future.

Their donation streams — often the sole source of revenue for smaller charities — are drying up because of the economic nightmare unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in June, Imagine Canada, a charities support organization, estimated the projected financial losses for registered charities alone to be between $9.5 billion and $15.7 billion.

“We are writing to express our deep and growing concern that the federal government has yet to propose policies or assistance aimed at helping charities and non-profits face COVID-19,” Imagine Canada CEO and president Bruce MacDonald said in the letter.

In the charitable sector, which employs 10 per cent of Canada’s full-time workforce, one in five organizations has either suspended operations or ceased programs as a result of the pandemic, according to Imagine Canada’s “Sector Monitor” report.

The report also found that compared to the recession of 2008, twice as many charities have seen a negative impact on their bottom line as a result of COVID-19, with more than two-thirds reporting at least a 31 per cent drop in revenues.

The crisis has only been worsened by the ongoing WE Charity scandal over that group’s now-aborted deal with the federal government to run a $543.5-million program to pay students for volunteer work. The deal with the charity was cancelled on July 3 amid conflict-of-interest allegations involving the prime minister and finance minister.

Charities fear donors will pull back on giving money or volunteering their time, because trust is being eroded as more questionable details about the WE organization’s complicated structure emerge. And in the charitable sector, trust is paramount.

At the end of last month, the Ontario government announced it would be cutting ties with WE Charity amid the mounting controversy, raising fears governments will hesitate to partner with other charities over political concerns.

Charities are changing the way they operate, but survival is exceptionally difficult when revenues are plummeting, demand and costs are increasing, and operating models that rely on large gatherings are thrown into chaos.

The Christian think tank Cardus has called on the federal government to match all donations made to Canadian charities on a one-to-one basis for four months, capping the federal amount at $1.25 billion. When married with the donations made directly to charities, it would mean up to a $2.5-billion injection of cash to the charity sector.

“But the government needs to act now if it wants to help charities big and small not only survive COVID-19, but thrive after the crisis is over,” Cardus executive Brian Dijkema told Canadian Catholic News.

Charities and non-profit agencies have been referred to as the glue that helps to hold the fabric of Canadian society together. Many, such as pet rescue shelters, operate on shoestring budgets, with teams of passionate, albeit overworked, employees and volunteers.

They provide programs and services that governments cannot – or will not – offer to those in need. It’s not just that Canadians want these organizations to be up and running after the pandemic is brought under control; we need them to be there.

One thing is clear: if charities are to continue their essential work at the end of this crisis, they are going to need a little charity from us while it continues to rage.