Funding Matters Report

Funding Matters: The Impact of Canada’s New Funding Regime on Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations was released in June 2003. The report describes the emergence of a new funding regime for nonprofit and voluntary organizations that is changing the way organizations survive and thrive in what has become a competitive and volatile funding environment. This study accesses the impact of these important changes on the capacity and long-term sustainability of a diverse range of nonprofit and voluntary organizations. Divergent funding policies, competing regulations and labourious reporting practices are affecting organizations’ ability to pursue key goals. Too often an organization’s mission and core activities are sidelined in the scramble for funding to stay in business.

The findings in this report are based on a series of focus groups held in different regions of the country and attended by over 100 nonprofit and voluntary organizations as well as responses to an in-depth written survey, selected case studies, an extensive literature review, and discussions with funders and other key informants.

This research was commissioned by the Voluntary Sector-only Working Group on Financing, under the auspices of the Voluntary Sector Initiative (VSI). The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) undertook the project in partnership with the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations (NVO). It was funded by Human Resources Development Canada through the Capacity Joint Table of the Voluntary Sector Initiative.

The Capacity Joint Table Advisory Committee is working to help voluntary organizations access and manage financial resources to attain their goals while maintaining accountability to stakeholders. This work complements the Voluntary Sector Initiative’s A Code of Good Practices on Funding, which builds on An Accord Between the Government of Canada and the Voluntary Sector. Sources and Mechanisms of Funding is one of the three projects on financial capacity that the Advisory Committee is overseeing; the other two are Inventory of Effective Practices in Financing and Resourcing and Resources for Accountability and Financial Management.

For further information on Sources and Mechanisms of Funding, please go to www.ccsd.ca , call Katherine Scott at 613-236-8977, ext. 245 or by e-mail at scott@ccsd.ca.