|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
February 3, 2016
Ms. Laura Albanese
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance
c/o Budget Secretariat
Frost Building North, 3rd floor
95 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, ON M7A 1Z1
Dear Ms. Albanese,
Thank you for the opportunity to attend and submit a briefing for your pre-budget consultation in Kitchener.
Capacity Canada is a national registered charity that brings together the ideas, people and resources that fuel social innovation. Our vision is to change lives through courageous community organizations. We provide nonprofit leaders new resources and professional support that enhances leadership skills, stimulates cross-sector collaboration, promotes knowledge sharing, and encourages social innovation & entrepreneurship.
We were founded in 2009 as Capacity Waterloo Region by a number of local funders who determined that there was a great need for an organization to provide mentoring & training for leaders in the not-for-profit sector in our region. Other funders took notice of our work and encouraged us to expand to other regions of Ontario and Canada including: Toronto, Ottawa Valley, Kingston, Hamilton, Fort McMurray, AB & St. John’s NL. Subsequently we changed our name to Capacity Canada in 2014 and are expanding further to Montreal and Sarnia.
The Government of Ontario is instrumental in Capacity Canada’s expansion and permanence through the Partnership Grant Program in 2011 and second grant in 2015. Additionally, the Ontario Trillium Foundation was one of our first major funders in 2009 and approved another grant in 2015. The major significance of the initial grants we received from the Ministry and the Foundation was that they were unrestricted start-up grants.
The following page contains our recommendations and sector statistics for the not-for-profit sector in Ontario.
Thanks again for allowing us to present this briefing.
Most Sincerely,
Andrew Wilding
Director of Operations
Pre-Budget Recommendations
Investment in capacity building & leadership development
- Provide more unrestricted funding opportunities to help alleviate the “Nonprofit starvation cycle” (The Stanford Social Innovation Review clearly describes this cycle as “so hungry for decent infrastructure that they can barely function as organizations – let alone serve their beneficiaries. The cycle starts with funders’ unrealistic expectation about how much running a nonprofit costs and results in them misrepresenting their costs while skimping on vital systems”. This type of funding allows organizations to blossom by allowing them to invest in people and technology that would normally not be considered with most granting programs.)
- Expand granting programs for leadership development of board volunteers and staff (Through the evaluation of our programs, outcomes have shown that the majority of participants in our governance and leadership education programs have greatly advanced and strengthened their organizations.)
Social innovation & entrepreneurship
- Provide additional resources and funding to organizations that are implementing and supporting social innovation & entrepreneurship programs. (Since Capacity Canada’s inception social innovation & entrepreneurship has been in our strategic plan. We have been partnering with the Ontario Trillium Foundation funded ASCEnt program at Communitech with a mentoring program that supports new social entrepreneurs.)
- Create the legislative framework for social finance reform and work with your Federal counterparts to amend any CRA regulations or legislation. (Capacity Canada has partnered in the past with Social Innovation Generation and the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing and The Canadian Task Force on Social Finance in helping organizations and promoting their development of social finance reform.)
Sharing of Knowledge
- Create a way for not-for-profit organizations to share their on-the-ground knowledge and trends to assist the Ontario Government with policy development. (The Director of Public Policy at Imagine Canada, Bill Schaper summarizes this nicely. “Across Canada, charities have a wealth of in-depth knowledge about their community and the populations they serve. Organizations working on the ground can identify new or emerging issues and opportunities, and be a source of insight and expertise. Sharing this knowledge with all levels of government can lead to the development and implementation of effective policies that build a healthy and vibrant community”.)
Modernization of not-for-profit incorporation in Ontario
- Provide online incorporation and filing
- Allow a free searchable online database of corporations
- Discontinue the Office of the Public Guardian & Trustee’s involvement in pre-approval of charitable objects for Ontario not-for-profit corporations. (The Canada Revenue Agency regulates charities anyway).
Sector Statistics in Ontario
- 55,000 nonprofits and charities operating in communities across Ontario
- 1 million workers with 600,000 being full-time (Auto sector employs 500,000)
- Contributes 2.6% of Ontario’s GDP; $50 billion in economic impact
- 45% of income is earned independently of government funding and donations
- 2 million volunteers
