Investments aim to strengthen social fabric

What would happen to communities if charities didn’t exist? The answer, while impossible to gauge, illuminates how crucial the non-profit sector is to our quality of life.

Charitable dollars, says Tyra Henschel, executive director of Alberta’s Promise, when well placed, ripple through society. Few organizations have been supporting communities longer than the YMCA, which opened its doors in Canada 157 years ago. Despite its longevity and national reach, YMCA Canada president and CEO Michael Weil says the organization remains community based– a federation of 55 charities directed by local boards. “We now serve nearly 2 million Canadians, but we are still a grassroots community- based organization with a long history of providing innovative services that deliver lasting impact,” he says. He notes, for example, that the YMCA’s early development of a night school in Montreal that enabled working people to advance their education in the evening hours eventually led to the birth of Concordia University.

Today, Mr. Weil says the YMCA’s focus on advocating health and wellness; promoting youth leadership, training and employment; encouraging respect for the environment; supporting children and families; and welcoming new Canadians “respond to several of Canada’s most pressing needs today,” he says. As part of her work with Alberta’s Promise – a provincial organization that unites donors and charitable organizations to help kids – Mrs. Henschel strives to ensure charitable money and efforts work as efficiently as possible.

Beyond providing professional development to partner organizations, Alberta’s Promise works to increase and most appropriately direct resources. By teaming such partners as Enmax Energy and Breakfast for Learning, says Mrs. Henschel, Alberta’s Promise has helped numerous corporations and charities change kids’ lives. Collectively, these partners help kids in ways that ultimately allow them to become productive contributors to society. And that, she says, is where the investment gives back. “This kind of work has a huge impact on society,” says Mrs. Henschel. “This is about having a great concern for the future. It’s about the economy and who will fill our jobs.”

Those who work with Independent Living Canada have a similar view. Rather than trying to fix or prevent disabilities, this organization reduces barriers for those living with disabilities so that they can fully contribute to rather than depend on society. According to national director Traci Walters, the organization’s network of 28 Independent Living Centres are run by and for people with a broad range of disabilities. The goal is to enable people with disabilities to have more control over their lives by providing them with services that help support their participation in society. It is not about charity, says Ms. Walters. Rather, this is about investing in an untapped workforce that will pay off politically, culturally, socially and economically. “Often, people are asked to donate,” says Ms. Walters. “Now we ask people to invest. And when people invest, they feel they are part of something bigger – whether they’re individuals or corporations. By us forging ahead, it’s making the world a whole lot better for those who acquire a disability – or age. And that’s all of us.” It all starts with individuals who work to enhance and strengthen communities. And strong communities make robust societies, says Ms. Walters.

Like all charities, the YMCA relies on donations. “We generate revenues and receive some government funding, but philanthropy is critical to our ability to provide affordable community services,” says Mr. Weil.

Donors encouraged to consider giving with an open mind

It’s understandable that people and organizations want to direct their donations very specifically when they support a cause. However, restricted funds – donations that come with specific instructions on their use – in some cases inadvertently hamper the ability of nonprofits to most effectively address the causes they support. 

When organizations receive restricted donations, explains Linda
McGreevy, director of resource development for Independent Living
Canada, they can’t always use the funds the way the organization believes it could be most effectively or valuably spent.

“The impact is that as an organization you have to shift priorities to get to the money,” says Ms. McGreevy. “The organization might need money to support core services, but you have to honour donors’ requests.”

Not only can restricted donations lead to unnecessary shifting of focus, she says, such funding can result in administrative challenges for organizations that end up managing numerous small pots of money.

Unrestricted donations, on the other hand, give the organization the right to decide exactly how the money should be spent. The result, says Ms. McGreevy, is that the organization’s efforts can be more focused, strategic and effective – which really is what donors likely want in the first place.

“Every organization I’ve ever been to or talked to says the same thing: We just love getting unrestricted funds!” says Ms. McGreevy.