2023 State of BC's Non-Profit Sector: Safety Net
The 2023 State of BC’s Non-Profit Sector Report provides a snapshot of the trends, challenges, opportunities, and successes for BC’s non-profits during a period marked by the sunsetting of emergency funding supports coinciding the creation of a new sector development fund – and an endemic era of COVID, high inflation, climate events, and a housing crisis. The report provides an analysis of the current contexts for non-profits operating on the ground in different regions of BC.
This year’s report underscores the need to increase the sector’s capacity to be a decent work employer through a focus on job creation investments and strategies. It calls on the sector’s partners and leaders to bolster the internal strengths of the sector with external supports to sustain community-serving programs.
Despite ongoing pressure, BC’s non-profits are working to lift communities and their workforce. The survey found that non-profits are doing more to meet increasing program and service demands from communities, while also doing more to take care of staff with increased wages and benefits. However, revenues are staying the same as expenses are increasing. So, while there is a sense of stabilization in the sector, organizations are concerned about sustainability in the face of increasing costs and staffing pressures.
Priority areas that require immediate action include capacity-building investments, expanding trust-based funding practices, and workforce development strategies.
We invite members of the sector to use the 2023 report to share their organizations’ experiences with policy makers and non-government funders. We need all stakeholders to continue coming together to sustain community driven solutions and non-profits’ community-serving programs.