State of the Sector Reports

The State of the Sector report series is a collaboration between Vantage Point, Vancouver Foundation, the City of Vancouver and the Victoria Foundation. Vancity Community Foundation and United Way BC joined the partnership in 2023.

The first two reports, No Immunity (2020) and Unravelling (2021), were published during the COVID-19 pandemic, both outlining the pandemic’s impact on non-profits across BC. These reports contributed to key non-profit sector advancements, such as the creation of the 2022 Recovery and Resiliency Fund through a historic $30M investment from the Province of BC for organizations disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

As the BC context evolved and we entered an endemic stage of the pandemic, the third report State of BC’s Non-Profit Sector: Safety Net (2023) focused on providing a snapshot of trends, challenges, opportunities, and successes for non-profits in our province. The findings reflected that there were signs of stabilization, and feelings of hope and motivation within the sector. However, the report also underlined the significant pressures the sector continued to face, and the increased community need for services.

This year’s State of the Sector Survey checked-in with the non-profit sector around various trends while also probing deeper into the underlying challenges highlighted in the last report.

Under Pressure: 2024 State of BC’s Non-Profit Sector

In this year’s state of the sector survey, 558 non-profit organizations across BC were surveyed on various trends to provide a snapshot of and insights into the state of the sector in British Columbia through two key themes: (a) less resilient times and (b) overburdened

The report provides consistent, high-quality data, crucial to understanding the non-profit sector in BC, and equipping funders, policy makers, and other sector stakeholders with relevant data to make informed decisions and better support the current needs of BC’s non-profit sector.

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While considering the successes, pressures, and challenges the sector reports experiencing this year, the report makes recommendations to all levels of government, funders, and sector stakeholders and partners to address:

Sustainability of the sector workforce
Funding reforms
Nurturing a collaborative ecosystem

The Under Pressure: 2024 State of the Sector Report will be used to help BC’s non-profits in their advocacy efforts and to strengthen the sector’s ability to support the communities we serve.

Reports: 2018-2023

State of BC's Non-Profit Sector: Safety Net (2023)

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.

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Unraveling: Nonprofits, COVID-19, and the Fabric of BC Communities (2021)

The Unraveling report clearly shows that the non-profit sector in our province is frayed. This sector which, pre-pandemic, contributed $4.6 billion annually to the capital region economy, is vital to creating a vibrant, caring community through health-related services, arts, culture, sports, recreation, and environmental protection.

To ground this data in a local context and to share this information with people who could help implement calls to action, Victoria Foundation, hosted two Vital Conversations in the capital region on March 10 and April 9, 2021.

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Unraveling Vital Conversations (2021)

In these conversations, participants identified actions to support changes and capitalize on opportunities presented by the challenges of the pandemic that will re-weave the fabric of our non-profit sector stronger. There is sense of urgency and great appetite to support the sector’s recovery into the “next normal”.

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VIEW THE REPORT INFOGRAPHIC (BC REGION | CRD REGION)

VIEW THE VITAL CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS
No Immunity: BC Nonprofits and the impact of COVID-19 (2020)

The No Immunity survey was conducted in the early days of the pandemic between April 8 and April 21, 2020 to examine how nonprofit organizations across BC were being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. BC non-profits and charities were invited to identify the ways in which COVID-19 is impacting their organizations, and what types of support would help them continue to serve their communities.

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VIEW THE INFOGRAPHIC
Civil Society Impact Report (2018)

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VIEW AT-A-GLANCE POSTER