A new committee formed to address the top issues facing Alberta's not-for-profit and volunteer sectors will face a major challenge ahead in balancing community needs and funding priorities, say officials with local St. Albert agencies.
The Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Citizens Advisory Committee will provide advice to Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett on issues affecting the non-profit and volunteer sector, and will also examine grant programs that support these organizations.
Committee members were chosen from a number of not-for-profit organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters Edmonton, Volunteer Calgary, Little Warriors and Catholic Social Services.
Glynis Thomas, executive director of the St. Albert Community Information and Volunteer Centre (CIVC) said the individuals chosen to sit on the committee are very experienced and well-known representatives from the voluntary sector.
"That gave me a great deal of confidence that, how they move forward, will be from the basis of knowledge and their ability to network with the sector," she told the Gazette.
The committee's first order of business will be to review information gathered from Blackett's most recent dialogue with the non-profit and volunteer sector and to present recommendations to him.
Thomas said networking with smaller non-profits and grassroots organizations may be one challenge the group faces in the weeks and months ahead.
"They have a big challenge ahead of them and typically there are not adequate resources for the needs in the community. How do you make those decisions, how do you balance that?" she said.
"Our hope would be that it's a community-need process and not a politically driven process."
Funding challenges
Thomas said it has been especially challenging for Alberta's non-profit sector since the Wild Rose Foundation was disbanded in the spring of 2009, and funding was cut by slightly more than $7 million.
"I've been involved in the sector for over 20 years and I would say that this is the most challenging time trying to find resources to be able to continue to deliver services in the community," she said.
Doreen Slessor, executive director of the local chapter of Stop Abuse in Families (SAIF) knows first hand how challenging it has been for Alberta-based non-profits.
Formerly, the organization relied on $25,0000 a year in funding from the Wild Rose Foundation.
SAIF now receives that amount through the Community Spirit Program, which sees the province match donations, based on a percentage that SAIF has received from individual donors.
"If you have individuals supporting you, that's what will sustain your organization. Big kudos and big applause to the government for recognizing how important individuals are in maintaining charities," Slessor said.
With the Wild Rose Foundation gone, Slessor said there is much more competition among non-profit organizations for funding.
"You can't often predict your budget year to year because you don't know. If I'm applying for a grant for $50,000 for a program and I get $20,000, how am I going to run that program? It's really hard to predict and it's really hard to ensure sustainability if you don't have a solid foundation of funding," she explained.
