Policy priority: Core Funding
The federal government frequently relies on the sector to deliver crucial programs and services but its funding practices create inequities, inefficiencies and challenges for organizations as they work to deliver quality services to communities.
Nonprofits, like businesses and government, have basic core operating costs such as insurance, rent, and computers that they must cover in order to function. When nonprofits are reliant on inefficient and inadequate project-based funding and cannot access core funding to cover these essential costs, it negatively impacts the quality of services they can offer their community, the employment conditions of nonprofit workers, and the long-term sustainability of their organizations.
-
Jumping from one project-based contract to another shifts the focus away from developing and improving the quality of programs and services or building organizational sustainability. Ultimately, this negatively impacts the communities that nonprofits serve.
-
70% of nonprofit workers are women and 33% are racialized people. The prevalence of short-term project funding and underfunding leads to low wages, few benefits and precarious work for our diverse workforce.
-
Core funding is a crucial tool to help the nonprofit sector prepare for and weather crises, such as public health emergencies and economic downturns, when communities need the sector more than ever.
-
We urge the government to reduce administrative burden associated with federal grants and contribution to nonprofits by:
-
Reforming reporting requirements to focus on impact and meaningful accountability while reducing excessive administrative requirements, and
-
Adopting a ‘one partner, one profile’ approach to eliminate redundant administrative work when nonprofits are funded by more than one federal funder.
-
-
We urge the government to make federal funding for nonprofits more reliable and responsive for communities by:
-
Allowing flexibility in how nonprofits move funds between budget lines, and
-
Favouring longer funding terms and reducing wait times for funding approvals.
-
To learn more, please see Fair Funding for Nonprofit’s 2026 pre-budget submission.
Fair Funding for Nonprofits is a coalition working to modernize federal funding practices, ensuring a more equitable and effective system that helps nonprofits better serve their communities and address complex societal challenges. If you’re interested in learning more or getting actively involved, please sign up for coalition updates.
Fair Funding for Nonprofits, 2026
Imagine Canada, 2026
Imagine Canada, 2024
The New Humanitarian, 2024
Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2024
Imagine Canada, 2023
Nunavut Association of Non-Profit Organizations, 2023
Imagine Canada, 2023
Imagine Canada, 2023
Assembly of Seven Generations, 2022
Imagine Canada, 2022
Imagine Canada, 2022
Imagine Canada, 2022
The Conversation, 2022
Imagine Canada, 2020
Imagine Canada, 2020
Canadian Women’s Foundation, ONN, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and Kathleen Lahey with contributions from Imagine Canada, 2020
Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector, 2019 - recommendations 10, 11 and 12
The Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2009
Independent Blue Ribbon Panel, 2006
Canadian Council on Social Development, 2005
The Philanthropist, 2004