Good afternoon Mr Chair and committee members,
my name is Cathy Taylor, I'm with the Ontario Nonprofit Network and don't live too far from
here in Wellington County so it's nice to come to waterloo region um I as you know ONN is
the network for Ontario's 58,000 nonprofits and charities we engage our diverse group
of nonprofit organizations to bring their voices to government and other stakeholders.
The nonprofit sector contributes 65 billion to our province's GDP employing 844 000 people
i
n Ontario and engaging 5 million volunteers and I know all of you know nonprofits and
charities in your ridings. As a sector, nonprofits receive less than half of
their revenues from governments- all three levels combined actually- which we
leverage with private grants and donations, fees for service and volunteer efforts to create
additional value for our communities. So with every dollar of investment, nonprofits generate
up to $2.18 in GDP and $1.76 in employment income impact which is e
quivalent to many other
industries in Ontario such as manufacturing and automotive. Nonprofits create communities people
want to live in and raise their families in and as you know each day Ontarians across the
province are supported by organizations and staff who are at the heart of the nonprofit
sector, such as Youth Employment Services, service clubs, child care centres, mental health,
Meals on Wheels, local art galleries and museums, soccer and hockey clubs, and more. And all of
these
things are examples of nonprofits in action so imagine for a moment if all or any of them
disappeared and uh I hate to end the day on a bit of a depressing note but I'm here to tell you
today that the Ontario's nonprofit sector is at a tipping point. Over the last few months we have
seen urgent calls from the sector, small and large nonprofits, rural and urban, and across different
sub-sectors- Social Services, Arts and Culture, Sport and Recreation- ringing alarm bells about
potentially di
re financial and human resources situations. For example I just heard some media
reporting about Harborfront in Toronto struggling to operate due to funding concerns, a rural
service club in Central Wellington will be ceasing operations due to low management or low
membership and the difficulty in recruiting and training volunteers. Our ability to and capacity
to serve communities is tied to our resources financial and human and if one or both are not
healthy we cannot support communities;
and every nonprofit closure does leave a tear in our social
safety net. And to the previous um presentations every tear from a nonprofit or charity will drive
up cost and demand on tertiary institutions like hospitals long-term care institutions treatment
centres. Ao while we are known to be resilient and practical the nonprofit sector cannot keep
running on fumes into an uncertain future and so the time has come to heed the sector's budget
recommendations. You know we finished we we've don
e four surveys during the pandemic uh we
called them state of the sector surveys and our last survey in 2023 showed that nonprofits
are not thriving they're barely surviving. The demand for services is sharply increasing and
has grown 29% since 2020. Financial situations are on a downward spiral and organizations are
struggling to meet the increasing costs based on inflation. The HR crisis continues and is
driven by a lack sustainable funding that is impacting the retention and recruitment
of staff
across the sector and two-thirds of the sector are reporting staffing challenges. And only 58% of our
respondents said they were somewhat prepared for emergencies which is concerning. Nonprofit closure
reports are increasing with 35% of organizations reporting they know of another similar nonprofit
closing. So our analysis reveals that if these current trends continue and if there's no
adequate public policy response through 2026, every nonprofit in Ontario will be experiencing
an
increase in demand in service at the same time as reduced revenue, which means that every
Ontarian will be impacted in some way. So for this reason we ask you to seriously consider budget
recommendations for 2024 we know that you're hearing from the sector individual organizations
small or large and their provincial bodies and they're putting forth urgent and timely
recommendations to support their finances and their people so Ontarians have the programs
and services they need now. We ask
you to take their requests seriously and provide the much
needed support. Our recommendations focus on more on the policies and sector-wide strategies.
So such as future proofing Ontarian social infrastructure with investments that reflect
the true cost of service delivery like transfer payment agreements and cost of living increases,
addressing the nonprofit human resource crisis, and making government activities deliver twice as
much for communities with social procurement and community b
enefit agreement policies, and enabling
communities to develop the infrastructure they need by prioritizing nonprofit access to Surplus
lands and infrastructure Ontario loans. But what I really want to highlight for you today is
that to make all of this happen in a lowcost and most impactful way a home in government
for Ontario's 58,000 nonprofits and charities would make a difference. We are asking for an
associate Minister level appointment within a Ministry such as economic - Economic De
velopment,
job creation and trade, supported by a deputy or assistant Deputy Minister rep in an office to
represent nonprofits charities and innovation. We think this is important to address the Urgent
issues that require whole of government approach such as the labor force crisis regulatory burdens
and inconsistency across Ministries. It allows us to do more complex collaborative innovative
work without the red tape right now we're working with 16 different Ministries across the
province
on regulatory issues, program planning, and um policy. And it would be good for government
because it would give government a one-stop shop to be able to work with the nonprofit sector
identify issues and increase efficiency and effectiveness. It's very similar to the thinking
around having an associate Minister for small business that currently exists and in 2021 both BC
and Newfoundland and labrador successfully created homes in government. So I want to leave you with
the fact that Ontari
ans depend on nonprofits every single day and the nonprofit sector needs
the support of the Ontario government. The request for a home in government is a change
you can make easily with very limited costs, which will tangibly benefit the nonprofit
sector and the communities they serve. Our nonprofit colleagues will also share vital
information with you in their submissions and their testimonies which I hope you have heard
and will listen to and consider carefully. Thank you very much that c
oncludes the time for
your presentation and we now go to uh Barbara.
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