This article is an excerpt from Human Resources Impact of COVID-19 on Canadian Charities and Nonprofits, a report published by CharityVillage and The Portage Group. The full report covers staffing, volunteering, and the use of government subsidies and relief programs and is based on a survey completed by 1,361 Canadian charities and nonprofits in February 2021. Click here to download the full report for free.

There remains a lot of uncertainty about what the future holds for Canadian charities and nonprofits. With regards to the future outlook for volunteer recruitment and retention, participants are somewhat more likely to feel the current situation will stabilize or improve (72%) than deteriorate further (28%) in the coming months.

Likewise, a slight majority anticipate staffing to remain at current levels (55%) with the remainder split between those who anticipate further decreases (24%) and those who anticipate an improved situation with regards to staffing (22%).

Views are less positive regarding the revenue outlook, with just under half (44%) expecting a worsening of the current revenue situation and a further quarter (27%) expecting the current situation to continue.

With 42% expecting a further deterioration in staff morale, the outlook is clearly more negative than positive when it comes to the ongoing impact of the pandemic on individuals’ daily work life within the sector.

Impact of government programs and subsidies on Canadian charities and nonprofits

Looking back over the past year, it is clear that government supports and programs have been a very important part of the toolkit employed by charities and nonprofits to sustain operations over many months of lockdowns, restrictions, and economic hardship.

Current government subsidy programs like the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) have certainly softened the blow for many charities, however they have not prevented significant job losses from occurring across the sector. Of the participating organizations who received the subsidy, 43% still laid off at least one staff member. The average number of layoffs among CEWS recipients was 3.3 staff.

Importantly, this number would have been nearly double among CEWS recipients without the subsidy. Had they not received the wage subsidy, 63% of CEWS recipients indicated they would have had to engage in layoffs, resulting in an average of 6.2 job losses per organization among this group.

Of the various government programs, subsidies, and supports enacted over the last several months, CEWS has been the most commonly used. Just under 40% have used or planned to make use of this program, with the majority (70%) initially qualifying during the first period it was offered – March 15 to April 11, 2020.

This is followed by the 10% wage subsidy from the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, with 25% of participating organizations indicating they used this program.

Less commonly-used government programs include the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) (18%) and the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program (CECRA) (10%).

Not all charities or nonprofits have needed to take advantage of the government supports and programs available to Canadian organizations. Between 30% and 49% indicated they did not need to access the various programs available, reinforcing that the pandemic has not impacted all charities and nonprofits equally.

On the flip side, some charities and nonprofits in need appear to have fallen through the cracks in being able to access these crucial supports. Between six and ten percent of participating organizations indicate that although they have need of government programs and supports, their organization does not qualify.

It should be noted that for all subsidies, there was a significant portion of respondents who did not know whether their organization had used the program. This is particularly notable for the 10% wage subsidy, as organizations who received CEWS will generally have been required to first use the 10% wage subsidy.

Government supports have been a life buoy for many organizations, including charities and nonprofits, and there is continued risk for a small number of charities’ ability to operate when these supports are removed.

This article is an excerpt from Human Resources Impact of COVID-19 on Canadian Charities and Nonprofits, a report published by CharityVillage and The Portage Group. The full report covers staffing, volunteering, and the use of government subsidies and relief programs and is based on a survey completed by 1,361 Canadian charities and nonprofits in February 2021. Click here to download the full report for free.