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Canadian Charities Were in Trouble Long Before COVID-19
No one was prepared for a pandemic, but charities weren’t set up for any crisis, of any magnitude — here’s why
To say I’ve lost count would be disingenuous— I never started counting. I knew after the first wave that the flood gates had opened. I suppose I could ballpark hundreds; hundreds of friends who have lost their jobs in the charitable sector amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. They are a portion of losses felt across the country in every industry yet, they are unique. They are unique partially because of the work they did — work that is needed now more than ever. And partially because many may still have jobs — if they didn’t work for a charity. No one was prepared for a pandemic, but charities weren’t set up for any crisis, of any magnitude — here’s why.
On March 26th, Imagine Canada published COVID-19 threatens to devastate Canada’s charities — a call to action for additional government stimulus to ensure the survival of charities and non-profits throughout the pandemic. The release highlights that without additional stimulus, over the next six months the sector risks losing up to 15.6 billion dollars and up to 194,000 employees — most of whom are women. They are not wrong, many charities will and have…
