Mar 2019 Charity & NFP Law Update
On March 5, 2019, Statistics Canada released Non-profit institutions and volunteering: Economic contribution, 2007 to 2017 (the “Study”), a technical and statistics-focussed study of the Canadian not-for-profit sector between 2007 and 2017. Undertaken in partnership with Imagine Canada, the Study provides an overview of the economic contributions of the “non-profit sector”, as defined in accordance with the United Nations Handbook of Satellite Accounts on Non-profit and Related Institutions and Volunteer Work. This spans a wide range of organizations falling under three broad categories including: (1) “community non-profit institutions” such as those that are faith-based or engage in social services, advocacy, or sports and recreation; (2) “business non-profit institutions” such as chambers of commerce, unions and condominium associations; and (3) “government non-profit institutions” such as hospitals and universities.
The Study provides various gross domestic product (“GDP”) statistics for the non-profit sector, and indicates that the non-profit sector’s economic activity totalled $169.2 billion in 2017. This amounts to 8.5% of Canada’s GDP. Volunteer activities, if given an economic value and included in the study, would have added another estimated $41.8 billion to the economy in 2013. Across provinces, the Study also found the percentage of individual provincial or territorial economy’s GDP that the non-profit sector accounted for varied across the provinces and territories, with Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec having the highest percentage.
Concerning funding and income, the Study indicates major sources of income varied between the categories of non-profits. For example, the Study found that the largest source of income for community non-profit institutions was government funding, representing 30% of their income, with donations from households representing only 17.8% of their income. Business non-profit institutions derived 61.6% of their income from sales of goods and services, and government non-profit institutions unsurprisingly derived a vast majority of their funding from other government institutions.
The Study also outlines employment in the non-profit sector, indicating that employment rose by 1.1% in 2017. This is a result of the growth of employment in government and business non-profits, however, as the Study also indicates that employment in community non-profits declined by approximately 6,000 jobs, or 1% during the same period.
The Study outlines the overall nature of the non-profit sector across Canada and provides some interesting and enlightening statistics that demonstrate the strength and size of the non-profit sector in Canada. Charities and not-for-profits may therefore have an interest in reviewing the study to better understand their role and contribution toward the non-profit sector as a whole.