Juanita Lee-Garcia is executive director of The Upside Foundation of Canada and a previous Venture for Canada senior leadership member.
In this context, more Canadians than ever are using services offered by charities to meet essential needs such as food, clothing and shelter.report that they are $200 away or less from not being able to meet all of their financial obligations, including 35 per cent who say they already don’t make enough to cover their bills and debt payments, the highest recorded proportion to date.
Ten years later, more Canadians than ever require the support of charities. However, organizations in this sector are still not a serious part of the conversation about improving our quality of life. While economic indicators such as rising interest rates and inflation are factors in a decline in donations, there are cultural and philosophical shifts as well. Generational changes in investing allocation, lifestyle inflation and general mistrust in public institutions also contribute to this.
In the business world, solving problems for consumers or other businesses requires investing in the best people, taking risks to spark innovation that sometimes results in failure, building for scale and making a profit. Solving complex social problems, such as what we’re seeing in Canada today, won’t happen unless we bring the same approach to funding charitable organizations.