Among the strategic priorities of Pillar's 2021-23 Strategic Plan is a commitment to Recovery in Action. This commitment has informed our local advocacy around the direction of London Community Recovery funds to social services, and it also informs and shapes all of our government relations, data collection, advocacy, and awareness work. We continue to believe there is no economic recovery without social recovery.
The information Pillar members have given us through our Information for Action micro-survey and your participation in the EmployerOne Survey have made it clear that local nonprofits are still struggling to recover -- their workers, their volunteers, and their financial stability. Though we will continue to collect data and advocate for the sector locally, it is clear that the deep systemic problems affecting our work call for solutions at senior levels of government. It is also clear from data provided by the Ontario Nonprofit Network and Imagine Canada that these problems affect sector organizations operating across the province and country.
With the opportunity to make a written submission to the pre-budget consultations in advance of federal Budget 2023, Pillar has endorsed the recommendations of Imagine Canada for broad measures that will increase the resilience of nonprofit organizations and our readiness to rise to historic challenges and those exacerbated by the pandemic. In keeping with our strategic priorities, we have also renewed our call to accelerate and expand anti-oppression work by funding initiatives that advance reconciliation and eliminate racism and hate.
Our recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance:
- Accelerate and expand anti-oppression work by funding initiatives that advance reconciliation and eliminate racism and hate, including but not limited to those experienced by First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Black, Asian, Latinx, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, and racialized and faith-based communities, alongside newcomers, women, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ persons.
- Establish a minimum core funding threshold that invests in quality services and decent work
- Invest in the future of critical institutions and the efficacy of cross-sectoral collaboration by establishing a permanent, effective, and accountable home in government for the social impact sector.
- Create a Nonprofit Sector Labour and Workforce Development Strategy
- Collect sector-wide data for improved decision making.