How the State Shaped the Nonprofit Sector: Public Funding in British Columbia

Abstract

This article examines how the state has used its spending power to shape the nonprofit sector in British Columbia since the 1960s. The province's thriving nonprofit sector and its polarized political culture provide an ideal case study for exploring the relationship between the state and nongovernmental organizations. The following study documents changes in state policy, the trajectory of funding, funding patterns, and organizations that have received state funding. Although public funding for nonprofits in Canada has been pervasive for decades, there is little empirical evidence on the nature and scope of this funding. This article is based on an innovative new database that provides a comprehensive list of grants from the provincial government to nonprofit organizations between 1960 and 2014. Despite concerns regarding cuts to public funding in recent years, this study finds that there has been an overall increase in funding. However, there has also been a significant shift in funding from women's issues to Aboriginal peoples since the early 2000s.

Situating the Nonprofit Industrial Complex

“…By 1837, Ontario had developed charity-operated workhouses, institutions in which poor people were confined and forced to labor for food and shelter (Chapman and Withers 2019;Palmer and Heroux 2016). Other provinces, including Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, held pauper auctions until the mid-19th century, where poor people were auctioned off to the entity that bid the lowest to care for the poor (Clément 2019;Guest 1997). Nonprofit organizations operated relief agencies that surveilled the poor, requiring temperance and civility in exchange for meagre aid in many communities.…”

“…Though the political right is feeding off of distaste toward broken bureaucracies, this article shows how NPICs and the political right mirror one another in their approaches toward managing social issues, particularly through the constant expansion of carceral systems and a focus on revenue generation for the private sector. Previous NPIC analysis has focused on the sectors of health, education/advocacy, and social services (Clément 2019;Farnia 2008;Gilmore 2007;Rodriguez 2007;Samimi 2010). This article reflects these issues and expands the topic to include an analysis of community policing and research centers.…”

Exploring the use of Hotels as Alternative Housing by Domestic Violence Shelters During COVID-19

“…For many shelters, finances are precarious due to the lack of stable core funding, longstanding reliance on private donations to operate, inflexible spending and reporting requirements from funders, and the inability to reinvest in aging infrastructure (Harris et al, 2014). With fewer clients accessing services, there was fear about how this could impact future-year funding (Clément, 2019;Kay, 2017).…”

Anti‐Indigenous policy formation : Settler colonialism and neoliberal political advocacy

“…Political advocacy groups can take the form of state‐grantee non‐profit groups such as NGOs (Clément, 2017; 2019; Corrigall‐Brown & Ho, 2019), well‐funded political groups organized around a set of interests or industries (Burris, 2001; Carroll, 2017; Preston, 2017; Walker & Rea, 2014), groups that have been formed to push a specific ideological perspective (Carroll et al, 2018), or more research‐driven enterprises such as think tanks (McLevey, 2015; Medvetz, 2012). Young & Everitt (2004) define advocacy groups as “any organization that seeks to influence government policy, but not to govern” (p. 5).…”