The Federal budget came down this week and as of the writing of this article, since it appears that there is nothing in the budget to trigger an election, these announcements will be important to the charity sector.

The biggest news was a long-overdue, blockbuster of an investment in Black-led nonprofits through the creation of a Black-led Philanthropic Endowment Fund of $200M plus the new $100M for the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative.

Continuing the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, and Lockdown Support will help struggling organizations stay afloat. While this program does not specifically target the charity sector, many organizations will benefit from these investments.

While not a direct investment in the charity sector, the Government's announcement of building affordable, accessible childcare in Canada is particularly important to this sector. Women are a disproportionate part of the charity sector workforce and this initiative is crucial in helping ensure that charities can retain their female, and female-identified, workforce.

The government also is sustaining support with $50M for another two years in social finance for charities and nonprofits who seek to work in this area.

Disappointingly, there was no real uptake on the recommendations of the Report of the Senate Special Committee on the Charitable Sector including the call for a single "home in government" for the sector. It was heartening to see that the government will be holding public consultations on the disbursement quota. This could be possible good news for the sector down the road.

Overall, it is concerning that there was relatively little directly in the budget for the charity sector. We hope the sector can maximize the benefits geared for small and medium-sized business to help stay afloat until better times.

Sources consulted for this article include Imagine Canada and Drache Aptowitzer. Any errors are the fault of an overly enthusiastic, non lawyer editor (that would be me, Ann Rosenfield).

Cover photo by Jason Hafso on Unsplash