In an era of rapid change, it is important to keep track of the health of the non-profit sector. This moment of upheaval is an opportunity but it also creates great uncertainty for the charity sector. Recently, Colliers Not-For-Profit Advisory Group and ONN (Ontario Nonprofit Network) presented recent research.

Financial impacts

Colliers research found that nearly 90% of charities are still operating although 40% are operating with notably reduced services. While Colliers found that 11% of the nonprofits they surveyed had temporarily closed, ONN found that 20% of their survey respondents had closed.

Colliers's research found 10% of charities could sustain operations for only 1-6 months. By sector, ONN found that only 1/3 of education & research nonprofits can sustain their operations. Not surprisingly, 40% of the arts & culture nonprofits have closed their doors until further notice. ONN found that 31% of health nonprofits can only sustain their organizations for about 3-6 months. 20% of social service nonprofits can only sustain their organizations for about 1-2 months. This is clearly an unsustainable situation for many charities.

Office space

Interestingly, Colliers research also provided some important insights on office spaces. While 40% of nonprofits anticipate a need for decreased space due to increases in work-from-home, 23% think they will need increased space due to social distancing requirements. As employers consider work-from-home, it is worth noting that employees had mixed responses on their own productivity with 28% saying that their productivity increased but 33% felt that their productivity had decreased.

Key considerations

• Will working from home become the new normal?
• Will there be an increased focus on technology to support an agile workforce?
• Will access to transit become tolerable in the absence of a vaccine?
• How will physical distancing affect the future workplace, if at all?
• How long will this change last?
• How effectively are we able to adapt to ongoing change in our environments?
• How short will our short-term memories be?

To listen to this webinar, click here 

Peter Davies is the Co-Chair, Not-for-Profit Advisory Group | Senior Vice President, Sales Representative | Colliers Canada

Matthew Johnson is the Co-Chair, Not-for-Profit Advisory Group | Senior Vice President, Sales Representative | Colliers Canada

Cathy Taylor is the Executive Director, Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN)

Editor's note - this summary was prepared by Editor Ann Rosenfield; any errors reflect her not this excellent research.