Too Many Charities in Canada

Recently Michael J. Fox announced that his Michael J Fox Foundation now has charitable tax exempt status in Canada.  Now I like Michael Fox.  He seems a nice guy.  But did we really need yet another charity in Canada?  Particularly one that isn't employing Canadians?

Last I checked we have somewhere in excess of 84,000 charities in Canada. So many of them are doing the same things or addressing similar causes. Why can't charities work together more?  Does the city of Toronto need 5+ cat rescue charities? Do we need umpteen dog rescues for each and every breed? Wouldn't we be better off pooling administration, volunteers and growing, cooperating and coordinating between each other?  How many charity water related orgs do we have?

To be fair, there are some important differences in what these charities and how they do it - but why couldn't charities organize themselves to do this unique work under shared parent organizational structures?

Saturation & Population

With 33 million people in Canada and 84K charities, we're exhausting people and (I think) confusing people.  Corporations would've merged and acquired - but I think charities get too caught up in "doing it their way" to recognize the benefits of working together.  Perhaps this is one of the flaws of the existing charitable status process in Canada.  With less 50% of charities earning revenues of 30K or less, I have to wonder if we could be doing a better job by pooling resources, expertise, administration and talent.

I don't have the answer to making this happen and which charities should and should not combine their efforts, but it seems to me that some great causes aren't achieving their full potential because we're not ensuring our best efforts are working together for the good of those causes.

Comments

[Conor]

I would think the same about the UK and also Ireland..in fact in most places there are too many charities, many if not all started with the right intentions but I do sometimes wish that people would check the market first and see how they can add value to an existing organisation. The Marie Keating Foundation has taken that approach in other markets it works in, it partners with existing charities to achieve its mission. Nice post

[Laurie]

Thanks Conor! I'm going to take a look at the Marie Keating Foundation. I'd like to see more of that happening in our sector.

Happy Monday!

[Troy Newhouse]

I agree there are too many charities. They tend to over lap each other and the resources could be put to better use if they were pooled together. Everybody want our money and we all give to what we think is a good charity and I know I would give more if it was put to better use.

We are currently working with the Childrens Miracle Network. For every months supply of Vemma Next that is purchased Childrens Miracle Network gets a month supply to give to a needy child.

I loved reading your blog lots of great ideas there.

[Laurie]

Thanks for your comment Troy! I love the work you're doing with Childrens Miracle Network. Let me know how it goes!

[Elizabeth]

I don't think there are too many charities. If anything, there aren't enough. For the cat rescues your speaking of, I am a part of two and we still don't have enough resources to do what we'd like (both of them).

[Elizabeth]

Great causes aren't achieving their potential because the management and organization of human capital isn't productive enough.

[Harm Reduction]

Thanks for your comment Elizabeth..  Actually, I work with 2 of them also. And I would argue that they'd both run a lot more effectively if they merged and consolidated their resources, hired an ED and an operations manager and got down to business.

 

The reality is - it's far easier to secure support and volunteers when you're larger.  It's also easier to manage resources when you consolidate those resources into one pot.   Rescue organizations require a lot of time from volunteers... time that could be more efficiently used if people weren't divided amongst multiple organizations. (just my .02)