Public Policy & Advocacy Archives

November 14, 2024

To What Extent Do Politicians Use Canada’s Nonprofit Sector to Access Constituencies and Political Power?

Recently, Christopher Dougherty completed research that asks, "How does government funding for charities change when the party in power changes?" His answer is based on data sets covering the provinces... More

October 24, 2024

Plus ça Change… Advocacy by Canadian Charities Five Years Later

By Susan D. Phillips and Kim Nguyen. Nguyen is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Charity Insights Canada Project (CICP) or Projet Canada Perspectives des Organismes de Bienfaisance (PCPOB). Phillips is... More

June 13, 2024

A New Plan for a “Labour Force Strategy” for the Nonprofit Sector

Anita Khanna is the National Director of Public Policy and Government Relations at United Way Centraide Canada, which is a federated network of United Ways and Centraides governed by volunteer... More

December 21, 2023

Ireland Launches “National Philanthropy Policy”

In December 2023, the government of Ireland launched the National Philanthropy Policy to deepen understanding and knowledge, to create an enabling environment and to accelerate engagement with philanthropy in Ireland... More

November 14, 2023

“Is there a role for the arts in addressing social change? Potentially. Maybe. Sometimes.”–Meghan Lindsay

Meghan Lindsay is a performing artist and academic who's an instructor in the MPNL program. She works with many grassroots arts organizations and collectives in exploring alternative ways of operating.... More

August 28, 2023

Do Canadian Homeless Shelters Contribute to Democratic Inclusion?

Kristen Pue is a Policy Analyst in the department of Employment and Social Development Canada. She spoke to PANL Perspectives about her research when she was a post-doctoral fellow at... More

November 9, 2022

Stronger Policy Leadership for Canada’s Charitable & Nonprofit Sector: Advancing Conversations

By Susan D. Phillips. Disruption. Transformation. Reinvention. These lie ahead for Canada’s charitable and nonprofit sector. This sector must drive change for those it serves. And, it must help governments... More

May 15, 2021

New Book about Canada’s Voluntary Sector

The Muttart Foundation has just published Canada's first, comprehensive book about our country's sector: "Intersections and Innovations: Change in Canada’s Voluntary and Nonprofit Sector," edited by Susan D. Phillips and... More

March 13, 2021

The #1 Policy Issue for Canada’s Philanthropic & Charitable Sector

By Susan Phillips (with help from 68 leaders in the sector). Released in June 2019, the report of the Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector presented the federal government... More

March 8, 2021

Make It Easier for Charities To Do Good: The CRA Needs To Remove the ‘Own...

Make It Easier for Charities To Do Good: The CRA Needs To Remove the ‘Own Activities’ Requirement

Lawyers may rarely agree. But 37 of Canada’s charity lawyers strongly agree -- and have signed this open letter – that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) should remove the paternalistic,... More

March 8, 2021

The Business of Charities & Nonprofits: The Need for Change

By Susan Manwaring and Katrina Kairys. (Download a pdf of this article.) Charities and nonprofits have long been entrepreneurial and innovative in developing new means of generating revenue to achieve... More

December 6, 2020

Will Provinces & Territories Increase Trust in Crowdfunding?

By Peter Broder. In the wild west of online crowdfunding, sometimes an organizer tries to change the terms of a campaign – in the middle of the campaign. Maybe the... More