Call it teamwork. Collaboration. Synergy. Whatever term you wish to use, there’s a lot of it going on between sector organizations and government.

Over the last few years it has become apparent to both people working in nonprofits and civil servants at all levels of government that working together to build capacity and share knowledge is much better than working apart.

From coast to coast, provincial and federal decision-makers are recognizing, some in word and some in deed, the importance of supporting nonprofits and charities to help better communities countrywide. This trend has become more prominent since the global recession began in 2008.

The following is a snapshot of a few of the current and pending government-nonprofit sector initiatives from across the country.

Go west

In British Columbia, the Government Non Profit Initiative (GNPI) has since 2008, represented a partnership between the province and its citizenry through projects funded by the Ministry of Social Development and administered by the Vancouver Foundation to its client members.

With some 20,000 BC nonprofits employing close to 150,000 people (and 1.5 million volunteers), finding efficiencies in funding and streamlining granting processes with the province is a worthy endeavor. According to the GNPI, in 2007-08, the government transferred $1.7 billion into communities via grants and transfers.

The GNPI has several running projects. Most notably an HR project that seeks to “develop guidelines for the funding relationship that will promote administrative efficiency, understanding of the full cost of doing business, and the opportunities,” according to its website.

Another is a business and financial workgroup looking to develop guiding principles and codes of practice that will “outline the value of investment in sustainable business models and the value that government will place on local knowledge and the connection to community which nonprofits serve.”

Barbara Grantham, the GNPI Team Lead for the nonprofit sector, said that the need to find solutions to complicated social issues prompted the rise of the GNPI.

“The motivating force was the realization by both the government and the sector that as we increasingly deal with very complex socio-economic challenges, these can’t be addressed by the sector itself. We have to find more effective ways of working together. That means making our relationship stream [with government] better first,” she said.

Stampeding through obstacles

Moving east across the Rockies, in 2008 the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations (CCVO) and the Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations (ECVO) helped set up the Alberta Nonprofit/Voluntary Sector Initiative (ANVSI) and the Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Council. Their mandate is similar to BC’s GNPI in that both programs aim to bring together leaders from both the sector and the provincial government to “develop a more collaborative relationship between the sector and the province.”

Mike Grogan, vice president of programs and operations with the CCVO, told CharityVillage® that these initiatives have given voice to critical issues affecting the sector.

“We are a respected, credible source of information. Our research on topics such as the impact of the economic downturn on nonprofits, funding practices, human resources, the experience of small organizations and the potential for shared services, is building a fact-based foundation of knowledge that is used by funders, governments and individual organizations to understand the sector and inform decisions,” Grogan said, speaking about the CCVO.

According to a 2007 study by the province, its more than 19,000 nonprofit organizations collectively rely on external funding mechanisms — one third of which comes from the government — for their projects and operations. However, these funds are usually short term and project-specific and “often do not contribute to the administrative costs of running the organization,” the study determined.

It’s precisely because of this and other factors impacting the sector, that the CCVO wants more collaboration with government to increase the government’s understanding of hurdles faced by the sector and gain support for its organizations.

“We have identified the need to raise the nonprofit sector’s profile as a preferred employer in Alberta in order to attract employees. The sector needs clear, consistent and reliable messaging and coordinated efforts to promote the value of the work opportunities we offer,” he said. “The Workforce Council has received support from Alberta Employment and Immigration to develop and implement a province-wide Nonprofit Sector Profile Project; working with sector employees to demonstrate the sector’s critical value as part of the infrastructure that helps Alberta communities thrive.”

Grogan also notes that the recent election of Alison Redford as the province’s new premier could provide further benefit to the sector. Redford’s election platform addressed nonprofit concerns and stated they would be a priority issue for her if elected. Though no new funding was earmarked by Redford, she did indicate that nonprofits would be invited to participate in provincial policy dialogue going forward.

Manitoba mission of mercy

Across the prairies in Manitoba, a new, helpful mindset by the province has nonprofit sector organizations hopeful that grants and funds will become more easily accessible in the near future.

As CharityVillage reported earlier this year, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger announced in April 2011 that his province aimed to provide stable funding and eliminate a lot of red tape for nonprofits. This would come in the form of a two-year pilot project designed to evaluate and establish the best methods to provide one-stop government funding.

The idea is to streamline grant application processes and help lift the administrative burden off of nonprofits that currently routinely fill out numerous forms to access various grants to help maintain their operations and fulfill their social mandates.

In his May interview with CharityVillage®, Martin Itzkow, co-chair of the Manitoba Federation of Non Profits Organizations Inc. (MFNPO), said while the idea was a good one, there was still a “long way to go.”

The MFNPO, Itzkow said, is helping broker the streamlining initiative and Kerri Irvin-Ross, Manitoba’s minister of housing and community development — the ministry in charge of implementing the pilot project — noted that the province would meet with selected nonprofits participating in the pilot project in the fall.

Selinger won re-election as the premier in October. Since then, Itzkow said he’s been “very encouraged” by the province’s continued commitment to the sector. He said the MFNPO has since engaged a professor from the University of Manitoba to begin gathering data on multi-year funding initiatives the government is studying.

The MFNPO and the province are also collaborating on forming HR hubs in Winnipeg and Thompson, which will assemble peer learning groups as part of a workforce development initiative.

Ontario is networking

Not surprisingly, in Ontario, the province with the most nonprofits — 40,000 organizations employing nearly 600,000 people and some 5,000,000 volunteers — the sector has set up a robust practical and educational mechanism in the form of the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN).

The ONN engages in a wide array of activities through what they call constellations, or workgroups, created to tackle issues affecting the sector. In 2010, the provincial government under Premier Dalton McGuinty approached the ONN to find out how it could better service the sector.

So the province’s Partnership Project was conceived. Though it’s still early days, the project has undertaken a “province-wide consultation tasked with finding out how to strengthen the relationship between the government and the nonprofit sector.”

As a result, in the last year, ONN has authored nearly a dozen policy papers on how the province and the sector can work together. Subjects proposed include, implementing a labour force strategy; a proposal to introduce a provincial tax credit to support investment in Ontario’s social economy; and access to debt financing.

Since being returned to power for a third term in October, the McGuinty Liberals are likely to continue pushing for more collaboration with the sector.

Au Québec, les beaux secteurs

In Quebec, sector organizations aren’t as neatly organized under any one government-nonprofit umbrella initiative. Instead, several governmental departments oversee various aspects of funding and collaboration.

However, the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity (emploi et Social solidarité Quebec) comes closest to approximating activities carried out by organizations like Ontario’s ONN and British Columbia’s GNPI.

The ministry runs the Secrétariat à l’action communautaire autonome et aux initiatives sociales (SACAIS), which is mandated to “coordinate implementation of the government policy entitled Community Action: A crucial contribution to the exercise of citizenship and the social development of Québec. Under this policy, SACAIS must work with government departments and agencies to achieve better dovetailing of financial support measures,” according to its website.

[Author’s Note: Special thanks to information provided to CharityVillage® by Imagine Canada‘s Special Advisor to the President and CEO – Québec, Diane Ellison, for her insights and perspectives.]

Ellison noted there’s an apparent dearth of umbrella organizations such as the ONN in Quebec. “In fact, Imagine Canada is attempting to fill that void by our presence here,” she said.

New Brunswick had the “blueprint”

Aside from boasting the Bay of Fundy as a world tourist mecca, New Brunswickers working in the nonprofit sector can also be proud of their province’s advanced partnership with the province.

In 2008, the Blueprint for Action was put in place by then-Premier Shawn Graham to help the more than 6,700 charities and nonprofits in the province. Employing nearly 40,000 people, these organizations received a huge boost in confidence at that time when the province established its Secretariat for Community Non-Profit Organizations.

The secretariat was intended to act as the primary point of contact between sector organizations and the province. Additionally, it provided access to support services and resources for the sector.

But late in 2010, the rival Progressive Conservative party defeated Graham’s Liberal government. The new government of Premier David Alward has not yet committed to renewing the blueprint. So things remain on hold in New Brunswick.

Sue Stultz, the province’s minister of social development and minister responsible for seniors, housing and Community Non-Profit Organizations, did not reply to queries from CharityVillage® by deadline.

Collaborative Nova Scotians

Across the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, via the Ministry of Health Promotion and Protection — Volunteerism, signed a pact with the sector — specifically with the then newly formed Nova Scotia Volunteer Community Advisory Council — in its 2008 Collaboration Agreement.

The agreement services the province’s 5,820 registered nonprofits and their 83,000 employees, and more than 430,000 volunteers.

An outgrowth of the pact was the establishment this year of Nova Scotia’s Voluntary Sector Professional Capacity Trust, which supports the province’s Third Sector “in its efforts to address the challenges of human resources and management,” according to government literature.

This year, the $800,000 trust was distributed amongst 43 sector organizations.

Minister of the Voluntary Sector Marilyn More in a statement said sector organizations “deal with many of the same issues facing other industries in finding and keeping skilled professionals. This funding will help support these organizations as they plan and build for the future while continuing to provide essential programs and services to Nova Scotians.”

Newfoundland & Labrador

And on the Rock, the Community Sector Council of Newfoundland and Labrador (CSCNL) and the province have set in motion various capacity building projects and initiatives.

With more than 3,000 registered nonprofits and charities in the province, the government has recognized the need to engage more effectively with the sector.

In 2009 it embarked on a series of community roundtables across the region. “Participants came together to talk about the successes, challenges and key issues facing organizations in their communities. The successes, challenges and issues raised by community leaders will be used by the secretariat in the coming months as we prioritize our work,” the province said through its Voluntary and Non-Profit Secretariat.

Penny Rowe, CEO of the CSCNL, said there were several initiatives in the works between the province and its nonprofit sector, but was unable to provide specifics prior to CharityVillage®’s deadline.

A synergistic future

The current proliferation of government/nonprofit partnerships and educational initiatives bodes well for the future of the sector, according to Grantham.

Though the day is not yet come, she said she hopes her organization and other go-between institutions will one day become unnecessary. The long-term goal of all the above initiatives, and a plethora of others unmentioned, is the cementing in government thinking of the importance of properly funding and listening to the sector that serves the Canadian community on the front lines.

Maybe the best thing to come out of the global economic downturn is the explosion of these collaborations in an attempt to keep sector organizations afloat and viable well into the future.

Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf is president of WordLaunch professional writing services in Toronto. He can be reached at andy@wordlaunch.com.

Please note: While we ensure that all links and e-mail addresses are accurate at their publishing date, the quick-changing nature of the web means that some links to other web sites and e-mail addresses may no longer be accurate.