Policy
Priorities
Over the course of 2023, NonprofitsVote partners outlined 5 policy priority areas to ensure the vitality of the Alberta nonprofit sector.
Through the election cycle in spring 2023, we gained traction on these priorities, and continue to build on that momentum.
The Priorities
Appropriate Funding: Consult with Alberta nonprofits to identify and communicate funding priorities, and collaborate with funders to allocate resources where they are most needed.
A Workforce Strategy: Undertake a labour market study and strategy to stabilize the nonprofit workforce through addressing recruitment and retention concerns.
Better Data Collection: Collaborate on data collection to ensure government and nonprofits can be more effective through data-informed actions.
A Door To Government: Explore creating a dedicated space in government to share challenges, successes and opportunities with renewed partnership from the Government of Alberta to address them.
An Empowered Sector: Reduce the red tape burden while making sure we continue to operate within the rules.
NonprofitsVote is sharing stories from nonprofits that support Alberta
Charting a course
Why
Developing policy priorities for the Chamber wasn’t just about making a wish list. It was about being strategic, credible and effective through priorities with broad sector-wide relevance to nonprofits of all sub sectors, regions and size with the intent to bring the following:
Focus & Clarity. The policy priorities helped us focus our limited energy and resources on the areas identified as most impactful for Alberta’s nonprofit sector.
Stronger Partnerships. The Chamber used these policy priorities to build the Nonprofits Vote coalition with other organizations working across Alberta.
Stronger Advocacy. These priorities gave the Chamber and our partners clear, consistent asks, and a unified voice when meeting with government partners.
Credibility & Influence. Our consistent championing for these set of priorities has established the Chamber as a go-to source for policymakers on those issues.
Measurable Progress. These priorities have allowed us to track wins (small and large) over time and to gauge our progress.
When
The Nonprofit Chamber Policy Priorities were developed over 2022 and published in 2023 as a lead up to the 2023 provincial election, where we hosted forums with both Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith and used the policy priorities as the basis for the conversations with both leaders.
How
These priorities were developed out of the research and consultation that went into the Chamber’s 2022 report “Too Essential to Fail”. Before publishing them, we sought and received broad support for these priorities from Nonprofits Vote partners – Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations, FuseSocial, and Volunteer Lethbridge. We have expanded that table with an inaugural Nonprofits Vote Council.
What next
Focus on the next year will be reporting progress to the community, gathering feedback, and refining these priorities to build on the work already underway so that we have renewed focus for the 2027 provincial election. That process and update to the priorities will be guided by the Nonprofits Vote Council.
Progress
Our contributions to the Policy Priorities
Consult with Alberta nonprofits to identify and communicate funding priorities, and collaborate with funders to allocate resources where they are most needed.
Progress:
Focus groups with nonprofit representatives to identify funding priorities, in collaboration with the Government of Alberta
Interactive online budgeting tool to gather feedback on nonprofit funding priorities
Highlighting a clear case for investment in nonprofits in the forthcoming State of the Sector 2025, coming this fall
Annual pre-budget submissions and budget analysis
1. Appropriate Funding:
Develop a workforce strategy with and for the nonprofit sector in Alberta.
Progress:
Workforce Feasibility Study, supported by ACSW, is now complete
Volunteer Alberta and the Government of Alberta are collaborating on a volunteer recruitment strategy
We are working towards creating and resourcing the next phase: an Alberta Nonprofit Workforce Council
2. A Workforce Strategy:
Ensure government collection, support and open access to nonprofit data.
Progress:
Using a consultant, we collected a full listing, categorized by sub-sector, of all Alberta nonprofits.
We have collected several years (2019- 2023) of CRA data, categorized by sub-sector, that shows the impact of the pandemic and inflation of charities’ revenues.
The GoA has published a non-profit listing dashboard that is many years of advocacy in the making by many nonprofits in the province, including the Nonprofit Chamber. It is a big step forward in our efforts to secure reliable, centralized and timely baseline data.
Working in partnership with the GoA, the Nonprofit Chamber will be publishing a dashboard in the fall combining our sub-sector data with existing GoA data. The result will be a dashboard of all nonprofits in Alberta that is searchable and mappable by sub-sector.
We have secured an agreement with PolicyWise to re-platform and house their Alberta Nonprofit Data dashboard. This work is ongoing.
3. Better Data Collection:
Work closely with nonprofit organizations to explore a more robust, efficient, and transparent presence for the nonprofit sector and our interests within the Government of Alberta for the benefit of all Albertans.
Progress:
The Community Engagement Branch within Arts, Culture, and Status of Women, along with Minister Fir and her team have been excellent partners. We have a brief in progress to elevate their support of AB’s nonprofits even more and look to the next provincial election as the timeline to move this forward.
4. A Door To Government:
Reduce the red tape burden while making sure we continue to operate within the rules.
Progress:
Lobbyist Act Exemption: The Nonprofit Chamber was invited to submit and present to committ, where the exemption was upheld.
Update to the Charitable Gaming Policy
Contributions to COPTER
Contributions to the Personal Information and Privacy Act Review (PIPA)
5. An Empowered Sector:
