As charities and nonprofits grapple with challenges such as rising costs and staff shortages, everyone can play a role in strengthening their community.iStockPhoto / Getty Images
Stretching beyond familiar spaces and approaches to serve communities today and build a better tomorrow
By Dan Clement, President and CEO, United Way Centraide
When the pandemic hit, the community services sector responded, mobilizing frontline expertise and community compassion to support those already facing poverty and disproportionally impacted by Covid-19. Today, United Way Centraide and our network of more than 3,500 local community agency partners are still hard at work, this time against the backdrop of record inflation and soaring prices.
More individuals and families are struggling with food insecurity, energy costs and housing affordability. United Way Centraide’s 211 helpline shows calls up across the board earlier this year – 19 per cent for assistance with food, 16 per cent for housing and shelter, and a staggering 34 per cent for mental health counselling. Meanwhile the sector itself is grappling with new realities – flat-lined funding, rising costs, staff and volunteer shortages, and Canadian philanthropy in transition.
Change is indeed challenging philanthropy, but charitable organizations like United Way Centraides across the country are meeting this moment.
As more people work from home, we are evolving to deepen our relationships with donors wherever they are. We’re also responding to changes not just in how people give, but their reasons for doing so. More than ever, people want to feel connected to what they’re doing, to feel greater purpose, to not only do good work but do good, period, especially in the communities in which they live. According to a 2021 Edelman survey, seven in 10 employees expected opportunities for social impact within their workplace. It’s that sense of social purpose that is becoming a core employee engagement strategy – one different sectors are looking to United Way Centraide to help drive and deliver.
And we are.
Across Canada in communities large and small, local United Ways and Centraides are diving into innovative ventures with new, even unlikely, partners with a shared focus on strengthening local communities. Cases in point: United Way British Columbia’s Social Purpose Institute is supporting businesses in helping them define (and embed) their social purpose to – in turn – create more societal value for their customers, employees and communities. United Way Calgary and Area’s Social Impact Lab, a unique, collaborative cross-sector initiative, is exploring solutions to complex systems-level issues. And United Way Greater Toronto has been championing community benefits, to ensure that with every major public infrastructure project, we are also strengthening community and creating jobs and other opportunities for those too often left behind.
We’re finding strength where we always have – in community and with government, corporate, labour and civic partners – yet also stretching beyond familiar spaces and approaches to ensure that we can serve our communities today and build a better tomorrow.
Change propels us forward, and by working in a united way, we can not only meet challenges but overcome them and achieve something better. So as you look around your own community this fall, at the work being done and the work that remains to be done, know that you can play a key role in strengthening it. And that all of us at United Way Centraide are here to help.
Advertising feature produced by Randall Anthony Communications. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.