How Federal Funding Changes Affected the National Network for Mental Health

Funding of the nonprofit sector has been summarized in two ways.

The first is the story of cutbacks. As S.D. Phillips observed in their study of non-profit sector funding policies in Western Canada,

“Beginning in the 1990s, propelled by fiscal restraint and by neoliberalism that favoured smaller government, market-based instruments, and stricter accountability, government funding for nonprofits was reduced dramatically”

The second narrative focuses on the potential for private philanthropy, entrepreneurship,

self-marketing, and new forms of social finance. This narrative often diminishes the role of government in the future of nonprofit funding and requires small organizations to pivot to compete with larger entities for private funding. It also diverts scarce resources which should be focused on policy development, and on advocacy with persons challenged by disability and mental health concerns.

Historically in Canada, core funding was directed to 30 grassroots disability organizations, including ours. In 2010, the Harper government opened the funding process to a wider group of organizations: universities, hospitals, and other large multiservice nonprofit organizations. Competing with large organizations such as these put NNMH at a significant disadvantage.

Long-term funding was replaced by fee-for-service contracts, competitive bidding that led to instability, competition between nonprofits, and burdensome administrative loads. Larger multiservice organizations have been better able to endure the changes than smaller advocacy organizations such as the National Network for Mental Health (NNMH).

The Trudeau government which followed kept the previous government’s plan for the redistribution of funding from core to grant funding. Since then, government funding mechanisms have remained largely unchanged.

These developments had a significant impact on NNMH. Between 2015 and 2019, the organization received no funding, until other disability organizations provided a C$20,000 loan.

The loss of capability followed by the onset of the pandemic further hampered NNMH’s ability to fulfill its mandate.

The Network is one of the few actors bridging divides between the psychosocial and physical disability communities. NNMH works with intersectionality and human rights, particularly the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We made the case that if

government declined our funding needs and NNMH ceased to exist, the development of policies to address the needs of persons struggling with disability and mental health issues would be set back.

As a result of our continued efforts and our community’s support NNMH obtained a three-year, C$600,000 grant from the federal government for 2023-26 to fund various projects, research, and community capacity building. Receiving this support meant that we could also better provide online Emotional-CPR training to the Canadian disability community, previously funded through a C$21,600 federal grant.

CONCLUSION

Civil society is essential to a functioning democracy. Nonprofits such as NNMH are key actors in civil society where they play a significant role in the social economy— in our case helping to amplify the voices of persons with disabilities and mental health conditions to be involved in the labour market. Stable funding for core operations is necessary to avoid significant economic disruptions in the lives of the people our network serves.

Grassroots nonprofits require stable funding to reliably represent people living on the margins, specifically those facing the intersections of physical disabilities and mental health conditions. That NNMH was able to continue some of its work without funding speaks to the needs it helped address for its constituency, and their recognition of the Network’s value.

The NNMH is working hard to adapt to the new realities of the funding landscape and is pursuing stable funding through a variety of vehicles for both projects and core operations. Despite the new rules of this environment, including legal and regulatory restrictions for advocacy and lobbying, NNMH’s shift into the disability community enables us to actively advocate for human rights, social justice and system change.

See the full article by Thompson, et al. published in the Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research HERE.