Revenue diversification as a strategic response by Canada’s nonprofit sector

Government policies in Canada have taken a “hard right turn” and tax cuts now have priority over investing in social programming. Both federal and provincial governments have been withdrawing from direct service provision with the expectation that the nonprofit sector will fill in the gap. At the same time, traditional government support for the sector has declined, which limits organizations’ ability to meet their current service demands. Using a sample of 645 organizations from across Canada, this paper explores the use of revenue diversification as a response to policy changes. The findings indicate that while nonprofit organizations in Canada have embraced revenue diversification to support program delivery, the extent of diversification is influenced by size, whether the organization is run by women or not, whether it is a relatively new organization or one with a long history and track record, and whether its mandate has a broad or narrow appeal. Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series, TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management