Non-profit organizations in Alberta are worried after the provincial government nixed the $8.5 million budget of the Wild Rose Foundation, a grant agency that distributed lottery money to local non-profits.
“A lot of organizations… are quite dependent on funding from the Wild Rose Foundation,” says Salima Stanley-Bhanji, director of Vibrant Communities Calgary. “I think they’re going to be feeling quite uneasy at this news, and I think that’s legitimate because most not-for-profits are in a situation where at least part of their funding dollars are uncertain.”
The 25-year-old Wild Rose Foundation was run by an independent board, a system Stanley-Bhanji says “has been advantageous” for the sector. “There’s a lot of knowledge that’s been built up within that foundation, and I think the fear is that a lot of that knowledge about the sector will be lost,” she says.
The government department of Culture and Community Spirit will now distribute grant money through its Community Initiatives Program, but will have $8.2 million less to work with this year, says department spokesperson Shawna Cass. “We did see a reduction in our budget overall, so we did need to make some tough decisions,” she says.
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