CharityVillage Connects

Navigating the Stormy Waters of Political Uncertainty: Government Relations for Nonprofits

With elections happening across the provinces and the potential for a federal election at any time, how to navigate political change is top of mind for many nonprofit leaders. How can your organization engage in government relations, lobby for social change, and access government funding, especially during such an unprecedented time of uncertainty? Get insights and advice from sector experts in this episode of CharityVillage Connects.

#podcast #politics

What is CharityVillage Connects?

Welcome to CharityVillage Connects – a series that highlights topics vital to the nonprofit sector in Canada. CharityVillage is a resource to over 170,000 charitable and nonprofit organizations in Canada. This series, hosted by President Mary Barroll, will provide in-depth conversations with experts in the nonprofit sector. We’ll examine diversity, equity and inclusion, innovations in fundraising, the gap in female representation in leadership and many other subjects crucial to the growth and development of charities throughout Canada.

Thank

Welcome to Charity Village Connects.

I'm your host, Mary Barrol.

The word tariff is the most beautiful word in the dictionary.

Trump has been vocal for months about his plans to kick undocumented migrants out of
America.

Amazon and Meta are dialing back their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

In the last episode of Charity Village Connects,

We talked to government relations and fundraising experts about how nonprofits and
charities can navigate the political change and economic impacts coming at us at such a

dizzying pace.

economy for 2025 is going to be quite rocky.

For charities and nonprofits, there will be more organizations need to do because of their
mandates to support Canadians.

The potential for tariffs alone.

is enough to threaten the livelihoods of millions of Canadians.

The amount of change and upheaval that's happening in the country does not give us hope
that things are going to get better anytime soon.

And there's more.

With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's resignation, the bureaucracy in Ottawa is essentially
frozen with prorogation of Parliament until March 24th.

This could impact the non-profit sector by delaying decisions.

including any pertaining to funding.

Local organizations that provide support to immigrants and other newcomers are feeling the
impact of the federal government's new immigration targets.

Funding cuts have left many of them struggling to help those who are already here.

I think everyone was surprised with just how large these reductions were and the number of
policies introduced to deter people from coming to Canada.

Many organizations are also worried about how ideological shifts, such as rollbacks on DEI
and anti-LGBTQI policies happening across the border, are making their way into Canadian

public discourse and affecting the people they serve.

In the past few years, we have experienced a progressive rise in service demand.

This increase is driven by the global surge of anti-LGBTQI sentiments.

It's a lot to unpack.

This is reason enough for us to do a second episode on navigating changing political and
economic landscapes.

That's what we're going to examine in this Charity Village Connects episode.

To learn more about the services provided by Charity Village, listen to Charity Village
Connects wherever you find your favorite podcasts and visit CharityVillage.com.