Nine foundations to provide operational funding for Canadian non-profit networks 

Author Sharlene Gandhi

A new collaborative fund will specifically support provincial and territorial non-profit networks with operational funding. 

Nine foundations, including the RBC Foundation, the McConnell Foundation, and the Lawson Foundation, announced The Charitable and Nonprofit Sector Infrastructure Collaborative Fund Thursday. So far, the group of funders has raised $1.5 million annually for the next three years. 

Funding will be directed towards non-profit networks across the country, including the Community Sector Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, Impact Organizations of Nova Scotia, and the Yukon NGO Hub Society. 

Non-profit networks are responsible for “conducting vital ‘state of the sector’ research, advancing education through capacity-building and professional development, advocating to governments on sector-wide issues, and promoting efficiencies and offering collective solutions – such as employee benefits, insurance programs and purchasing discounts – that individual charities and non-profits often cannot access on their own.”

Despite this, many networks “have faced persistent underfunding,” the foundations wrote in their announcement. 

In 2025, Vantage Point – British Columbia’s non-profit network – and the Ontario Non-profit Network produced reports that sounded the alarm on chronic underfunding in their respective non-profit sectors.

Note: A previous version of this piece stated that funding will be provided to non-profit networks across the country aside from Quebec and the Northwest Territories. Funding has been directed where non-profit networks are already established. 

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  • Sharlene Gandhi is the Future of Good editorial fellow on digital transformation.

    Sharlene has been reporting on responsible business, environmental sustainability and technology in the UK and Canada since 2018. She has worked with various organizations during this time, including the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University, AIGA Eye on Design, Social Enterprise UK and Nature is a Human Right. Sharlene moved to Toronto in early 2023 to join the Future of Good team, where she has been reporting at the intersections of technology, data and social purpose work. Her reporting has spanned several subject areas, including AI policy, cybersecurity, ethical data collection, and technology partnerships between the private, public and third sectors.

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