Sponsored Sponsored content The resources we need for the results that can’t wait

Recently, one of us at Tamarack Institute received an email from a longtime rural community partner. Their words stung: “Our grant fell through, and the partnership needs to fold.” 

The partnership they convened spent hundreds of hours developing a community-driven poverty-reduction plan, grounded in consultation with people experiencing poverty and developed alongside local government and business. 

The partnership coordinators earned people’s trust and were skilled at speaking uncomfortable truths in ways that welcome people into action. 

What the partnership lacked was not commitment, accountability, impact, or leadership, but the full set of resources needed to activate the plan for the time it would take to succeed.  

This email was not unique. While there are countless examples of capital suppliers working in deep partnership toward community-driven outcomes, over the past year, dozens of communities have shared stories of funders’ priorities shifting abruptly, grant budgets being reduced at the last moment, or communications falling off. 

The consequences ripple. Vital work lurches to a halt. People lose jobs. Relationships fracture. The confidence that change is possible, which underlies our motivation to work at the speed and scale necessary, begins to falter. Most critically, fellow humans in our communities suffer.  

This pattern makes us wonder: in a moment when communities are facing urgent and complex challenges, how might we align every tool at our disposal – including philanthropic and public capital, relationships and social capital, knowledge, influence, and community leadership – toward wellbeing for everyone in our communities? 

One step toward aligning resources 

This past summer and fall, what we were hearing from other organizations made it clear that alignment between communities and funders cannot wait. This prompted our teams, boards and close partners to bring communities and funders into closer alignment around community-driven outcomes.  

One step was a duo of open letters – one across British Columbia and another coast-to-coast-to-coast – inviting corporate and philanthropic funders to deepen collaboration with charities and non-profits.  

Since their release in the fall of 2025, more than 300 non-profits, charities, Indigenous organizations, grassroots groups, networks, and sector leaders have signed on. All four of Canada’s philanthropic networks – Community Foundations of Canada, Environment Funders Canada, Philanthropic Foundations of Canada, and The Circle on Philanthropy – published supportive responses. One signatory described how a conversation once whispered in hallways is now out in the open. 

The conversation is also resonating beyond Canada. The World Economic Forum described how this kind of collective action is helping “rewire philanthropic and community partnerships.” 

At the same time, commentary in The Philanthropist called for a wider reckoning with the interconnectedness of the philanthropic and community sectors.

What we see – before and after these collective, cross-sector responses – is broad will and energy to bring the supply and demand sides of capital into service of community-defined results.

The question now is how quickly we can turn that will into durable action.

But our collective wellbeing requires more 

Achieving wellbeing – for changemakers and for the communities we love – cannot rest solely with those who supply capital. 

We all have critical assets to offer. Non-profits, charities and grassroots efforts can collaborate toward systemic change they could never achieve alone. Communities bring deep knowledge of their own strengths and needs. We can see people, industries and sectors not as fixed roles, but as flexible, creative contributors to community wellbeing.

One clear change that will help strengthen non-profits across Canada is the establishment of a Funders Collaborative to open conversations between philanthropists themselves and between philanthropists and non-profits. This is a practical step we can take now – and one that grows more necessary with each disrupted project or community setback.

Conversations about how to build partnerships in support of wellbeing are continuing across Canada. Next week, funders and non-profit leaders will explore these questions at Future of Good’s Changemaker Wellbeing Summit. 

Insights from those discussions, alongside others across the country, will be synthesized into practical tools to support both funders and non-profits in strengthening trust, shifting power where needed, and co-creating relationships that serve communities more effectively. 

These insights can be a concrete first step in strengthening dialogue and solidifying shared commitment to communities – and to partnership with one another – between the philanthropic community and non-profits that support our communities on the ground. 

Thank you to all the open letter signatories. The invitation is open – add your voice and join the growing movement: national letter and BC letter.