Letter to the editor
Over the past decade, and particularly in the last four to five years, it has been my sense that society is losing the asset of volunteerism.
While we at ICAN have found that people will come by, they seldom engage long term. Many seem incapable of operating to the procedural necessity such things as cleaning and animal care require. If we cannot garner reliable volunteers, we will be forced to employ cleaners. This expands our expense budget and many donors take exception to donating to an organization’s administrative overhead.
Certainly, the percentage of the dollar spent on the mandate is frequently used to accredit or discredit a non-profit. Yet new regulations require increasingly higher levels of knowledge and performance which volunteers are not always capable of or willing to be trained into. The time they gift should be taken with gratitude whatever it is they have done.
That said, government regulations and other bureaucratic measures seem to hogtie non-profits. Many of us used to have bake sales and barbecue fundraisers. Why is it largely a thing of the past? Well, a study of BC Health FoodSafe regulations will answer that.
Having cleared that hurdle, such things as event insurance must also be acquired along with all of the paraphernalia necessary to meet BC Health site requirements. Gaming regulation has increasingly affected such things as raffles, bingo, 50/50 draws and fun casinos. Technically, garage sales or flea markets require registering for a BC PST collection number.
Applying for grants requires a project expense budget; the grant never meets the full cost of said and almost always restricts any monies from being spent on wages and other administrative costs.
So, it becomes harder and harder to raise money; this makes a non-profit more reliant on donors and fundraisers.
A real Catch 22.
Shizu E.M. Futa,
Invermere Companion Animal Network
