Next week Prime Minister Stephen Harper is going to release his budget to Parliament.  As our country, alongside the US, are looking at multi-billion dollar bail-outs for various for-profit sectors, the importance of a strong non-profit and charitable sector is ever more apparent.

The Calgary Herald reported in today's paper that the charitable sector is a $112 billion industry employing 2.1 million Canadians and comprises 8.6 per cent of the nation's GDP.  This is a sector that has been filling in where government has fallen short and has managed to function, for better or worse, during the booms and busts of our economy for decades.

If we are looking at a stimulus package - perhaps the for-profits that are turning to government for bail-out funding should take a page out of a charity's operating handbook.  How many organizations have generated innovative and far-reaching programs and services based on shoe-string budgets?

In Alberta, the incentives for donating are great - almost a 50% tax deduction for charitable giving.  With over 19,000 charities and non-profits in Alberta the financial power is quite significant.  Perhaps, in addition to (or instead of) bailing out the for-profit entities, the government should also look at increasing the capacity supports for the organizations that are filling the gaps where government and business has fallen short?

While they are at it, this might be a good time to review the approval process for registering charities and non-profits.  One thing they might start looking at is the issue of duplication of services and stop issuing registration numbers to organizations that are not adding to the sector, instead using their extensive database to link similar organizations in order to share resources and do even better work? 

Just a thought during our tighter financial times...