Funding gone from provincial budget

Volunteer organizations in Alberta have been left feeling bewildered after the Minister of Culture and Community Spirit, Lindsay Blackett, abolished the 25-year-old Wild Rose foundation and most of its $8.5 million in funding.

Ginette Marcoux-Frigon, executive director of the Jasper Adult Learning Centre, said Minister Blackett’s lack of community consultation and lack of concentration on the human services sector sends an extremely powerful message to the province, especially in a community like Jasper where there are hundreds of volunteers.

“There hasn’t been enough thought given to the impact of what this will mean for the volunteer sector in Alberta,” said Marcoux-Frigon adding that she believes Minister Blackett has just been “given a mandate to cut, regardless, and that’s what he’s done.”

Volunteer Alberta executive director, Karen Lynch, said the provincial budget could have a significant impact on the amount and type of funding that a variety of organizations in Jasper receive.

She said the Wild Rose Foundation was the single most important reason that Alberta has leading volunteerism rates compared to the rest of the country, with one out of two Albertans volunteering. For communities such as Jasper, where people move from across the globe, volunteering is a useful way for them to become connected with the community, she said.

According to Minister Blackett’s website, the foundation has been merged with the Community Initiatives Program (CIP) and the Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) so that “application processes will also be streamlined to make it easier for organizations to apply.”

One concern for Marcoux-Frigon, is the idea that public donations would be matched by the government through the Community Spirit Program which is extremely difficult for most volunteer organizations that are already stretched thin.

“To add those burdens onto our community in a small community where there is already so much fundraising going on, how much is too much? I have huge concerns about that,” she said.

“It’s my intention to combine monies that were available through the CIP and make it available for those people that would be eligible for Wild Rose funding money on a non-matching basis,” Minister Blackett said.

However, currently the CIP supports project-based initiatives rather than money for the operating costs associated with running non-profit organizations. 

One example is the Jasper Community Team, who received $25,000 in 2006 for administrative funds for the Team Coordinator through the Wild Rose Foundation, which would currently be unavailable.

Lynch said it will be harder for organizations like the JCT to apply and receive funding under the new system as not only is there less money, but now there will be even more organizations competing over the smaller pot of money.

On top of these complaints, Lynch said that response time from the Community Initiative Program was extremely long when compared to the quick replies she would get from the Wild Rose Foundation which she said is because the Wild Rose Foundation would have staff that were able to help answer any questions relating to the grant process. 

According to Minister Blackett, the government is still “tweaking” some of the guidelines, caps and number to make the $6 million available in other ways and plans an announcement around May 24th.