Should government surpluses be given to charity groups? Green MLA isn't so sure

Carolyn Bateman, with the group Stars for Life, certainly doesn't want to sound ungrateful.

The charity, which provides support to Islanders with autism after they leave the school system, was one of 16 groups to benefit from $1.1 million in funding handed out by the P.E.I. government back on April 3.

"I think everybody was really grateful and thrilled to get this unexpected, I guess a little bit of a windfall," Bateman said, noting her group received a call only days in advance to let them know the funding would be available.

I am very cognizant of the struggles of many of our community partners, and we are committed to ensuring they have the funds and the funding model they need to deliver the services they do for the province.- Tina Mundy, Minister of Family and Human Services 

Most of the funding went to groups that provide services and housing to Islanders with intellectual and physical disabilities like Queens County Residential Services and Inclusions East. Funding was also announced for the P.E.I. Rape and Sexual Assault Centre and Easter Seals.

Bateman said the $40,000 for her group will go toward staff salaries and paying for existing programs.

"Thank you very much, cause it sure helps," Bateman told CBC News, "but it's a drop in the bucket.… There has to be a long-term plan. That's not a long-term plan."

Bateman said what her group needs, and has never before received, is long-term core funding.

Short turnaround

The $1.1 million in funding was a one-time commitment from government based on a budget surplus projected for the province's fiscal year 2017-18, which ended March 31, three days before the funding announcement was made.

Minister of Family and Human Services Tina Mundy said the short timeline didn't allow for a formal application process for the funding, but said staff from her department work closely with the groups involved and knew what they were in need of, in part through funding requests the department had received in the past.

"So when we had the surplus, there were several projects we identified that could impact the most amount of Islanders in the shortest amount of time, so those were the projects that we picked for the million dollars," Mundy said.

Green MLA Hannah Bell has raised questions in the legislature about the way that funding was awarded, and whether one-time grants at the end of a fiscal cycle represent the best way to help community groups.

"I'd agree that having this money going into the community is a fantastic opportunity to see money going to great projects and to great organizations," she told the House. "The challenge is that this funding is a one-year grant.… What will happen to these important initiatives and the associated jobs when the project funding of one year is completed?"

After question period Bell elaborated, saying one-time funding makes sense for some groups and projects -- for instance, funding that was announced for Pat and the Elephant to upgrade its fleet of accessible vehicles.

But Bell noted both Stars for Life and the Autism Society of P.E.I. were provided one-off funding to support their regular, day-to-day operations.

'Serving our vulnerable populations'

Backbench Liberal MP Kathleen Casey also raised the issue in the legislature asking, "What can groups like Stars for Life Foundation do to obtain long-term core funding to meet their programming needs?"

That's when Mundy referred to efforts by government to revamp the way it provides funding to community groups. 

"We have engaged and hired an external consultant who has done extensive work with many of our sister provinces to help develop a funding model so that, not only government, but our community partners could get to work and keep working at what they do best, which is serving our vulnerable populations," Mundy told the House.

In January the province awarded an $84,000 contract to Davis Pier Consulting to develop "a residential funding model and a core-operating grant-funding model to address funding challenges experienced by NGOs," according to tender documents. That report is expected back by the fall.

As for awarding budget surpluses at the end of a fiscal year to community groups, it's not the first time government has done this. 

After criticism government had left $5 million from its social-services budget unspent in a previous year, government provided one-time grants totalling $700,000 to 15 community groups in the spring of 2015. At the time Premier Wade MacLauchlan said money for social services would never again be left unspent.​

Mundy said she appreciates the need for stable, year-over-year funding for those groups, and said in the future they won't have to rely on there being a surplus at the end of the year to receive funding.

"I don't want this to become a regular basis," she said. "If there is a surplus at the end of the year I'd like it to come to my department. However I am very cognizant of the struggles of many of our community partners, and we are committed to ensuring they have the funds and the funding model they need to deliver the services they do for the province."

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