Now or Never: The Essential Role and Uncertain Future of Social Profits in Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo
Fort McMurray, AB – July 29, 2024 — Social profit organizations across our region work tirelessly to address key community needs, including mental health, food insecurity, housing assistance, arts, recreation, childcare and many others. These organizations operate on the front lines, often filling gaps left by public and private sectors and providing services essential for the community’s day-to-day functioning and long-term resilience.[i]
This sector’s impact is particularly profound in remote regions like ours, where social profit organizations provide critical support, resources and services that often go unnoticed until they are suddenly unavailable.
The Impact of a Day Without Social Profit Services
In May 2024, a wildfire triggered an evacuation order for parts of the Wood Buffalo community. This order required thousands of residents to leave the community, and thousands more left voluntarily, citing concerns for their own safety and the safety of their loved ones. Staffing limitations triggered the temporary closure of several social profit agencies in Fort McMurray, and concerns from residents regarding how these closures would affect community quickly mounted on social media and at community leadership tables.
While some organizations were able to shift to remote service provision, other organizations simply did not have the staff or volunteers with the necessary training and credentials to safely operate on-site programs and services. On Tuesday, May 14th, childcare centres, women’s shelters, family resource networks, food supports and several other community services were temporarily unavailable, giving our community a jarring glimpse into a world without social profits.
It is important for us to recognize the essential role that social profits play in providing crucial services and support to any community, especially a community located in rural northern Alberta. Without them, our friends, neighbours and colleagues would likely face increased hardships related to food insecurity, domestic violence, mental health, childcare and homelessness. Additionally, support for our community’s children, youth, families, newcomers and seniors would be practically non-existent.[ii] [iii]
The last several years have been incredibly challenging for many across our community. The lingering impacts that wildfires, the covid-19 pandemic and the economy are having on residents, businesses, industry and our local funders are significant and are trickling through to social profits where the gap between demand for services and organizational capacity continues to grow.
Harsh Realities for the Year Ahead
There are organizations in our community that may not survive the next 12 months. Others will survive but cannot offer wages that keep pace with inflation, and struggle to afford employee & family benefits. [iv] Many will be reviewing their current programs, services and events, deciding which they can afford to continue and which they may have to let go.
Burnout continues to pose a real challenge to team moral and mental health. Many leaders have been trying to meet an increasing demand for services with reduced staff teams for multiple years, often filling gaps in staffing by taking more work on themselves. [v]
In the next 12 months, leaders will expend more time and energy on fundraising efforts to compensate for anticipated reductions in grant funding, leaving less capacity for the strategy and implementation work that enables them to deliver on community outcomes.
Our current social profit sector is not sustainable, and it cannot be overstated that simply adopting a “do more with less” mentality will not be enough to keep us afloat.
Collaboration and partnership alone will not be enough to keep us afloat.
Charting a New Course
Preservation of critical community programs, services and supports will require our collective commitment to difficult conversations and what may feel like impossible decisions.
It will require strong and committed board leadership, a deep understanding of our community’s landscape and the organization’s role within it.
It will require agencies and their leaders to demonstrate leadership within the sector, not just within the agency they’ve committed to.
Strategic conversations regarding mergers, closures and soft landings for programs are increasing at the Executive Director level. At the same time, concerns about current levels of board engagement are also increasing.
Executive Directors will undoubtedly have a critical role in crafting our community’s future in the coming months, but they can not and should not do it alone. Supportive, engaged boards are one of the most critical factors in determining the success of a merger or wind up, and board leaders of organizations grappling with these realities need to be prepared for many long hours of volunteer time over and above their regular board duties.[vi]
Above all else, preservation of the sector will require full commitment to significant and stable investment from governments and our community’s core funders. The work ahead cannot be done without adequate funding.
Without investment, social profits across the community will creep closer to their breaking points, we risk losing vital community supports, and as always, our region’s most vulnerable will pay the highest price.
To our sector’s valued community partners, please know that when you choose to volunteer your time, to donate or support fundraising initiatives, and, perhaps most significantly, when you choose to talk to your coworkers, friends, and our elected officials about the positive impact social profits have on your lives, you choose a brighter future for our sector and the community.
Every choice we make from here on out, as leaders, board directors, volunteers, funders and community members will be significant to the future of Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo. The time for strategic, community centered investment and decision-making is now, while the choices are still ours to make.
[i] Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations. Too essential to fail. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.calgarycvo.org/too-essential-to-fail/.
[ii] FuseSocial. Profiling the Social Profit Sector. (2021). Retrieved from https://fusesocial.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/non_profit_sector_profile_report.pdf.
[iii] Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations. Too essential to fail. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.calgarycvo.org/too-essential-to-fail#an-essential-sector-banner
[iv] Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations. Facing the storm. (2023) Retrieved from https://www.calgarycvo.org/facing-the-storm#that-money-thing
[v] Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations. Facing the storm. (2023) https://www.calgarycvo.org/facing-the-storm#rapid-pace-of-change
[vi] Institute for Community Prosperity. Merging for good. Mount Royal University. Retrieved from https://www.mtroyal.ca/nonprofit/InstituteforCommunityProsperity/_pdfs/Merging-for-Good-1.pdf.
About FuseSocial
FuseSocial is a trusted leader in the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo social profit sector, working to strengthen the capacity of local nonprofit organizations. Each year, it supports more than 100 local nonprofit and charitable organizations through workforce training, leadership development programs, board governance supports, and shared services.
FuseSocial also convenes and mobilizes organizations to improve sector collaboration, and operates the NorthStar Ford Wood Buffalo Volunteer Centre, connecting thousands of residents with meaningful volunteer opportunities across the region.
Media enquiries can be directed to:
Shannon Rex
Executive Director
587.570.8021
shannon.rex@fusesocial.ca
