Consultation conducted by BNP Philanthropic Performance

Montréal, July 7, 2020 – BNP Philanthropic Performance, leader in philanthropic services in Quebec, unveils the results of its Resilience 2020 qualitative survey conducted with some fifty donors in the Quebec philanthropic ecosystem, namely representatives of large companies, SMEs and private foundations. The purpose of this consultation project was to find out the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on contributions to NPOs and will be renewed in the fall to provide an evolving picture of the situation.

How do you measure the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on your contributions to partnerships, donations and sponsorships?
Nearly 44 % are negatively affected.

If your organization has reduced its contributions, how much have you reduced your contributions?
Nearly 38% have decreased their contributions of 50% or more.

The consultation also validated two possible solutions to provide a way out of the crisis for the charitable sector:

Based on the results obtained, BNP Philanthropic Performance also draws the following highlights:

  • Companies whose revenues were negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis have substantially reduced their contributions to the philanthropic sector;
  • Private foundations are continuing and, in some cases, increasing their financial support for NPOs1;
  • However, the picture is not entirely negative as 29% of respondents maintained their contributions and 16% increased them.

According to Christian Bolduc, President and CEO of BNP Philanthropic Performance: “Although the consultation we conducted undeniably shows that our donors will reduce their contribution in 2020, the picture is not entirely negative. The philanthropic sector is a resilient sector and we are confident that NPOs will be able to continue their operations with a new normality. We can hope that donors will gradually restore their contributions with the improved economic conditions expected in the coming months. We also hope that Canadian private foundations will be able to offset some of the losses incurred with the corporate sector by increasing their contributions and launching creative initiatives as they have done in the past. In fact, some private American foundations launched a bond issue last June to finance the increase in their contributions”.

 

The Resilience 2020 consultation which complements the study “NPOs facing the COVID-19 crisis”
On April 22nd, BNP Philanthropic Performance unveiled the results of its study conducted with NPOs in Quebec. The findings explicitly coincided with a nationwide consultation conducted by Imagine Canada and predicting losses in 2020 of $ 9.5 billion for charities as well as the loss of 117,000 jobs, the vast majority of which are women.

Charities are facing a storm with a triple challenge2:

  1. The abrupt fall in philanthropic and generated revenues by the temporary closure;
  2. Temporary suspension of their operations and community services;
  3. Human resources challenges both for personnel management and for volunteer resource.

Like other business sectors, the current crisis also highlights the lac of contingency plan for certain organizations in the event of a crisis.

Moreover, since the majority of organizations do not have reserve Capital funds, it is possible to see how such a crisis can weaken them and force them to completely or substantially reduce their operations, thus compromising their case statement

Although the crisis has had a major and undeniable impact on many sectors of the economy, the study showed that this impact is not uniform since a large part of private foundations and a significant proportion of companies will maintain their funding towards NPOs


About BNP Philanthropic Performance
The consulting firm continues to adapt to the current context by offering specific services, training and coaching support as well as human resources support. To learn more, visit bnpperformance.com.

Co-founded in 1999 by Jean-Robert Nolet and Christian Bolduc, BNP Philanthropic Performance offers philanthropic and organizational strategies, research and funding programs. A close collaborator of several organizations from the health, education, culture, science and religious sectors, the BNP team includes several professionals holding the CFRE title, the most important accreditation in the philanthropic sector.
www.bnpperformance.com

MEDIA CONTACT
Marie Harou
Communications and Marketing Director
514 528-8566, 29
mharou@bnpperformance.com

 

  1. Source : Fondations philanthropiques Canada-Rapport de juin 2020
  2. Source : Centre for Social Innovation