Marketing Information on Sectors in Canada

General Non-profit sector details

The non-profit sector in Canada is very large in scale. In fact, it was ranked the 2nd largest non-profit and voluntary sector in the world. Although the numbers relative to income and revenues vary from source to source, the official Statistics Canada income for the industry as of 2007 was $168,869 million dollars. Keep in mind that this includes hospitals, universities and colleges, which appears to be an important distinction in the non-profit sector as it accounts for just over 50% (depending on the source) of the entire income or revenues from the entire non-profit sector. I wasn't able to find more recent data from the census just past.

There are numerous different areas that non-profit organizations fall under according to Imagine Canada and the spread of revenues compared to the number of organizations is quite interesting. Below is a list of areas that these 161,000 non-profit and volunteer organizations fall under:

● Sports and Recreation

● Religion

● Social Services

● Grant making, Fundraising and Voluntarism Promotion

● Arts & Culture

● Business or Professional Associations or Unions

● Education and Research

● Health

● Hospitals, Universities & Colleges

Those areas are listed in descending order by the areas with the most organizations. However, the revenues of each area aren't proportionate to the number of organizations present in it. There are particular areas that receive far less funding proportionately including: Sports & Recreation, Religion and Arts & Culture. There are also many that include greater revenues proportionately: Business or Professional Associations or Unions, Health and Hospitals, Universities & Colleges. As was noted before, Hospitals, Universities & Colleges display the largest gap having among the fewest organizations but representing a very significant portion of the sectors revenues/incomes by any source. As the list above clearly shows, the scope of the non-profit sector is very large isn't a fully exhaustive list of the areas the sector operates within.

The non-profit sector is very important within the Canadian economy. For example, this industry accounts for approximately 7% of the nation's entire GDP, which makes it larger than the automotive or manufacturing industries. Between 1997 and 2007 the core non-profit sector (doesn't include hospitals, non-profits and colleges) outgrew overall GDP growth in 6 out of 11 years. One interesting statistic that makes those numbers relevant to be explained as the core non-profit sector is the difference in where their funding comes from. The core non-profit sector is much more efficient at receiving their operating budgets from non-governmental organizations. Hospitals, universities and colleges are much more dependent upon the government for their funding which ultimately makes them a worse indicator compared to overall GDP.

There are 2 million Canadians employed in non-profit organizations and another 19 million volunteers. These volunteers together donate around 2 billion volunteer hours to these organizations annually. The Canadian government has estimated the value of this volunteer labour at $14.1 billion which isn't calculated into the official figure noted earlier in the paper and gives a very strong indication of the importance of this industry within the Canadian society as a whole.

Non-profit Organizations

Obviously, the key difference between non-profit organizations and for profit organizations is that their income isn't generated for the benefit of their owners. It goes towards the operation of the organization so that it can fulfill their mission which is generally viewed as being for the greater good of society. They are also given tax breaks but are subject to different financial constraints.

For example, some non-profits are criticized for too much of their budget going to operating costs and not the primary mission of the organization. This in turn puts a different pressure on them from their stakeholders compared to for profit organizations that are primarily focused on return.

There are some major differences in the stakeholders between non-profit and for profit organizations. Non-profits have donors, paid staff (in some cases), volunteers and the individuals or groups served by the organization while for profits have investors seeking a return, paid managers, paid staff and owners again seeking a financial benefit from the company. The list below can further detail the stakeholders of non-profit organizations to give an idea of the different groups affected by non-profits:

● Governments

● Special