Anti-privatization of publicly-funded services
Vital services should be government and nonprofit driven to ensure community well-being is centered, not profits.
Legislation and operational changes are increasingly allowing for-profit administration and delivery of vital services that have been historically provided by government and/or nonprofits. From healthcare and child care to employment and training and social assistance administration programs, parts of these care service systems are being commercialized where financial gain and profits are at the center of service provision.
Countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, serve as warning examples for what this means for communities – higher costs, more pressure on tertiary systems, dismal working conditions for workers, receding community control of social infrastructure, and, consequently, lower quality of care for people.
The purpose, governance, and ownership structure of nonprofits – the nonprofit difference – makes the sector uniquely positioned to deliver publicly-funded services.
Nonprofits serve and stay in communities, strengthening local economies, labour markets, and community connections. They are accountable to local communities, exhibit higher levels of transparency, and reinvest profits back into their missions, ensuring taxpayer money is used effectively and strengthening local economies.
Public policy that prioritizes nonprofits to deliver care and puts safeguards in place to eradicate commercialization of care will ensure communities continue to have access to high quality social infrastructure for generations to come.
Key areas of focus for anti-privatization of publicly-funded services
We often take community assets for granted – until they are gone. In Canada, we have an effective partnership between the nonprofit sector and government to build and service community infrastructure. However, over the past two decades, large for-profit chains have persuasively presented themselves as better-positioned to provide these local services and the facilities that house them.
We advocate for:
Nonprofits are prioritized for social infrastructure, such as long-term care and child care, and its expansion.
Profit-free care services with safeguards such as a critical social infrastructure asset lock, transparency,
Ways nonprofits can take action to support anti-privatization
- Connect with us if you are working on an anti-privatization policy issue or if one in this focus area bubbles up for you and your networks. Put it in on our radar to engage in potential collective advocacy efforts.
- Connect the dots between anti-privatization and social purpose real estate with our Not For Sale paper series.
- Add your name to our open letter to Minister of Education on child care.
- Dive into our briefing notes on why child care should be nonprofit and public sector driven.
- Learn about Canada’s Fractured Care Economy.
- Read our blog, Ontarians deserve access to affordable and people-centered services. Nonprofits can make that a reality.
