Funding change worries charities

By Wendy Mclellan, The ProvinceNovember 8, 2009

B.C. charities that rely on the local bingo hall for some of their operating dollars are about to lose that decades-old connection to their community. Although the decision won't be announced for a month or two, the B.C. government is changing the way it distributes money from gambling revenue to the province's charities. The change will remove the government's three-year funding commitments to about 1,600 bingo-hall-affiliated charities and merge the program with the year-to-year arrangement the province's more than 6,800 charities have with gaming revenue grants.

"This is a charity's worst fear -- the loss of continuity," said Cheryl Ziola, executive director of the B.C. Association for Charitable Gaming. "With no continuity of funding, and no relation to the local bingo hall, charities will now have to apply for funding from one pool of money."Ziola said charities fear the move will also lead to further cuts in grants from gambling revenues.

Rich Coleman, B.C.'s minister responsible for gaming, answered questions in the legislature on Oct. 27 about whether the government was considering merging the two grants programs for charities. His responses have the organizations fearing the worst. "Basically, what we would try and do is make that decision within the next 30 to 60 days," Coleman said in answer to NDP MLA Shane Simpson's questioning. "It would just be a change of the parameters of the grant program . . . "No, I'm not anticipating going to three-year spending envelopes again." He said the three-year deals with the bingo-affiliated groups "reduce the [government's] flexibility to adjust to certain types of economic times."

The government has already reduced the total amount of gaming money distributed to charities this year by $17 million, Simpson said. The government also removed another $60 million from the pot by using gaming funds to pay for programs previously covered by provincial revenue. This year, charities received about $48.7 million in bingo-affiliated grants; about $103.6 million was distributed in "direct-access" grants. "There has been no consultation with charity groups about these changes and how they will affect them," Simpson said Saturday, adding there is no guarantee all of the funds from the two programs will remain in the pot. "It's all being done in secret by the minister and it's going to be dropped on people in the next couple of months."

David Sheach, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters in Abbotsford, Mission and Ridge Meadows, said losing the three-year funding guarantee will have a huge impact on the organization. "With three years, we can plan our services. It provides some stability," Sheach said. "If we have to apply every year, we're not going to know what supports we can provide to the community. It doesn't allow us to plan."