Les neuf pour cent invisibles : le secteur sans but lucratif dans l’économie canadienne

We tend to speak of the nonprofit sector in the language of kindness — generosity, compassion, service. That language is appropriate, but it can obscure an important truth. The sector is also a substantial part of the Canadian economy.

In July 2022, Statistics Canada published an overview of the non-profit sector from 2010 to 2020. It reported that non-profit institutions contributed 9.0 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product in 2020 — some $185.8 billion — and employed approximately 2.4 million people.

Three very different sectors

The figure becomes more meaningful once it is disaggregated. The great majority of that economic activity comes from government non-profits such as hospitals and universities. Business non-profits, including associations, account for a smaller share. Community non-profits — the food banks, housing providers, recreation clubs and social-service agencies most people picture when they hear the word “charity” — represented about 16 per cent of the sector’s GDP.

That last group is small in economic terms yet immense in social reach. According to the same analysis, community non-profits receive the large majority of household donations. They are where ordinary generosity lands.

Why the economic lens matters

Seeing nonprofits as economic actors changes certain conversations. It clarifies that nonprofit employees are part of the workforce, deserving fair pay and good working conditions. It shows that investment in the sector’s infrastructure — its technology, its management, its people — is investment in a significant segment of the economy. And it reminds policymakers and business leaders that the health of communities and the health of markets are not separate matters.

A personal reflection

My own career has been spent in technology, a field that is rightly recognised as economically vital. I have come to believe that the community nonprofit sector deserves the same recognition, and the same seriousness of investment. Its product is less tangible — trust, dignity, belonging — but its contribution to national wellbeing is no less real.