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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, A ug us t 19 ,2 02 1 | 18 mohawkcollege.ca/September Start this September! There's still time to apply.KATHY Mechanical Engineering Technology '21 ing that the cancellation caused the equivalent of a whole year's worth of membership fees, plus the loss of other revenue streams. When it comes to finan- cial hardships, Zhu's group is hardly alone. A recent report by Community De- velopment Halton (CDH) paints a worrying picture of the state of non-profits in Oakville and across the re- gion. Closures, revenue de- clines and a loss of volun- teers are just some of the is- sues plaguing the non-prof- it sector. CDH's report sourced its data from the Ontario Non- profit Network's (ONN) "COVID-19: The State of the Ontario Nonprofit Sector One Year Later." Roughly 3,000 organiza- tions responded to the sur- vey, and eight per cent of them were from Halton. Especially troubling is the fact that many of these organizations service the most vulnerable members of their community. "We did have an office in Burlington. We got rid of that space to save on the rent, because we had to work at home anyways," said Maggie Edwards, chair of the Halton Down Syndrome Association (HDSA), which provides a wide range of services to area families who have members with Down syn- drome. The HDSA also had to cancel a major fundraiser due to COVID-19 -- a golf tournament -- and pivoted online for its Walk for Down syndrome event, as well as some of its services. Admitted Edwards, "Sometimes, the virtual platform doesn't work for people." Socialization is a huge part of Down syndrome therapy. Edwards said many patients, including her own son Oliver, have lost out on that component. "When they went to a virtual platform at school and he had to stay home, he actually completely re- gressed, and he stopped talking completely," she said. The Women's Centre of Halton (WCH) has also suf- fered from the new normal created by the pandemic. "We were very grateful to have some COVID relief funding," said executive di- rector Kate Holmes. "But certainly, our fundraising (from private donors and events) was down." Sixty per cent of Hal- ton's non-profits reported revenue losses, and one in three reported a decline of greater than 50 per cent, ac- cording to the CDH's re- port. This happened in an en- vironment where half of all Halton non-profits report- ed an increase in demand during the pandemic. The same report states that "only a minority of non-profits were support- ed by government emer- gency relief measures." Only 35 per cent of Hal- ton non-profit took advan- tage of the Canadian Emer- gency Wage Subsidy, and 15 per cent asked for cash from the Canada Emergen- cy Business Account. Around 75 per cent of those organizations did not receive provincial support, which the report describes as 'astonishing'. "The non-profits sector is facing a financial crunch like never before," ONN spokesperson Sarah Mat- sushita said. "And if this gap (solvency versus de- mand) can't be made up by donors, fundraising, going to private foundations and other non-government funders, how will the sec- tor continue to survive?" Despite recent strug- gles, there's optimism for the future -- with plans un- derway for less restrictive times. Zhu hopes to rekindle the HHCC's relationships with backers and private donors. Holmes said the WCH will introduce fall pro- gramming such as "having a mechanic talk about how to put windshield washer fluid in their car. What an oil change may cost." Pro- grams like these and many others, according to Holmes, are important be- cause it lets women who come from a controlling environment know "they can make decisions and do things on their own." Said Edwards, "We've been able to run some suc- cessful programing virtu- ally that we might not go back to in person with. Like cooking shows and those kinds of things." STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Non-profit orga- nizations have been hit especially hard by the pandemic. We spoke with representatives from a number of local groups to see how they've been affect- ed. NEWS Continued from page 3 George Zhu's Hamilton-Halton Chinese Choir is among numerous non-profit groups that have been facing a financial hardship during the pandemic. Graham Paine/Metroland MAJORITY OF GROUPS REPORTING REVENUE LOSS "If this gap (solvency versus demand) can't be made up by donors, fundraising, going to private foundations and other non-government funders, how will the sector continue to survive?" - ONN spokesperson Sarah Matsushita SCAN FOR MORE Scan this code for more local news.