Municipal Funding for the Non-profit Sector: A Methodology

Abstract

Non-profit organizations have been an indelible feature of urban life in Canada since at least the nineteenth century. They have also, since the 1970s, come to rely heavily on state funding from all three levels of government. Yet scholarship on how the state has used its spending power to shape the non-profit sector is entirely focussed on provincial and federal policy. In part, this reflects the immense obstacles to collecting historical data on municipal funding. This article provides a methodology for collecting data on municipal funding for the non-profit sector. It is based on a study of 25 municipalities in British Columbia. For historians, this type of research offers unique insights into the policies and politics of municipal governance; the diversity of Canada’s non-profit sector; how urban communities have changed over time; the shifting dynamics in the relationship between the state and civil society; and how local governments use their spending power to shape the non-profit sector. It provides an opportunity to better understand the emergence a network of organizations that makes possible modern urban life.