Government Funding of Charities Serving Indigenous Peoples

There are several reasons why governments fund charities. Relative to government ministries, charities are often better able to assess and adapt to local needs, serve vulnerable populations, and deliver culturally sensitive services where appropriate. This article investigates the funding decisions of governments by focusing on charities that provide services to Indigenous individuals. The authors use Canada Revenue Agency T3010 data on registered charities from 2003 to 2017 to extract information on charities that serve the Indigenous population and further separate this group into those located off and on reserves. Governments fund Indigenous-serving charities differently than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Being an Indigenous-serving charity is associated with a 25 percent increase in the predicted probability of receiving government support relative to non-Indigenous charities (for the reference group). Indigenous-serving charities on reserve are 17 percent less likely to receive public funding relative to those off reserve. Federal government funding seems to act as a catalyst for provincial and municipal funding. The authors' results lend support to the idea that governments fund charities to provide locally appropriate services to vulnerable populations.