Policy & Advocacy


2025 Pillar Nonprofit Network Policy Priorities


Strategic Alignment


In 2024, Pillar convened two major policy events—The Big Picture and The Bigger Picture—to elevate issues that matter most to the sector. We listened to diverse voices, especially from equity-denied community organizations. The insights from these gatherings have continued to shape our 2025 policy priorities, alongside recent and emerging challenges surfacing in 2025.

Our priorities align with the broader provincial, and national sector goals—ensuring our advocacy is both responsive and strategic.

Our Strategy


Pillar organizes around sector-wide issues that impact nonprofits, particularly those that create barriers to equity. While our core policy advocacy prioritizes London, our impact extends across Southwestern Ontario. London is home to more than 1,800 nonprofits––more than in some Canadian provinces.

As a regional intermediary organization with strong local roots and national partnerships, Pillar connects community voices to policy tables that often overlook them. We recognize the importance of advocating for sound public policy and an enabling economic environment where nonprofits can thrive. Each year, we identify and prioritize issues through a multi-sectoral lens––using these priorities to guide our efforts.

Despite limited resources and capacity, we strive to adopt a data-informed and story-driven approach to our advocacy. In March 2025, we heard from 96 nonprofit organisations in London and Area about how economic uncertainty—largely driven by the threat of U.S. tariffs—is worsening existing challenges and eroding optimism. Our goal for 2025 is to organize around these pressing sectoral concerns and work collaboratively to champion shared priorities. We recognize that progress is only possible when we support one another and build collective strength.

Our work is grounded in equity and trust. We believe that dismantling systemic oppression requires more than awareness—it requires active listening, courageous truth-telling, and consistent action. Trust is not only built through transparency but by aligning our words with meaningful action. We commit to showing up for our communities and confronting injustice, even when the truth is difficult.

Building inclusive and welcoming communities begins with us. While we advocate for change externally, we also turn inward—committing to dismantling systemic inequities within our own structures. We continue to uphold and deepen our internal values of equity, inclusion, and diversity in the workforce. 


Municipal/Local Priorities


1. Secure and Strengthen Municipal Funding for Nonprofits

  • Advocate for the restoration and expansion of the Community Grants Program to at least the levels promised in the 2024–2027 Multi-Year Budget.
  • Push for sustained, multi-year operational funding that aligns with inflation and evolving community needs.
  • Ensure that funding mechanisms are accessible and equitable, particularly for small and volunteer-run nonprofits.
  • Encourage the City to maintain annual grant opportunities to allow nonprofits to respond to changing local needs within the four-year budget cycle.


2. Prioritize Nonprofit Inclusion in Procurement Policy

  • Ensure nonprofits are recognized and prioritized in London’s procurement framework.
  • Lead a city-wide nonprofit-business collaboration campaign to support local and social enterprises.


3. Embed Nonprofits in London’s Economic Strategy

  • Hold the Mayor and City Council accountable to their commitment of including nonprofits in economic planning.
  • Formally recognize the nonprofit sector as an economic stakeholder in London's official planning and policy documents.
  • Create ongoing channels for collaboration between the City’s economic development team and Pillar.
  • Advocate for a “nonprofit roundtable” within city consultations on affordability, housing, and workforce planning.


4. Workforce Development & Volunteer Strategy for London

  • Strengthen our partnership with the Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning and Development Board (EMOWPDB), by participating in annual employer surveys to identify nonprofit workforce needs in the Elgin Middlesex Oxford region and seek other opportunities for collaboration.
  • Co-develop a citywide volunteer strategy that addresses recruitment, retention, and recognition gaps.
  • Advocate for practices and policies that promote decent work and economic inclusion especially for equity-denied groups.

Provincial Priorities


1. Establish a Dedicated Office in Government for the Nonprofit Sector

  • Support passage of the private member’s bill to create an Office for Nonprofits within the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. 


2. Expand Access to Regional Economic Support Funds

  • Ensure nonprofits can access any provincial trade-related or economic hardship funding––particularly sectors impacted by tariffs like food security, housing, and health.
  • Advocate for a shift from project-based funding to long-term, inflation-indexed operational support for community-serving nonprofits.


3. Address Barriers in the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program That Undermine the Nonprofit Workforce

  • Adjust points-based immigration systems to value the social contributions of nonprofit professionals in community well-being and service delivery.
  • Adapt immigration wage thresholds to reflect nonprofit sector realities, enabling fair access for skilled workers in lower-paid yet essential roles.
  • Fast-track permanent residency for immigrants already working in nonprofits to retain talent and maintain continuity in critical community services.


4. Advance Housing Affordability Through Nonprofit Acquisition Fund 

  • Establish a dedicated fund to help nonprofits, co-ops, and Indigenous-led organizations acquire at-risk affordable housing units
  • Ensure fast, low-barrier access to capital to enable timely purchases in competitive real estate markets.
  • Expand Infrastructure Ontario Loans to include all public benefit nonprofits. Read More
  • Create a dedicated Indigenous stream to support culturally appropriate, community-led housing. 
  • Include funding for necessary repairs and upgrades to maintain safety and livability.
  • Eliminiate financial barriers by offering tax exemptions, such as waiving land transfer taxes.


5. Coordinate a Sector Workforce & Volunteer Recovery Strategy

  • Work with Ontario nonprofit Network and Volunteer Centres to push for a coordinated strategy to: Address wage parity, offer training and upskilling support, provide benefits/stability for nonprofit workers and rebuild the province’s volunteer base post-pandemic.
  • Advocate for removal of fees for vulnerable sector police record checks to reduce barriers for potential volunteers.


National Priorities


1. Support Calls for Federal Funding Reforms

  • Reduce administrative complexity and duplication to allow nonprofits to focus on service delivery and community outcomes.
  • Shift toward long-term, flexible funding that supports organizational stability, innovation, and responsiveness to community needs.
  • Develop accountability measures that recognize qualitative outcomes, community knowledge, and the expertise of those with lived experience.

See Core Funding, supporting Nonprofit Missions, Resilience and Impact.


2. Establish a Federal Secretariat for the Nonprofit Sector

  • Create a permanent office or secretariat in the federal government to coordinate policy affecting nonprofits and social enterprises.

See The Nonprofit Sector Needs a Home in Government


3. Establish Nonprofit Data Lab

  • Provide Statistics Canada with a mandate to carry out regular updates to the national survey of nonprofit organizations, to be repeated every year, and provide funding of $500,000 annually for this purpose. The survey should include grassroots (unincorporated) organizations.
  • Provide $750,000 to establish a unit within Statistics Canada whose mandate is to collect, analyze, and share data on the nonprofit sector.
  • Provide $2 million in 2025-26 and $1 million ongoing for creating and maintaining a Canadian Nonprofit Data Lab.

See Imagine Canada. Policy Priority: Data is needed for Effective Decision Making for and by our Sector


4. Support for Paid and Unpaid Labour in the Nonprofit Sector

  • Create a comprehensive strategy focusing on equitable compensation, skills development, leadership training, and succession planning to strengthen the nonprofit workforce.
  • Expand eligibility for programs like the Canada Digital Adoption Program to include nonprofits, enabling them to improve digital capabilities and workforce skills (imaginecanada.ca) 
  • Implement policies that acknowledge the value of volunteer work and provide resources to recruit, train, and retain volunteers effectively.
  • Establish guidelines and support mechanisms to ensure fair compensation for nonprofit employees, reducing reliance on unpaid overtime and promoting sustainable work environments.

See Policy Priority: Supporting the Paid and Unpaid Labour Powering the Nonprofit Sector


5. Address Immigration Barriers Impacting the Nonprofit Workforce

  • Broaden the definition of essential work to reflect the full scope of contributions made by the nonprofit sector, ensuring that immigration pathways recognize the value of community-based roles.
  • Adapt immigration pathways to reflect labour shortages and community needs across the nonprofit sector - not just in business.


How You Can Support These Priorities

  • Endorse these priorities publicly.
  • Invite Pillar to brief your team or network.
  • Share your nonprofit’s stories or data with us.
  • Contact your City Councillor or MPP to support specific legislation or initiative.


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