I was recently asked by Lyndon Ward, a member of Dexterity Consulting's advisory committee, why there was so much duplication in the charitable sector.  Here are my thoughts around this...

The province issues non-profit numbers to organizations that "...promote art, science, religion, charity or other similar endeavors, or they may be formed solely for the purpose of promoting recreation for their members."  The Federal Government issues a charitable number that allows organizations to issue tax-receipts.  Just to complicate things, here is what the Canadian Government says about regulating charities.

"... the Income Tax Act does not define what is charitable, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) determines whether or not an organization qualifies as a charity at law by applying the common law: that is court decisions.

To be charitable at common law, an organization must have exclusively charitable purposes and carry on exclusively charitable activities that further these purposes. In this document, the words purposes and objects are used interchangeably. Both refer to the way that an organization describes and identifies the reason(s) for which it was created i.e., what it intends to achieve. Activites are the organization's programs - or how it will accomplish its purposes.

A charity's objects are set out in its governing document. If the objects allow the organization to do something that the law does not recognize as charitable, the organization is not considered to be a charity and is not eligible for registration."

All charities are non-profits, but not all non-profits are charities.  So what is with the duplication???

The provincial government issues the non-profit registration without looking at what other organizations are currently offering similar services.  The same thing happens at the Federal level.  It then becomes up to the communities to self-regulate.  This is done in a number areas, most noticably through donor investment.  If people are going to make financial contributions to organizations that are duplicating services, then they are feeding the problem. 

The United Way has begun encouraging its recipient organizations to collaborate.  In fact, there has been talk about limiting funds to organizations that are blatantly duplicating services.  I am not sure if this is policy.  What do wonder, if this is the case, what is United Way, Imagine Canada and others doing about mitigating the turf issues around duplicating services.  In Calgary for example, there are 6 organizations (that I know of) that support families who have a child or family member with Autism.  These six organizations could easily merge into half that, share resources, reallocate program dollars, conduct medical research and lower costs.  They don't (and they aren't). 

United Way only supports social service organizations (approximately 1/3 of Calgary social service sector receives United Way support).  What would happen if they were to get like-minded organizations that are distinctly overlapping services to begin a dialogue (not contingent on funding) about sharing resources.  What would it look like for these agencies if their overhead was cut because they managed the duplication better?  How would donors feel if they knew that their dollar was going to go further since a program or a service was better managed under a different operating umbrella?

I think that the government bodies who issue the registration numbers ought to do their due diligence before issuing the number.  They should find out if the applicant has considered the other agencies that are doing similar work.  With 161,000 non-profits and registered charities in Canada, and the number growing, it is in the best interest of Canadians overall and philanthropic investors to encourage government and the organizations already existing to stop duplicating services and to start merging. 

The economy is slowing.  People and granting bodies are becoming more strategic in how they give.  Questions are being raised as to what makes one organization different from the other organization with the same objectives.  Social mediums like QuantumShift.tv and the Causes on Facebook are adding fuel to the fire of what organizations are doing the best work and pushing those that aren't out of the arena. As all these combined are making the perfect storm for seeing an end to duplicated services in the charitable sector.  

As smart philanthropic investors you also have a responsibility to make donations to organizations that are not only addressing a need, but are doing so in the most effective way possible... that includes not offering a service because someone else is doing it, and doing it well.