Small Non-Profits (SNPs) likely make up the majority of organizations registered under Alberta Societies Act [1]. Based on numbers just released from the Alberta Government, two thirds of these organizations no longer exist [2].

Small non-profit (SNPs) organizations are key to the volunteer economy and civil society. Larger, for-profit organizations are important too – but I want to focus on the little guys. To start, I have been involved with SNPs for most of my life. Next, without staff or larger infrastructure, these organizations tend to be passion and purpose driven. Finally, there are LOTS of them [2].

Where Have All the SNPs Gone…

Fragile SNPs. The above table gives a first glimpse to the fragility of SNPs. In total, there are 25,603 active organizations of all sorts. Nearly twice as many of this number have come and gone, about 40,000. Agricultural Societies are the most stable (losing only 1) followed by Religious Organizations. Societies have not fared as well. In fact, for every 3 created, 2 have been abandoned.

Struck by the Strucks Zooming in just a bit further on societies, the following graphic looks at them from a big time blocks perspective with just two statuses: Active or Non-Active. Some of my observations are that:

• The last quarter of the 20th century was not kind to SNPs.
• Of the 18,000 created between 1975-1999 two-thirds are now non-active.
• There is a less than 50/50 chance an organization created in the last 20 years still exists. .

A SNP Walks into a Low Bar…

Good Reasons to Go. To be fair, there are very good reasons to wind down a society. For example, if an organization is created to support a one-time event, it makes sense to wind it down afterwards. In other cases, organizations join forces and amalgamate creating a bigger and more robust entity. Unfortunately, the above table tells a different story. While nearly 3,200 Societies were dissolved, ten times as many were struck.

A Low Bar to Avoid Struckness. The primary reasons the provincial registrar strikes an organization is failure to file the necessary documents composed of [3]:

• An annual return, very basic questions: who are officers of the organization.
• A financial statement, once again basic cash in and outflows, and
• An audit of the statements, which can be done by any two members of the society.

These are not particularly onerous, and I doubt very much anyone from the government gives them more than a cursory review. Given this relatively low bar, why are so many societies struck from the roster?

Struck Means Abandoned.

An organization is struck because the members and leadership of the society have wandered away. They may have grown too old. More likely, the cost-benefits of keeping the society going has tipped excessively toward the cost side of the equation [4]

Burden of Volunteering

Ideally, if the members are no longer interested, they would dissolve the Society – but that prospect seems too daunting to the remaining members and wandering away is easier. However, what if we can help to re-balance the cost-benefit of running a society? What if we can reduce the burden of volunteering so more societies continue to exist, thrive and contribute to civil society?

References and Further Notes

1. Information about the average, median, and distribution of revenues of non-profits is challenging to get. I am making an assertion that most are small based on personal observations – I would love to hear if you have a source that confirms (or disputes) this assumption based on Alberta or Canadian data.
2. See Alberta Non-Profit Listing – Open Government for the data source, current to April 2023.
3. Annual returns for corporations, cooperatives, and organizations | Alberta.ca.
4. In some cases, social norms have evolved as well. For example, the Klu Klux Klan has two entries in the corporate registry, one from 1932 and the other 1980.
5. For more on the burden versus benefit of volunteering, see: Paying your Volunteers Well.