Reacting to the Rise in Accountability Requirements: A Case Study of Status of Women Canada’s Women’s Program

Nonprofit organizations working towards social progress on gender-based violence cannot effect systemic change alone; they depend on partnerships, networks, and funding to carry out their work. Many receive and even depend on government funding and support to move their missions forward. This work is a case study of the funds distributed for gender-based violence work through the Women’s Program funding stream, administered by Status of Women Canada, between 1995 and 2015; it explores the intent of this funding, how the program evolved over the study period particularly with respect to rising accountability requirements, and the characteristics of and impacts on recipient organizations. This is a mixed methods research project, which includes a textual analysis of government-published documents pertaining to the Women’s Program over the study period, the production of network maps of funded organizations, a quantitative analysis of distributed funds, and semi-structured interviews with both funded organizations and Status of Women Canada bureaucrats. Over the study period, there was a rise in accountability measures required of funded organizations. At the same time, funding recipients shifted away from smaller nonprofit organizations and towards larger and/or for-profit ones, as well as away from research and advocacy targets and towards service delivery. This exposes certain organizations – that is, low-revenue nonprofit organizations and networks that are not registered as charities and that are focused primarily on gender-based work – as being particularly vulnerable due to their dependence on government funding. Funding recipients consistently reported, however, that despite the issues in applying for, reporting on, and maintaining their funding, the Women’s Program funding and support were extremely valuable. These findings highlight the influence that accountability measures have on the landscape of nonprofit organizations focused on gender-based violence and how they work in partnership with each other and with government, and suggest implications for the nonprofit sector more broadly.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Public Policy

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Hoogendam, Robyn

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2022 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, distribution to students, research and scholarship. Theses may only be shared by linking to the Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be copied without proper attribution to the author; no part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2023-15573

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/40868