Community groups and organizations in Whistler are scrambling as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on their funding sources.
Three organizations that receive Fee for Service (FFS) funding from the Resort Municipality of Whistler—the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, Arts Whistler and the Whistler Museum and Archives—have all had their second quarter funding rescinded, while a fourth, the Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association, saw a big reduction in money received.
The cuts amount to $170,774 from Arts Whistler, $45,542 from the Museum, $40,023 from the Chamber and a drop from $120,000 to $40,000 for WORCA.
For Arts Whistler, the cuts are "completely understandable," said executive director Mo Douglas, noting that the Maury Young Arts Centre (which Arts Whistler operates) has been closed since March 16.
"We've done some rejigging to the budget. Because we don't have the building open, there are some savings there," she said, adding that the organization is looking at federal supports.
"In the meantime, this wasn't a surprise, and the municipality like everybody else is having the same revenue challenges, so we understood it, and we're grateful that they're there most of the time."
FFS funding makes up about one third of Arts Whistler's total budget, Douglas said.
The organization has temporarily laid off 10 staff, and is hoping to come back at "full strength" in September, she added.
"And it might be that things do get juggled or rescheduled a little bit, but right now we are planning the Anonymous Art Show will be in September, we will launch Fall for Arts, [and] we'll have the Hear and Now, the music festival," she said.
"[Losing the funding] doesn't put us at risk. The point of this is to make sure we manage the money and make decisions all the way along so we come back to a strong organization."
But for the Museum, losing the funding is "huge," said executive director Brad Nichols.
"That pays for key members of staff, so yeah, we're working out scenarios of what it looks like not receiving this, and also potentially not receiving FFS for the other two quarters as well."
Losing funding for the whole year would put the museum in "a very, very tough situation," Nichols added, noting that other grants the museum receives are related to projects and students, and couldn't be utilized right now even if they were received.
Meetings with the board are ongoing, and "potentially laying off one of our core members of staff" is still on the table, "which is quite difficult as well," Nichols said.
At the Chamber, "we are making adjustments where needed," said chief executive officer Melissa Pace, in an email.
"We continue to look at programs that will support the re-integration of employees/managers back into the workforce, when the time is right, as well as continuing our long-term partnership with UVic and our service excellence program, the 3R's," Pace said.
"The Whistler Experience program will continue to evolve to suit the needs of today's workforce and look forward to seeing how we can innovate through these critical times."
But Fee for Service groups aren't the only organizations feeling the pinch.
At the April 7 council meeting, Nikki Best, administrator for the Restaurant Association of Whistler (RAW), asked in an emailed question about the status of the Community Enrichment Program, and whether RAW might apply for funds to help its struggling members.
The RMOW will not be opening the Community Enrichment Program (CEP) for another round of funding at this point, said Mayor Jack Crompton.
"I do think that there's probably some thought going to be put to reallocating some of those funds towards social services and supporting the organizations that are going to be taking us through this difficult time, but at this point we're not opening the CEP for additional granting," Crompton said.
On April 8, council allocated $25,000 from the CEP to Sea to Sky Community Services to support the Lil'wat Nation's needs through the Sea to Sky Community Service's food bank located in Pemberton. The donation was initiated by the RMOW "based on an understanding that the Lil'wat Nation has an increasing need for food security and limited resources as a result of the COVID-19 crisis," a spokesperson said.
Other decisions on 2020 CEP funding have yet to be finalized.
In 2019, the CEP supported 31 community groups to the tune of $136,800.
For those groups hoping to receive funding this year, losing the program would just add to the growing list of lost revenue streams.
In the case of the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE), the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a projected loss of more than $100,000 against what was planned for 2020.
"That represents half our 2019 revenues —all of which represents lost environmental programs," said executive director Claire Ruddy, adding that AWARE has had to return grant funding, cancel hiring of summer staff, plan for a summer without events, lay off staff and reduce hours.
"Right now we're really focused on, what is the biggest impact that we can have in the community or for the community, and we're really focusing our attention on the recovery planning work that's happening around COVID, and trying to ensure that the conservation and the climate goals that we've clearly articulated as a community are maintained," Ruddy said.
"As we think about how we recover our tourism economy, how do we make sure that this is equitable and that we bring everybody along in this recovery phase? And then longer term, how do we build resilience that protects us not just from emerging challenges like global pandemics, but also the more well-known issue of our changing climate?"
Like other organizations, AWARE is moving resources and programs online as well as it can, and the organization will hold its AGM digitally on Wednesday, April 22 (see www.awarewhistler.org for more).
Whistler's proposed 2020 budget (before COVID-19 threw the numbers in a blender) was worth $90.4 million, up from $87 million in 2019.
The 2020-2024 proposed projects list included 162 projects with a proposed cost of $39 million in 2020.
