Why ICLR pursued status as a charity

The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) has been granted federal status as a charity, which the organization says will open it up for new funding opportunities and partnerships.

“Being a charity opens up or reinforces the understanding that we’re more than just an insurance-based organization — that we wholly embrace this whole of society approach to making Canada more resilient,” says Glenn McGillivray, managing director of ICLR. 

“We were created by the Canadian insurance industry, but increasingly…our work has expanded to include many levels of government; we’ve expanded into helping businesses protect themselves against severe weather and earthquake.”

ICLR has conducted and published disaster risk reduction research and education since its inception in 1997 as a federally registered not-for-profit organization.

“We’ve always kind of operated like a charity in a way, particularly with our open science philosophy,” McGillivray says. “The findings that we arrive at and the work that we do is always made public.”

He says the transition to charitable status will not materially alter day-to-day operations but will open doors for new forms of fiscal support, such as philanthropic foundations and corporations.

“We’re seeing a lot of groups out there interested in the kind of work that we do, but who only provide funds to charities,” he says. “We’re seeing it particularly with things like family offices…foundations created by [high-net-worth] Canadian families. We know of at least two that are funding in the wildfire area, for example.”

Those new funding partnerships, once realized, will accelerate the work that ICLR does — and offer an opportunity to take its research from theoretical to practical, says McGillivray.

“ICLR did make a major strategic shift over the last couple years where we’ve begun to focus not just on the science, but also on implementing the science,” he tells CU. “As we spread our wings…and get more funding opportunities, it will allow us to implement more of our work and not just have it sit on the figurative shelf as a research paper.

“These new partnership [opportunities] will allow us to do the practical work.”

As for when these funding partnerships will be realized, McGillivray says ICLR is developing a strategy around that now. “We’re going to try to hit the ground running, but we do recognize that this is also more of a medium-term effort.”

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ICLR’s board of directors and members voted unanimously to pursue charitable status, initiating the application process more than a year ago through the Canada Revenue Agency.

Alyssa DiSabatino

Alyssa Di Sabatino has been a reporter for Canadian Underwriter since 2021, covering industry trends, market developments, and emerging risks.