North Bay hospice says it had to diversify fundraising efforts due to the Canada Post strike

The executive director of a hospice in North Bay says fundraising for its end-of-life care became a challenge during the Canada Post strike, and he hopes the organization can make up for it now that mail delivery is back on.

Gil Pharand said the Nipissing Serenity Hospice needs to raise around $800,000 through donations every year to provide services beyond direct clinical care, which is funded by the province.

Last year, a mail-in campaign brought in around $10,000.

Pharand said the hospice had to lean into more social media and email campaigns to make up the difference.

"For us, it's just a matter of pivoting," he said.

"We do a great job at making sure that we're meeting our budget requirements, that we have emergency reserves in case we need to tap into them to support what we are doing. And with all of the support we receive, I wouldn't say it's affected our core services, but it does affect our planning as we move toward our next budget year."

Pharand said during the Canada Post strike, some donors came to the hospice in person to deliver their donations.

He expects donations delivered by mail might start to trickle in again now that mail delivery has resumed.

Pharand said the strike has shown the importance for charities to diversify their fundraising efforts.

"We're always trying to diversify and making sure that we don't have all of our eggs in one basket," he said.

"So it's important that we continue to do that. We do try to cater to all of the different populations that are out there because they are diverse. And some people are more comfortable with using the mail. Some people are more comfortable with email, some people are more comfortable with social media."

Around 55,000 Canada Post workers returned to work on Dec. 17 after the federal government ordered the Canada Industrial Relations Board to end the strike.