The Board of Directors of the Canadian NGO, the North-South Institute made the 'challenging decision to close its doors' after it had failed to get Canadian government funding for the second year in a row.
Photo Credit: North-South Institute/NSI

North-South Institute closing down after 38 years, government funding cut

After almost 40 years of existence a respected Canadian non-governmental agency, the North-South Institute (NSI) is closing down, days after Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, informed the institute that it would not receive any funding from the federal government.

On Wednesday (September 10) on its website the Chair of the Board of Directors wrote : “While the Board recognizes the valuable contribution the NSI could make to the future of independent Canadian-led international research, it has unfortunately had to acknowledge that the Institute has not been successful in diversifying and growing its funding sources to the extent required to ensure financially sustainable operations.”

The Ottawa Citizen newspaper reports that Bruce Moore, the volunteer chair of the institute, said the institute wasn’t expecting the $1.3 million it had received in 2012, which had run out in June of 2013. But had hoped for at least some funding. Instead, the paper reports “a few hours before the institute’s international board meeting on Sept. 2, Moore got a call saying there would be no federal money at all.”

In the closure announcement on its website, the chair notes “In 2012, NSI was recognized, for the second year in a row, as the world’s top think tank with an operating budget under $5 million, and the leading Canadian international development think tank by the Global Go To Think Tank Survey.”

More information:
Ottawa Citizen – North-South Institute, Ottawa-based think tank, to close – here
CBC News – North-South Institute to close after federal funding cut – here
Message on North-South Institute website – here

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