Funding a Fourth Way (Montreal, QC): How Fondation Béati Backs Community Self-Determination Against Neoliberalism

Introduction

What does self-determination really mean? Especially, what does it mean in our neoliberal world? This is the guiding question we are going to address in this Community Knowledge Publication. To answer it, we will be supported by Fondation Béati. Since 1990, operating in Montréal and wider Québec, Béati has defined self-determination as the people’s ability to enact their own ways of living [1,52]. In other words, it is our ability to identify our needs and find solutions. Although it may seem straightforward as a concept, it is not as easy to apply. Particularly, when we look at our context of neoliberal oppression. In Greater Montréal, this oppression means high gentrification, community displacement, and systemic discrimination [22; 34]. But also, the systemic underfunding of grassroot organizations, as well as philanthropy controlled by the elites [55;19]. In a landscape where social ties are broken down and community organizing is disempowered, Fondation Béati’s mission and vision come to help our ability to self-determine:

We aspire to a world imbued with meaning, connections, and solidarity, where justice for all living beings is at the heart of our actions, and where diversities, embraced unconditionally, actively contribute to shaping our visions of the future. (4, p. 11)

This is better grounded in Béati’s mission statement: supporting every group to achieve justice and meaning through courageous philanthropy [3]. Béati transcends traditional philanthropic schemes; instead of choosing problems and solutions autonomously, the foundation acts together with the communities to support their needs and through their own pathways [6]. But how does Béati operationalize this? This is grounded in its four core values and five ethical principles [3].

This means that Béati does not fund great general issues (eg. housing insecurity). Rather, it tackles the specific ways in which these problems manifest in its communities (eg. Cultural erasure due to gentrification in Montréal’s Chinatown). In other words, Béati supports self-determined action rather than gives support. The aim of this publication is to unpack this very point. First, I will review the key challenges and affected communities. Second, I will underline how Béati is responding to those challenges. Finally, I will conclude with an Author’s Note outlining the aim and utility of this Community Knowledge Publication.

Background: Key Local Challenges

Now we know what self-determination means and on which bases Béati helps communities make it real. However, to better understand self-determination and Béati’s action, we need to explore the structural challenges which limit it in Greater Montreal.

The philanthropic sector as a reinforcer of hegemonic structures

Béati recognizes that the philanthropic sector systemically limits self-determination [2]. Traditional 1900s philanthropy has been based on one major assumption: the poor have no capacity to act on their needs; only wealthy people can dictate solutions [56]. This is fundamentally counterintuitive to self-determination, since it strips away communities of their autonomy. Today, neoliberal capitalism’s tendency to yield great results worsens the issue. Contemporary philanthropists not only dictate solutions to social issues: they want grand social impacts [15; 55]. In other words, a grassroot organization proposing to solve wide-ranging urban food scarcity may gain funding, while one focusing on more pressing, yet localized housing issues may not be considered. This structurally limits self-determination, because real, self-defined needs may remain short of funding, if unable to demonstrate wide impact [15, 12].

This is deepened by an enduring lack of diversity within philanthropy [13]. According to Statistics Canada, only 10% of Canadian philanthropic boards come from minorities [57]. Although recent data have shown 55% of philanthropic staff coming from diversified backgrounds, foundations report that decision-maker positions are still filled by dominant social groups [58]. This means that philanthropy is led by white, upper-class men and women, out of touch with the very communities' needs at the core of their actions [2]. Together with strict requirements on impact, this may subtly influence funding priorities [13]; further limiting opportunities for communities to self-determine their needs. It is here that Béati is called into place, with its approach centred around community groups. It starts to create fertile soil for self-determination.

Expanding Neoliberalism as posing further challenges to self-determination

The other main challenge to community self-determination is the aggressive expansion of neoliberal politics within Greater Montréal. Throughout the last 20 years, the Québec government has started to systemically defund and control autonomous social movements [19]. This culminated with the establishment of Loi 7: a law designed to lower public spending and limit public grant bureaucracy by merging government funding streams [59]. Historically, there used to be two of those streams for community organizations. One was dedicated to community-specific needs (Fonds d’Aide à l’action Communautaire Autonome, FAACA); the other to government-defined issues (Fonds Québécois d'Initiatives Sociales, FQIS). Now, with Loi 7, these are merged together under the Fonds Québécois d’initiatives sociales et action Communautaire (FQISAC), deeply related to the Loi contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale [37,60]. Although this does not imply further cuts on paper, it means that state is redirecting all its community funding towards governmental and law-bound priorities, leaving stretched resources toward self-defined needs [18, 60] However, as Sylvain Lafrenière (Regroupement des organismes en défense collective des droits, RODCD) noted, this does not only financially limit self-determination. Merging the two funding streams strips communities of their principal guarantee of independence, and invites state-controlled, rather than autonomous, action [54].

This situation is deepened by the withdrawal of Québec’s social welfare, and its heavy reliance on grassroots organizations to mitigate social needs [17, 50]. Community organizations have had to put forward their resources to ensure food security, housing, and social care, limiting salaries and putting aside specific claims [19]. Such effects are further accelerated by the rising living costs and gentrification of Montréal [16,29,38]. More people make use of community services, and community workers’ salaries are half of what is needed to live in Montréal [16] meaning more work and less remuneration [50]. Also, historically working class or racialized neighborhoods, such as Parc-Extension and Chinatown, have seen gentrification pricing residents out of their homes and communities [29; 38]. By physically fracturing these communities and underpaying community organizations, informal mutual aid and human resources necessary to mobilize community needs are torn apart [35], and self-determination is directly undermined. Here comes Béati’s approach, which tries to secure long-term unrestrictive funding, helping community organizations to pay workers fairly, define their needs, and keep their people working together.

Systemic racism and institutional exclusion locking self-determination in

The third challenge, which limits community self-determination, regards the systemic exclusion of minority groups. In the Montréal context, this structural exclusion manifests itself as institutional barriers that actively discriminate against urban minorities [23]. For instance, the Islamic community and their organizations have reported that project proposals containing words like “Mussulman” have been systematically declined public funding [14]. Also, through the M-30 policy (which limits Québec-based organisations from accessing federal funding), the government can yield the coming of funds from outside (R. Dalys-Fine, personal communication, June 11th 2026). Together with earlier considerations, this may exemplify that self-determination of minority groups is directly endangered because they cannot receive funds to organize and address their needs. Together with this, Montreal is facing an escalating climate of intolerance towards minority groups from both individuals and within policy. Montréal’s police report 18.1% more hate crimes [22] than in 2023, while neoliberal policies based on laicity and citizenship increasingly limit equitable access to public services. For example, temporary residents, who make up 80% of Montréal immigrants, are excluded from social welfare networks. The law on laicity (Bill 21) exacerbates funding discrimination [23]. For instance, 75% of Islamic population in Québec feels further discriminated [14, 47]. Indigenous peoples are unable to find culturally responsive social services [28;43].

Together with the other two challenges, systemic discrimination silences these minority groups. It pathologizes these minorities, through not affording the services, and the funding to enact their ways of living and meet their needs. In other words, self-determine. Here, Béati is called into action through its culturally responsive governance and open-ended grants to support these communities. But who specifically are these communities who see their self-determination limited? We will now explore this point.

The Affected Community and Its Needs

A diverse range of intersecting populations experiences challenges to self-determination across Greater Montréal.

Frontline Community Action Workers: disempowered human structure of self-determination

Grassroots organizations’ workers are the fundamental human workforce to advance self-determination, yet they are acutely vulnerable to the systemic challenges outlined above. In Greater Montreal, their workforce is highly gendered, educated, and acutely precarious. Women constitute about 67% of workers across Québec non-profit sector, which is most present in the Greater Montreal Area [31; 51]. This workforce is generally highly educated; nearly 40% hold a university degree [30]. Despite their qualifications, their capacity to sustain self-determined needs is crippled by financial insecurity and exhaustion. Top-down traditional philanthropy, generally disinterested in heavily investing into community causes, and limited funds due to the overworking of the sector lead community workers to earn an average of 24 CAD/hour [30]. This amounts to 35,588 CAD a year, which is barely a living wage for a person living alone (33,249-44,784 CAD) and less than half of what a family of four would need to live in Montréal (75,117-88,812 CAD)[16]. This fuels 1/3 turnover sector wide in Québec [48, 51]. This undermines self-determination: organizations like Santropol Roulant underline how the current situation is endangering their mission, making them unable to satisfy the self-defined needs of their communities [24]. Considering the recent Loi 7, this will be worsened. Workers will be growingly acting as executors of government programs, rather than facilitators of grassroots’ own needs [18]. Hence, making self-determination not only financially undermined, but structurally eliminated from workers’ daily actions. Here, Fondation Béati intervenes with flexible, multiyear funding,able to sustain workers’ retribution and long-term community needs, valuing fair retribution as a prerequisite for autonomous organizing [53]

Immigrant, Racialized and Indigenous populations and the systemic impossibility to self-determine

Across Greater Montreal, immigrant populations face intersecting barriers that directly target their capacity to self-determine their spaces and futures. Immigrants represent 27% of Greater Montréal, 80% of whom are temporary workers, primarily coming from racialized backgrounds such as Haitian and Northern African, according to the last Canadian census [39]. Considering the whole Montréal population, 38.8% identifies as a visible minority, 11.5% of those are Black, followed by 8.2% who recognize as Arab [39,40]. However, what is most striking is their poverty ratio if compared with non-racialized Montrealers. In fact, 12% of racialized and immigrant populations are under the poverty line, double of non-racialized residents [40]. This economic disparity is locked in by deep structural barriers towards self-determination.

Additionally, since temporary residents are excluded from state support and minority groups are systemically discriminated against by culturally unresponsive services or denial of funding, these communities are structurally bypassed by the state [23; 14]. Also, diversity-blind foundations reinforce complex grant-application processes, which perpetuate this marginalization through linguistic and cultural barriers [11, 56]. Trapped between state’s retrenchment and philanthropic exclusion, these populations are stripped of the resources to satisfy or act on their needs, rendering them unable to act on self-defined needs and exercise self-determination. This population is also subject to gentrification and rising living costs. Their historical community neighbourhoods such as Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Parc Extension sit around Montréal Centre-Ville, close to deindustrialized sites and universities. This position fuels investments towards expensive student-related housing and real estate development, generating a massive demographic displacement, shifting original communities to outer areas [21;41;42]. Also, some historically racialized neighbourhoods, such as Montréal’s Chinatown, a small enclave between Downtown and the Old Port, have been experiencing heightening tensions towards capitalistic expansion ( 29). This further limit their possibility to self-determine within Montréal. When residents are priced out or scattered, they are losing informal mutual aid and social networks to mobilize [34;35]. In fact, Béati tries to target exactly this problem. It wants to empower and support the communities to stay united and act together [1].

Concurrently, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis urban residents face similar challenges. They usually find structural marginalization both in the infrastructure and cultural responsiveness of social services [43]. Furthermore, colonial bureaucratic systemic barriers,such as federal and provincial Indian Act requirements, limit their interactions with state frameworks. According to the most recent data, while status Indigenous people may receive public funding for housing, organizing, or social welfare, non-status Indigenous populations may be easily denied such support [43;44]. This is particularly deepened when other sources of funding,such as philanthropic foundations,operate through western-centric, diversity-blind frameworks, unresponsive to specific cultural challenges [2;11]. Hence, the capacity of self-determination of this group is crushed by a three-force mechanism: extensive neoliberal economics, which prices them out of Montréal; bureaucratic racism and systemic exclusion which isolate them from state welfare; and philanthropic support.

Fondation Béati's Programs and Initiatives Addressing Local Challenges

To systemically dismantle the challenges outlined above, Fondation Béati has reconfigured its entire inner structure and funding methodologies. Particularly, it has worked in 3 areas:

Changing the Philanthropic Sector in and out

To subvert the traditional limits posed by philanthropy to self-determination, Fondation Béati has reconfigured its funding procedures and governance:

Trust-based philanthropy: This philanthropic model allows Béati to give unrestricted multiyear funding directly to the communities, without targeted, highly specific requirements [25]. This ensures autonomy for organizations to frame their issues and define their operational pathways, with no imposition [27]. Democratized Governance: To prevent top-down isolation, the Foundation has decided to create an independent and anonymous Selection Committee composed of individuals who possess lived experience of funded struggles [5]. This ensures diversity and inclusion, shifting the definition of “community needs” from wealthy donors to community members [45]. Embracing strategic risk: Through the regular funding program, Béati offers funding to communities specifically against social oppression [7]. Through the discretionary fund and the micro-grants, it targets more specific, self-defined community needs [8,9]. This provides the liquid capital to enact self-determination through building new, sustainable ways of living. Béati is also actively involved in disseminating this model across philanthropy. Through the Bridge Program and the Philanthropic Ecosystem, Béati helps larger institutions to streamline their funding [33]. This kind of approach also agrees with the role of cooperation defined by Prof. Belkhodja, at Concordia University, to include and better support marginalized communities. In fact, this program helps grassroots movements to remain true to their mission and needs, while nearing and cooperating with philanthropic foundations to support community-led projects and realities.

Fighting Expanding Neoliberalism through funding

Fondation Béati funding schemes are strategically engineered to insulate Montreal communities and grassroots organizations’ self-determination from neoliberal political and economic structures. This is achieved mainly through its funding programs. Regular Funding program (Solidarité inconditionnelle/Futurs Émancipateurs) [7]: This funding program has been thought by Béati as inherently political. Sensing the need to sustain political self-determined action of grassroots organizations [6], it gives 30,000 CAD each year for three years, addressing themes of creating welcoming and livable community conditions and spaces (Solidarité Inconditionnelle) as well as supporting the self-determined action against neoliberal exploitation of communities and their spaces (Futurs Émancipateurs). These themes are willingly broad, and their application process is very swift, to allow communities to self-determine already before receiving the grant: choosing their needs, their methods and their ways of applying [4]. The clearer example of this is “For an Inclusive and Decolonial Chinatown”. The project addresses both political action and counter-gentrification. It supports cross-sector citizen coalitions uniting local residents and business owners. They counter gentrification and real estate speculation as well as autonomy by building human-scale neighbourhood visions grounded in mutual care and anti-displacement organizing [32]. Together with these funds, Béati also has a collection of smaller programs that still tackle self-determination. The discretionary fund [8]. This fund directly tackles questions about social activism and political reclamations, offering economic sustenance for these political battles. The Micro-Grant [9]: This grant is specifically thought about futures and utopias out of gentrification and broader effects of the neoliberal economy. This strongly supports communities gathering, thinking about possible futures.

Against Systemic racism and exclusion: Through inner goals, outreach and funding

Finally, Fondation Béati is very active against systemic discrimination and racism within the Montréal and wider Québec communities. Particularly, it centers this challenge through internal targets and strategic publications. To limit the historic systemic racism in philanthropic funding [56], it has pledged to dedicate at least 50% of all distributed funds in its portfolios to initiatives led by and for Indigenous, racialized, queer, and religious minorities and precarious-status communities [4]. To deepen this mission, the Foundation is also active in publications investigating systemic racism and exclusion in Canada. Particularly through its Rapport Islamophobie et Philantropie, the foundation has tried to denounce the structural exclusion of this religious minority from social services and the nonprofit sector, suggesting actionable paths to bridge this gap towards equity [10]. Also, the funding programs discussed above are ways in which Béati is trying to fight systemic racism and exclusion, supporting these isolated communities to act and achieve their needs. For example, through supporting the Taysir initiative in Côte-des-Neiges, it pairs daily sustenance and services for racialized immigrants while supporting a decolonial and culturally aware model to reform local institutions, support the communities’ own needs, and fight exclusion from the ground up [46].

Ongoing challenges and final considerations

Despite these progressive reconfigurations, Béati still faces structural challenges to actually support self-determination. Firstly, it lives in the paradox of using the very wealth accumulated through systemic oppression to foster social change [2]. Béati openly and transparently acknowledges that project choices and investments are never neutral, but they always carry the power to exclude and dispossess other communities [2]. Second, trust-based philanthropy still clashes with government structures. Particularly, Béati rejects using standardized impact measurement for its programs. However, this may jeopardize their long-term sustainability and the possibility of their results being taken up by the state, since Québec still works and gives funds based on impact [36]. Finally, this trickles down limiting the work of philanthropy itself. In fact, philanthropic institutions have neither the capillarity nor the power of the states to enact systemic change [56]. As reported by Mr. Dalys-Fine, other structures of philanthropy, such as creating community self-run foundations, might make a more capillary and people-owned change, rather than Béati’s trust-based philanthropic model, because they are directly people-managed and so structurally related to citizens’ lives. Hence, the divide in functioning and isolation of funding structures between Béati and the state limits its ability to disseminate its change and substantially integrate change in the world of today, calling for deeper bottom-up action.

AI Use

For this CKP, I used Google Gemini to support locating sources about key background challenges, affected community, Béati’s history and programs and initiatives. All sources surfaced by AI tools were independently verified by me before being included in this publication. I wrote all CKP text myself.