Sector Voices: What We Heard About Substance Use Health and the Role for Philanthropy in Canada

Communities closest to the substance use health crisis — peer workers, grassroots organizations, and community-rooted providers — already hold the relationships, expertise, and solutions needed to respond. What is often missing is sustained, flexible funding.

Earlier this year, the Substance Use Health Funding Collaborative gathered perspectives from 44 people across eight provinces, including service providers, advocates, researchers, clinicians, funders, and people with lived and living experience of substance use. The findings reflect what we heard about where the greatest gaps and pressures are being felt — and where philanthropy could make a meaningful difference.

We are sharing these findings to open conversations about how private funding can strengthen community-rooted responses. This is early-stage work, and we expect the path forward to take shape through those conversations.

This survey was conducted by The Peterson Foundation and Catalyst Philanthropy in February 2026.