Thank you, Madam Chair.
Excuse me—I'm kind of fighting Mother Nature's spotlight here.
It's great to be here. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee. I am Sharon Bollenbach, and I'm the CEO of Special Olympics Canada.
Special Olympics Canada is a national multi-sport organization providing year-round community sport training and competition opportunities for athletes with an intellectual disability. Working within a collaborative federated governance model, we have 12 provincial-territorial chapters. Each day of the week in communities large and small through grassroots sports programs and competition, we provide athletes with an intellectual disability the opportunity to experience the transformative power and joy of sport.
The impacts of isolation caused by COVID-19 have been exceptionally difficult for our community. Today I really appreciate the opportunity to summarize several of those key areas of impact on Special Olympics across Canada.
The first is athlete registration. From a trajectory of growth prior to COVID-19, we have experienced a 49% decrease in athlete registration. For both the physical and mental well-being of our athletes, we aim and hope to get them back when it is safe to restart our programs and activities.
The second is volunteer registration. Similar to the situation with our athletes, we have a 39% decrease in volunteer registration. Our programs are run by our volunteers. They are our coaches and our administrators. They are really the ones who do and drive our work. Volunteers' re-engagement, recruitment and training will be essential to our recovery.
Third is grassroots program delivery. Prior to COVID-19 we were offering 6,000 grassroots sports programs in 340 communities. These sports programs are at the heart of who we are. All were suspended at one point during COVID. Some are starting to come back with specific restrictions and protocols. Access to facilities like schools and recreations facilities is proving to be challenging and costly.
Fourth is competitions and national games. All competitions at the local, provincial and territorial levels and our national games have been cancelled. With no training and no pathway to compete and qualify, we as an organization prioritized fiscal and human resources on getting grassroots programs back up and running. Our aim is to return to sport and to return to competition when it is safe to do so and our athletes can adequately train in preparation.
Fifth is technology. The pandemic has certainly highlighted where we have gaps in technology. Now more than ever the need to create and deliver platforms that are national in scope and that can digitize our movement is very important. While most funding agreements prioritize program delivery versus infrastructure, there's heightened need for us to invest in technology that keeps us connected and working more efficiently.
Sixth is mental health. As all of us as Canadians have experienced during COVID-19 and while our chapters have done a really great job of offering virtual programs and activities to keep athletes connected and active during the pandemic, the abrupt stop and continuing absence of daily routines, programs and in-person contact has severely impacted the mental health of our athletes, putting further strain on their families.
Finally, there is financial. The financial impact of COVID-19 has been significant, and recovery will take a long time. Pre-COVID, our 2019-2020 fiscal year pan-Canadian revenue was $40 million. In our 2020-2021 fiscal year we had a 30% decrease in revenue, and we are forecasting the same for our 2021-2022 fiscal year.