We already do band-aid service that is required by the provincial government. As service providers, both Robert and I provide services that would otherwise be mandated by the government. We do it less expensively and we do it because we're able to raise funds from the public to bridge the gap.
The problem is that we're reaching a perfect storm. Demand, funding, capacity to secure revenue, everything is merging. At the same time, an estimated 60% of the non-profit executive directors are going to retire in the next 10 years. As a result, we have significant issues as a sector in our ability to respond to the need that is increasing and our ability to deliver the service with diminished capacity for resources from government and also to secure additional fundraised revenue. I think we're reaching a critical mass in terms of the non-profit sector and its ability to provide those critical services that we rely on in Canada to reduce and alleviate poverty.
I think that underscoring a poverty reduction strategy needs to be how to ensure that the sector that's delivering those critical support services for people who are impacted by poverty can be sustained. I can't underscore that enough. We are at a critical impasse. My organization six years ago had $156,000 in core funding. We now have zero. We've tripled the number of women we serve. We've reduced our overhead by 50%. We're at a very critical impasse; the funding is project-based and it runs out. What we need to be doing is delivering to people who need us the most, not scrambling to write the next project grant.
I find it interesting and a touch sad that recently, on May 8, a call for proposal was put out by HRSDC for the social development and partnership program, and one of the priority areas was strengthening the voluntary sector. Again, this was project funding for non-profit to get funding on how we can strengthen the sector. What I need to strengthen my sector is funding, so that I can deliver the service. It is not project funding that will end in three years when women who are homeless and hungry are knocking on my door; they need critical service now.
We have solutions. We have proven solutions. As Robert said, I could build a 12-storey two-bedroom apartment building tomorrow and put single mothers in it and allow them to go to university. If I had subsidies, I could fill a 57-space child care centre in Spryfield with only subsidized parents, so those parents could access education and work opportunities and get off income assistance. Those solutions exist at community. We have barriers in accessing funding and policy to support good funding that will solve the right problems.