The current level of provincial funding for restorative justice programs means that we depend heavily on community support to enable our programs. This support comes in the form of volunteer hours, donations of venues, donations of refreshments and financial contributions to our organization.
VicPD Police Chief Jamie Graham states that:
“We know restorative justice works. We are the hearts and minds stage where we need more buy-in.”
The number of referrals which we receive each year is dramatically increasing and in order to meet the needs of the community we require a significant increase in revenue. Increased revenue would allow us to meet the needs of: businesses, who are requesting police refer shoplifting and graffiti cases to us; schools, through soliciting and processing more school referrals and providing restorative practice programs; community members, by increasing our ability to meet the needs of victims, offenders and the community in cases which are referred to us.
In order to meet the needs of the wide variety of clients they serve, restorative justice programs in our communities require support and funding to succeed. ICBC recently began paying per case to restorative justice contractors and in some provinces the Ministries pay per case.
Donations made to VRJS will help make possible:
1. A dedicated venue for holding restorative justice processes
2. A dedicated school referral program
3. Training for teachers in restorative practices
4. Youth programs in a greater number of schools
5. More staff hours to enable the organization to meet the rising workload
6. A comprehensive shoplifting program which meets the needs of business
7. Program overhead
8. Volunteer appreciation materials and events
9. Quality training for our volunteers
The following table shows our 2010 revenue:
| Type of Revenue | Amount |
| City of Victoria Funding | $12,000 |
| Township of Esquimalt Grant | $9,000 |
| Gaming Commission Grant | $23,000 |
| Ministry of Public Safety and Attorney General Grant | $2,500 |
| Other Grants | $19,432 |
| Other Income | $2345.35 |
| Total Revenue | $68,277.35 |
