Charitable donations on the decline in Canada: Fraser Institute report
Fewer Canadians are donating to charity, and those who are are donating less. That’s the findings of the Fraser Institute’s annual study of Canadians donating habits titles Generosity in Canada: the 2021 Generosity Index.
The Fraser Institute uses publically available data from Canadians' tax returns to determine how much Canadians form each province donate, and what percentage of their income Canadians donate.
“We're seeing a continuing trend of Canadians donating less as a share of their income. That actually hit the second-lowest point since the year 2000, in terms of the share of income donated by Canadians,” said Jake Fuss, senior economist with The Fraser Institute. “That's certainly bad news for the most vulnerable people in our society, who rely on charitable donations for essential things like food and shelter in particular.”
Manitobans are the most generous with both the highest percentage of individual donors (21.9 per cent), as well people from that province gave the highest percentage of their income to charity (0.74 per cent).
Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest percentage of donors (17.1 per cent), while Quebecers donated the lowest percentage of their incomes (0.24 per cent).
Albertans fall in the middle of the pack; 5th place terms of how many donate to charity. 18.6 per cent of Albertans reported charitable donations on their 2019 returns, the same percentage as people in Quebec. Those Albertans who do donate though donate the highest amount among Canadians, offering up an average of $2,857 per donation. Finn says that is still well below historic donation levels.
“In Alberta, for instance, we've seen about a 22 per cent drop in the proportion of tax filers making donations over the last decade. And we've also seen about a 10 per cent drop in the share of income donated in Alberta as well over the last decade," said Finn. “These are pretty serious numbers. And they obviously have big implications, too, for charities and for vulnerable people in our society, who rely on these charitable donations for a lot of things in their daily lives.”
PANDEMIC TAKES BILLION DOLLAR TOLL ON GIVING
The Fraser institute uses tax data for its donation analysis. The last year for which that data is available is 2019, so its study does not consider the effects of the pandemic.
The charitable foundation CanadaHelps surveyed Canadians to determine how the pandemic affected the amount people are giving to charity. What it found is troubling.
“Overall, we saw that during the pandemic, again, in this time, this time of need only 12 per cent of Canadians increase their giving, while 18 per cent of Canadians actually reduced their giving during the pandemic," said Jacob O’Connor, a charity engagement officer with CanadaHelps. “We actually projected in 2020, a 10 per cent drop in overall giving so that's a big drop."
"It's actually over a billion dollars in giving that was lost in 2020.”
The foundation also discovered a widening disparity among the age of those donating to charity.
“That age group of 55 plus is actually giving at double the rate of the group from 25 to 54. That's something that we're we've kind of dubbed ‘the giving gap’ where after the 55 plus group, there is this gap where that (younger) group is not engaging quite the same in the charitable sector," said O’Connor. “It is a little bit worrisome for the future when that that older group is not able to give any more.”
You can learn more about CanadaHelps programs, or make a donation through its website at www.canadahelps.org.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.