Canadians aren’t as generous as they was once

The study, released to mark Giving Tuesday on December 2, also points to a growing income gap. Canadians earning $150,000 or more a 12 months account for 49% of all donations, but increasing segments of the population don’t donate in any respect. 31% said that they had not made any charitable donations within the last 12 months. Two-thirds of respondents cited affordability as a reason they didn’t mention.

“This year, we’re speaking directly to the millions of Canadians who haven’t donated in a while – or perhaps never – and remind them that their first donation can make a real difference,” Duke Chang, president and CEO of CanadaHelps, said in a press release. “Whether it’s $5 or $50, every donation creates something meaningful.”

Created 12 years ago, Giving Tuesday is a date – the Tuesday after Thanksgiving – when charities around the globe encourage donations. CanadaHelps works with 86,000 registered charities in Canada to streamline the donation process.

The results of the organization’s research are consistent with Statistics Canada’s 2023 results Donations, Volunteering and Participation Surveypublished last June showing that the variety of Canadians donating has declined sharply over the past decade. The proportion of Canadians reporting charitable giving fell from 82% to 54% in the course of the period. In absolute terms, the variety of donors in Canada fell by 6.3 million.

Dollars donated fell more progressively, from $16.4 billion in 2013 to $13.4 billion in 2023, adjusted for inflation, suggesting that a smaller group of donors are investing more deeply in giving.

And you’ll be able to’t just blame the economy or affordability for the change. Fewer Canadians are volunteering for charities – 32% of the population in 2023, in comparison with 44% in 2013. The variety of volunteer hours fell to 1.2 billion from 2 billion a decade earlier. The decline in volunteering, particularly amongst women, was particularly pronounced in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was no significant recovery since then.

A study of the Fraser Institute The study, released a 12 months ago, showed the share of Canadian taxpayers reporting charitable donations fell to 17.1% in 2022 from 25.1% in 2002. Likewise, the proportion of total private income donated fell from 0.61% 20 years ago to half a percent. Unfortunately, the necessity to reply to issues like food insecurity has grown as donations have declined.
Recent experience has shown that Canadians remain generous on the subject of giving in response to specific crises similar to wildfires or flood relief, but habitual giving appears to be in decline over the long run.

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