Canadians not as generous as Americans according to the annual "Generosity Index"

Contact:

Jason Clemens, Director of Fiscal Studies
The Fraser Institute (604) 714-4544
Email jasonc@fraserinstitute.ca

For Release: 12 December 2001

VANCOUVER, BC— Americans donate 2½ times more of their personal income than Canadians, according to an article released today "2001 Generosity Index: Comparing Canadian & American Charitable Giving." The article was published in the December issue of Fraser Forum, The Fraser Institute's monthly magazine.

"A wide range of non-profit organizations are dependent on individual charitable donations for much of their funding. These organizations, along with thousands of others, constitute an important and growing sector of Canadian society. Our annual Generosity Index is an attempt to measure the generosity that underlies a critical source of resources for those charities," says Jason Clemens, director of non-profit studies at The Fraser Institute.

Canadian and US results: Who is more generous?

Twenty-five-and-a-half percent (25.5 percent) of Canadian tax-filers donated to registered charities in 1999, while a slightly higher 27.9 percent of US tax-filers donated to charities. "There is, however, a substantial difference in the percentage of income donated to charities. In aggregate, Canadians donated 0.64 percent of personal income to registered charities while Americans donated 1.58 percent of personal income to charities- nearly 2½ times more than Canadians," says Clemens.

There is also a considerable gap between the value of average total donations between Canada and the US (Table 1). The average total charitable donation in the States was US$3,441 compared with an average total donation in Canada of Cdn$915 (US$769).

Canadian results

As in previous years, Manitoba ranks the highest for both the percentage of tax-filers donating to charities (28.9 percent) and the percentage of income donated to charities (0.91 percent). Nunavut ranked last of all Canadian jurisdictions with only 11.3 percent of tax-filers donating to charities. Newfoundland and Labrador was the lowest ranked province with 21.3 percent.

Nunavut again ranked last in terms of the percentage of personal income donated to charities with 0.23 percent. Quebec had the lowest percentage of income donated to charities of all the provinces with 0.30 percent.

The western provinces along with Ontario dominated the top of the list of average donations. Alberta and British Columbia topped the rankings with average donations of $1,129. Quebec, again, ranked last with an average donation of $425.

Overall Results: Percentage of tax-filers donating to charities

Maryland is the jurisdiction with the highest percentage of tax-filers donating to charities; 41.0 percent of its tax-filing citizens gave to charity-a full 12.1 percentage points higher than Canada's top ranking province, Manitoba, which ranked twenty-second overall.

Percentage of income donated to charities

Of all the jurisdictions, tax-filers in Utah gave the largest percentage of income (3.76 percent) to charities. Utah significantly outperformed all other provinces and states on this measure as indicated by the substantial gap between it and the second place jurisdiction, the District of Columbia, whose tax-filers donated 2.34 percent of income to charities, a full 60.9 percent less than Utah.

The Canadian jurisdiction whose tax-filers give the largest proportion of their incomes to charity is Manitoba, which nonetheless ranked fifty-first (51^st) out of 64 jurisdictions.

Average donation (local currency)

The results for a third indicator of generosity (although this is not included in the Index calculation) is the average value of charitable donations. The results are even worse for the Canadian provinces than on the previous measures. All 13 Canadian jurisdictions are ranked in the bottom 20 percent. Even more striking are the differences in average donations.

Wyoming tops the list of US states with an average total donation of US$7,799. The average tax-filer's donation in Wyoming is $6,670 higher than that from Canada's top ranked provinces of Alberta and British Columbia (where the average donation is Cdn$1,129) even before the currency differences are calculated.

"Clearly, Americans in almost all states give considerably more to charities than do Canadians, both in terms of the value of the average donation and the percentage of income donated," says Clemens.

Methodology

The Generosity Index quantifies generosity by examining formal, individual, financial charitable giving, based on official government tax statistics.

The Index examines two specific indicators: the percentage of tax-filers who donate to registered charities, and the percentage of personal income donated to charities. In addition, the study also presents the average value of charitable donations for each jurisdiction.

TABLE 1: Results & Rank for Charitable Contributions
Canada and US

State/Province	Percent of returns with charitable donations (%)	Rank	Percent of income donated (%)	Rank	Average charitable donation (local currency)	Rank
Alabama	25.0	35	1.83	9	3,890	11
Alaska	19.9	52	1.13	46	3,037	34
Arizona	31.0	16	1.57	23	2,892	39
Arkansas	19.3	53	1.59	20	4,147	7
California	32.2	14	1.65	13	3,535	18
Colorado	32.7	10	1.81	11	3,478	21
Connecticut	36.9	3	1.55	24	3,321	24
Delaware	32.7	11	1.61	17	3,055	33
District of Columbia	33.8	8	2.34	2	5,198	3
Florida	22.4	49	1.54	26	3,957	10
Georgia	30.5	18	1.92	5	3,770	12
Hawaii	29.9	19	1.27	41	2,475	47
Idaho	28.3	24	1.84	8	3,407	22
Illinois	29.0	21	1.43	31	3,237	25
Indiana	24.0	45	1.37	33	3,157	29
Iowa	24.7	38	1.34	36	2,920	37
Kansas	25.0	36	1.51	28	3,511	19
Kentucky	24.8	37	1.35	35	2,891	40
Louisiana	16.3	59	1.14	45	3,741	14
Maine	25.4	34	1.11	47	2,260	50
Maryland	41.0	1	1.96	4	3,207	28
Massachusetts	34.4	6	1.46	30	3,021	35
Michigan	30.7	17	1.58	22	3,110	30
Minnesota	35.7	4	1.65	14	2,904	38
Mississippi	17.6	56	1.54	25	4,262	6
Missouri	24.4	43	1.39	32	3,233	26
Montana	24.7	39	1.33	37	2,494	46
Nebraska	24.3	44	1.61	16	3,763	13
Nevada	28.0	27	1.53	27	3,342	23
New Hampshire	28.3	23	1.09	48	2,357	49
New Jersey	38.1	2	1.50	29	2,855	43
New Mexico	20.8	51	1.22	42	2,872	41
New York	34.3	7	1.89	6	4,013	8
North Carolina	29.2	20	1.81	10	3,497	20
North Dakota	15.4	60	0.96	50	3,089	32
Ohio	26.4	31	1.29	40	2,676	44
Oklahoma	24.6	40	1.65	15	3,595	17
Oregon	32.5	12	1.60	18	2,859	42
Pennsylvania	26.8	30	1.32	39	2,956	36
Rhode Island	32.2	13	1.15	44	2,130	51
South Carolina	26.4	32	1.88	7	3,646	15
South Dakota	12.8	63	0.97	49	3,971	9
Tennessee	17.9	55	1.58	21	4,839	4
Texas	16.9	57	1.32	38	4,787	5
Utah	35.1	5	3.76	1	5,732	2
Vermont	24.4	41	1.17	43	2,518	45
Virginia	33.0	9	1.70	12	3,220	27
Washington	28.1	25	1.59	19	3,645	16
West Virginia	13.2	62	0.81	52	3,102	31
Wisconsin	31.2	15	1.36	34	2,438	48
Wyoming	14.9	61	2.12	3	7,799	1
UNITED STATES	27.9		1.58		3,441
Alberta	25.5	33	0.71	56	1,129	52
British Columbia	23.7	46	0.72	55	1,129	53
Manitoba	28.9	22	0.91	51	1,059	55
New Brunswick	23.2	47	0.65	58	849	58
Newfoundland & Labrador	21.3	50	0.50	60	653	63
Northwest Territories	16.4	58	0.24	63	801	59
Nova Scotia	24.4	42	0.58	59	761	61
Nunavut	11.3	64	0.23	64	917	56
Ontario	28.0	26	0.75	54	1,083	54
Prince Edward Island	27.0	29	0.69	57	745	62
Quebec	22.7	48	0.30	61	425	64
Saskatchewan	27.4	28	0.76	53	901	57
Yukon	18.4	54	0.30	62	776	60
CANADA	25.5		0.64		915

Sources: IRS; CCRA; Statistics Canada; Bureau of Economic Analysis; calculations by the authors.

Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver with offices in Calgary and Toronto.

For further information, contact:
Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca.