Canadians Show
Their Generosity

The charitable sector in Canada is vibrant and growing, as evidenced by everything from the growth in the number of charitable organizations, to the amount and number of charitable donations, to the increasing level of volunteering.

Each year, consumers become better informed as more research on charitable organizations and their practices is being undertaken and released to the public. Reporting statistics on charitable donations and how they change from year to year gives a sense of both how effectively charities are able to solicit donations, as well as how committed individuals are to helping their communities.

Click Here to View Table 1

Between 1995 and 1996, the number of taxpayers reporting donations to registered charities decreased in Canada by .13 percent, a difference of approximately 7,000 people. Manitoba had the largest decrease in the number of individuals claiming donations at 1.56 percent, followed by Prince Edward Island (1.49 percent). Saskatchewan and Ontario also had small decreases of .46 and .96 percent, respectively. These decreases in the number of people donating were very small, and may be accounted for by the decrease in the overall number of tax filers in these provinces.

While the number of donors in some provinces decreased, in several provinces the number of charitable donations increased slightly. For example, in Newfoundland, the number of individuals reporting charitable donations in 1996 increased by 3.05 percent or approximately 2,500 people. As well, Quebec, New Brunswick, British Columbia, and Alberta all had small increases—ranging from .02 to 1.93 percent—in the numbers of individuals donating.

The total amount of money donated to registered charities in Canada increased by 14.82 percent between 1995 and 1996. Table 2 shows the provincial comparisons. The largest increase over 1995 occurred in Alberta, which had a 21.04 percent increase in total donations; British Columbia was a close second at 20.55 percent. Donors in six provinces increased the amount of money they gave by 12 to 14 percent. At .96 percent, Newfoundland had the smallest increase in total donations; Prince Edward Island was the only province to experience a decrease in the value of donations (-1.36 percent).

The average donation¹ in Canada increased by 14.96 percent between 1995 and 1996. Figure 1 shows the comparison of provincial average donations. Alberta had the largest increase in average donation—21.01 percent over 1995—followed by British Columbia with 20.09 percent. Six provinces had increases ranging from 10 to 16 percent. Prince Edward Island had the smallest increase in the average donation of 0.12 percent. Only one province, Newfoundland, had a decrease (-2.03 percent) in the value of the average donation.

Click Here to View Table 2

It is important to keep in mind that these statistics only reveal one aspect of individual charitable donations. They may under-report the true state of giving because they only take into account people who claimed charitable donations on their tax forms, which includes only donations to registered charities. Giving to non-profits and informal giving to neighbours or family members is, therefore, not counted. For example, according to these Revenue Canada individual tax statistics, in Canada approximately 30 percent of the population donate to charity. However, Statistics Canada’s latest National Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating indicates that 88 percent of the population donate either money or in-kind goods to charitable and non-profit organizations.

People who donated small amounts or put money in charitable change containers at grocery stores, for example, would not have recorded these donations on their tax forms. Second, charities do not issue receipts for approximately 20 percent of individual donations, for various reasons, and these donations also would not be counted.

Conclusion

Throughout the early 1990’s, growth in charitable donations varied between 1 and 4 percent per year for Canada. This relatively stable trend changed dramatically in 1996 when the growth in charitable donations almost tripled to 15 percent, even though the total number of people donating decreased slightly. There is no obvious explanation for this huge increase. Perhaps Canadians were more responsive to the needs of charitable organizations who dealt with government funding cuts, or perhaps they chose to give away part of the proceeds from a good investment year, or maybe there were needs specific to each province or city to which citizens responded. Over time, as more in-depth statistics are collected and researchers conduct more analyses to find relationships between charitable donations and other factors, the answers to this puzzle may be found.

Click Here to View Figure 1

Research into donation patterns over time and across organization type is becoming more critical as we move into a new era of privatization and devolution of what have been government responsibilities to communities and private charity. The government and public need information on the charitable sector to be collected and published if they are to make prudent policy decisions. It is particularly important to highlight the differences among the provinces because the legislation and implementation of any federal policy on charitable organizations will affect each province differently—in some cases very significantly.

Notes

1  Average donations are calculated by dividing total donations by the number of donors. This data includes only those people who indicated eligible charitable donations on their tax forms.

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Last Modified: Wednesday, October 20, 1999.