1999 Private Charitable Generosity Index: Section Three: Historical Canadian Data

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This section expands the 1996 data contained in Section Two to include data for 1990, 1993, and 1995. Although the data is limited to four years spanning a six-year period, we can nevertheless begin to discern some patterns. The data is presented along the same lines as in Section Two.

Donors to Tax Filers

The data contained in table 5 and presented in figure 5 illustrate the fact that Manitoba and Prince Edward Island have consistently had the largest proportion of tax filers making charitable contributions. Alternatively, Newfoundland consistently ranked last in this component.

A consistent and worrisome trend is evident in all ten provinces: a decreasing proportion of tax filers are donating to charities. Over the time period, every province experienced a decline in the percentage of tax filers who contributed to charities. Nova Scotia experienced the most pronounced decline - from 31.9 percent to 26.8 percent - a decline of 5.1 percentage points. Newfoundland experienced the smallest decline, a mere 0.5 percentage points, although Newfoundland’s contribution level was always relatively modest. A host of provinces, including Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia, and New Brunswick, recorded declines of roughly 4 percentage points. Although the data covers only a six-year period, the trend of declining charitable contributions is nonetheless cause for concern.

Donations as a Percent of Private Income

Like the previous variable, the data contained in table 6 and graphically presented in figure 6 for charitable donations as a percent of private income illustrate that Manitoba and Prince Edward Island have again consistently received the highest rankings. Similarly, Quebec consistently ranked last in terms of the size of charitable donations relative to private income.

Several of the provinces, specifically British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec tended to show an increase in the amount of private income donated to registered charities. The remaining provinces generally lacked any clear trend in this regard.

There is, therefore, a rather curious pattern that emerges from the first two variables. In general, the number of tax filers contributing to charitable organizations is declining, while the value of the donations is increasing relative to private income. This apparently contradictory trend is an area that requires further analysis to determine its underlying cause.

Per Capita Volunteer Hours

Due to a lack of data on volunteer hours, we have only presented information for the years 1990 and 1995. Additional sources of Canadian volunteer information are available, but incorporate different definitions of what constitutes volunteerism and, therefore, make compar- ison difficult.6 The Generosity Index will continue to analyze the national charities database provided by Revenue Canada in order to incorporate a consistent source of volunteer data in the future.

The Western provinces and Ontario performed considerably better than the Eastern provinces and Quebec in terms of per capita volunteering for registered charities. Alberta was consistently the top province, while British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Ontario jockeyed for the remaining top three positions. The Maritimes, particularly New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, performed relatively poorly with consistently low scores for per capita volunteering.

The only clear pattern emanating from the data is that most provinces generally exhibited very little change in their scores for per capita volunteering. It is worth noting that Quebec, alone, suffered a major decline in its performance, moving from a score of 5.8 to 3.6 between 1990 and 1995.

Historical Private Generosity Index Scores

Overall results varied for the provinces over the time period covered by the Generosity Index. British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland experienced material increases in their overall scores. Ontario, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island, on the other hand, experienced declines in their overall scores. Finally, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia generally maintained a consistent level of performance.

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