1999 Private Charitable Generosity Index: Section Five: Dollar Value of Donations

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There is an important aspect of generosity which is intentionally overlooked by the Generosity Index, but which is pivotally important to the charitable sector: the dollar value of donations.

The value of donations is excluded from the Generosity Index because it is a poor estimate of individual generosity since it favours relatively wealthy provinces over relatively poor provinces. Put another way, it considers equal-sized donations made by low-income individuals to be equivalent to those made by high-income individuals. For example, a $500 donation from an individual earning $20,000 per year is considered equivalent to a donation of $500 from an individual earning $50,000 a year, but in terms of individual generosity, the first donor is more generous.

The value of the donations made to charities is what ultimately allows charitable organizations to provide needed goods and services. Table 12 and figure 8 present the dollar values of the average charitable donation made in each province.

Alberta and British Columbia clearly out-perform the other provinces in terms of the value of the average charitable donation. However, Alberta and British Columbia rank 9th and 5th, respectively, in the proportion of private income donated to registered charities (see table 2).

As is evident from table 12, there is a strong relationship between the level of private income and the value of charitable donations.7 Thus, wealthier provinces rank higher simply because they are wealthier. The notion of giving more, at least nominally, if one has more, is clearly reinforced by the data that table 12 provides.

The results are even more startling when the US states are included. Table 13 presents the Canadian dollar value of the average donation made in each jurisdiction as well as the average private income for each jurisdiction.

Canada’s poor performance visually leaps out from the table. Without exception, the ten Canadian provinces rank dead last in terms of the value of donations. The average US donation in Canadian dollars is $3,302, more than 4 times the average Canadian donation of $743. More striking is the fact that the average donation from the 12 wealthiest US states is more than 6 times that of the average Canadian province, and more than 4.5 times that of Alberta, Canada’s wealthiest province.

The poor performance of the Canadian provinces in the dollar value of average donations is mirrored by the level of private income. Similar to the previous indicator, 9 of 10 Canadian provinces rank dead last in terms of the value of their average private income. Alberta, Canada’s highest-ranking province on this particular measure, only manages a 38th position. It is reasonable to assume that Americans are able to donate more because, on average, they have more income than Canadians.

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