Fewer donors giving more: Statscan report on Charitable Donors 2019
How much do Canadians give to charity? There is more than one answer to this question!
A few weeks ago I dug into the Statistics Canada report on Household Spending. I noted that:
When Canadians answer a survey on charitable giving, giving numbers are higher than when Statistics Canada looks at charitable giving in tax returns.
Now Statistics Canada has released Charitable Giving numbers from 2019 tax returns. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210308/dq210308c-eng.htm
Here’s the summary:
Fewer donors giving more
The StatsCan report includes a chart https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210308/g-c001-eng.htm which is basically two lines - number of donors going down and value of donations going up. This trend has continued since 2010.
Many Canadian don’t give
19% of taxfilers claimed the charitable tax credit. Couples might combine charitable credits, some people don’t both claiming small amounts. Even so, it seems that most Canadians aren’t giving to charity in a way that produces a tax receipt. Crowdfunding, gifts at the checkout etc. would be examples of non-receiptable giving.
$310 Median giving
Half of donors give more than $310 and half give less. $310 is the typical amount. I’m glad that StatsCan uses median here, because average gift would be skewed by a small number of really large gifts.
When I quote these figures in churches, I get questions like - people give $310 to their church or to all charities put together? This is the "altogether” total. Donors who give more in a month than most Canadians give in a year are bewildered: isn’t everyone as generous as they are? In a word, no.
Where are the trendlines headed?
It’s a discouraging trend. Research shows that people who attend worship weekly donate more than other Canadians. These donors tend to be older.
The same donors who support their local congregations support other causes too. A very small minority of the population is doing most the of the giving. And their numbers are declining.
Cultural shift required
While the total amount of donations continues to rise, fewer donors giving more is not a healthy situation. The Canadian charitable sector is heading into some tumultuous times. Legacy giving - bequest in wills typically - is one life buoy, but it’s not sufficient.
A cultural shift is required. Baby Boomers and younger generations think about money and giving differently. Money and giving remains a taboo subject in too many congregations.
Church people: “How do we encourage younger people to give?”
Me: “You mean without talking about money and giving?”
Church people: <nodding ruefully>
I tell congregations “Jesus talks about money; we can too” and I think the conversations is long overdue.