Fraser Institute study reveals that fewer people are donating and amounts are smaller
Canadians are donating less to charity than they have over the past two decades, and that’s before the cost-of-living crisis impacted household finances.
A new analysis from the Fraser Institute reveals that just 17.1% of Canadian tax filers during the 2021 tax year donated to registered charities, down from a peak of 25.4% in 2004 and the lowest percentage since at least 2001.
Not only are fewer people making financial contributions to charities, those that do are giving less. In the 2001 tax year donors gave 0.58% of income, but in 2021 it was down to 0.55%.
With the current economic challenges putting pressure on charities, both in the power of their own finances and also demand for their services, the reduced income is having a negative impact.
“This decline in generosity in Canada undoubtedly limits the ability of Canadian charities to improve the quality of life in their communities and beyond,” said Jake Fuss, director of Fiscal Studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Generosity in Canada: The 2023 Generosity Index.
Most generous province
The study found that Manitoba was the province with the highest share of tax filers who donated to registered charities in 2021 at 19.7%, while New Brunswick had the lowest at 15.4%.
Manitoba also donated the highest percentage of its aggregate income to charity among the provinces (0.74%) while Quebec donated the lowest (0.26%).
However, in dollar terms, generosity was greatest in BC where the average value of all charitable contributions per donor was $3,318 in 2021, beating $3,180 from Albertans, and $2,729 from Ontarians.
However, the study only focuses on donations to registered charities based on tax filing information, and overall philanthropy appears to still be rising, including among wealthy Canadian women according to a recent TD Wealth report.
