The Giving Report: What Gives in 2024?
CanadaHelps examined the state of philanthropic giving in Canada and its impact on the charitable sector in the latest edition of The Giving Report.
What’s the latest on giving and the charitable sector in Canada?
With 1 in 5 Canadians turning to charities to meet basic needs, the majority of charities have reported that they can’t keep up with demand. With the increasing pressures of the mental health crisis, learning loss, healthcare system disruptions, an aging population, and soaring costs of food and housing, charities are stretched thin. The increasing frequency of climate emergencies, like wildfires, flooding, droughts, and heat waves, requires more resources and amplifies existing service shortages.
The number of Canadians making charitable donations has declined again for the 11th year in a row. This transcended economic landscapes — recessions, surging growth, pandemics, or inflationary spikes.
There’s also a trend of Canadians being increasingly disconnected and having shrinking social networks — which correlates with lower rates of charitable giving.
“In order for our broader society and those who need it most to benefit from the critical work of charities, we need to move Canadians from caring about urgent causes to active participation in change.” — Duke Chang, CEO, CanadaHelps
Highlights from The Giving Report
Here are some key highlights from The Giving Report 2024 by CanadaHelps:
For the eleventh year running, the number of Canadians making charitable donations has declined again. This is reflected in tax filer data showing donation rates declined from 23.4% in 2010 to 17.7% in 2021, the most recent year. It is also reflected in the CanadaHelps survey data, which shows giving participation at 60%, while a national Statistics Canada survey in 2013 found giving participation at 82%.
Service usage is at an all-time high. More than half (57%) of charities are unable to meet current levels of demand, which speaks to the gaps between the growing challenges and charities’ abilities to provide support. One in five Canadians was using charitable services to meet essential needs in 2023, according to an Ipsos survey commissioned by CanadaHelps. Almost 7 in 10 said this was the first time they relied on charity.
There’s a gap between what Canadians say is important to them and the actions they are taking. 32% of Canadians say climate change or protecting our environment is a top cause for them, and almost half of Canadians express anxiety about climate change on at least somewhat of a regular basis. More than half of young Canadians under age 35 agree that worries about climate change impact their likelihood of having children, with 18% strongly agreeing. Yet, only 1.5% of donations through CanadaHelps are made to environmental charities. Giving to the environment increases to 3.9% of donations when taking into account donations to climate-driven crisis events such as the Canadian wildfires in 2023.
Disconnected Canadians are less likely to give money and time. Canadians are increasingly disconnected and their social networks have shrunk. Over the past decade, the number of Canadians with six or more close friends has declined by 40%, and just under half of Canadians feel lonely. There is a strong link to philanthropy — more than 80% of those with many close friends donate, while just over half of those with very few close friends donate.
Strong social connections also foster environmental donations. For individuals with nine or more close friends, 22% reported contributing to environmental causes—a rate more than five times higher than that of individuals with one or no close friends, among whom just 4% made donations. Similarly, 18% of those who participated in community activities very frequently donated to environmental causes compared to only 3% of those who very rarely or never participated, with donations increasing at each level of participation.
People need hope to support the environment. CanadaHelps data found a statistically significant difference in giving rates to environmental charities from those with lower hope: 18% of those very hopeful for the nation’s future donated to environmental causes, compared to one percent of those very hopeless. Potential donors to these causes in particular need to see that their gift can make a difference.
Connected to the Community: Report launch event recap
On April 17, Daniel Francavilla of The Good Growth Company attended the CanadaHelps 2024 Giving Report Launch Event, Presented by Environics Analytics.
There, CanadaHelps CEO Duke Chang challenged nonprofits to find 3 new ways to build community around their cause and purpose. The takeaway is to get people connected together around it and you’ll be more successful this year:
“Social networks are essential to a strong society. We have to find those connection points.”
There was also an energizing panel discussion which touched a lot on youth engagement, featuring Habon Ali of Apathy is Boring, Tovah Barocas of Earth Rangers, and Justin Scaini of Kids Help Phone, moderated by Bruce MacDonald of Imagine Canada.
Besides the lack of connection, there’s also a gap in what Canadians say about causes and issues, compared to what we actually do. This engaging event and report was a great reminder to take action.
Here’s our quick highlight video from the event:
The Giving Report was also produced by CanadaHelps in partnership with Environics Analytics who were able to provide demographic, financial, psychographic, and behavioural trends using data collected by CanadaHelps. This report is also produced in collaboration with Imagine Canada who generously provided analysis and data verification of various data from the Canada Revenue Agency.
