Fewer Canadians are donating to charity and they’re giving less

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While making donations to charity is a constant theme during the annual holiday season, the reality is that the percentage of Canadians donating to charity has plummeted over the last decade.

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The percentage of total income they donate to charity is also down, according to a new report by the Fraser Institute, released Tuesday.

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“Nationally, the percentage of Canadian tax filers donating to charity has fallen from 23.0% in 2011 to 17.7% in 2021,” the fiscally conservative think tank says in its 2023 Generosity Index, which measures the level of charitable giving nation-wide, based on income tax returns.

That percentage has dropped annually in every year starting in 2011, long before the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, caused a severe global economic downturn.

In addition, the study by researchers Jake Fuss, Nathaniel Li and Grady Munro reports, “the percentage of aggregate income donated to charity by Canadian tax filers has … decreased from 0.59% in 2011 to 0.55% in 2021.”

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Based on 2020 data, the researchers also reported that Americans donate almost twice the percentage of their aggregate income to charity, (1.03%), compared to Canadians (0.52%), a gap which has existed for  decades.

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“If Canadians had given the same percentage of their aggregate income to charities as Americans … there would have been $10.6 billion more Canadian donations to charities — a potential total of $21.1 billion.”

Nationally in Canada, Manitobans were the most charitably inclined in 2021 — the latest year for which Canadian government data was available — based on the two metrics the Fraser Institute uses to calculate its Generosity Index.

Manitoba topped all other provinces in having both the highest percentage of tax filers who donate to charity (19.7%) and the highest percentage of donations compared to aggregate income (0.74%).

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By contrast, New Brunswick had the lowest percentage of tax filers donating to charity (15.4%) while Quebec had the lowest percentage of aggregate income donated to charity (0.26%).

In descending order after Manitoba at 19.7%, Ontario had the highest percentage of tax filers donating to charity (18.2%), followed in descending order by Quebec and P.E.I. (17.6%); B.C. (17.4%); Saskatchewan (17.3%); Alberta (17.1%); Nova Scotia (16.2%); Newfoundland and Labrador (15.7%); and New Brunswick (15.4%.)

In terms of the percentage of aggregate income donated to charity, in descending order after Manitoba at 0.74% were B.C. (0.73%); Ontario (0.63%); Alberta (0.62%); Saskatchewan (0.54%); P.E.I. (0.48%); New Brunswick (0.44%); Nova Soctia (0.43%); Newfoundland and Labrador (0.32%); and Quebec (0.26%).

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In a third category which is not part of the Fraser Institute’s calculation when it comes to the Generosity Index, but which the study also examines, tax filers in B.C. had the highest average annual charitable donation at $3,318 followed by Alberta ($3,180); Ontario ($2,729); Manitoba ($2,601); Saskatchewan ($2,326); P.E.I. ($1,822); New Brunswick ($1,803); Nova Scotia ($1,788); Newfoundland and Labrador ($1,438); and Quebec ($1,026).

Every province showed a drop in the percentage of tax filers donating to charity in the decade between 2011 and 2021, while every province also showed a drop in the percentage of aggregate income donated to charity except for B.C., where it rose by 5.3%, during the same period.

On the somewhat brighter side, the amount of aggregate income donated to charity did increase in every province in 2021 compared to 2020 as the global economy began to emerge from the pandemic.

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