Yahoo Finance Posthaste: Canadians turn more stingy as charitable giving dips to 20-year low
Fewer Canadians are donating to charity, and those that do give are contributing less compared to prior years, a new study of tax filers says.
The number of taxpayers who gave to charitable causes dropped to 17.7 per cent in 2021 — a 20-year low, according to the Fraser Institute’s annual report measuring generosity in Canada. Charitable giving hit a high in 2004, with 25.4 per cent of tax filers making donations, but gifts to charity have dropped each year since. Twenty-three per cent of taxpayers gave to charity in 2011.
People are also donating less money, the study said, with the total amount given dropping to 0.55 per cent of income in 2021 from 0.58 per cent in 2001.
“The data shows Canadians are consistently less charitable every year, which means charities face greater challenges to secure resources to help those in need,” Jake Fuss, a director at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the report, said in a release.
Those in some provinces appear to be more giving than in others, according to the think tank’s rankings. Manitoba has the highest percentage of tax filers who donate to charity at 19.7 per cent. Ontario comes in second, at 18.2 per cent and Quebec is in third place, at 17.6 per cent. Meanwhile, New Brunswick places last at 15.4 per cent.
Manitoba also comes out ahead in dollars donated, at 0.74 per cent of income gifted to charity. British Columbia is next at 0.73 per cent, followed by Ontario at 0.63 per cent and Alberta at 0.62 per cent. Those in Quebec gave the least, donating 0.26 per cent of their income.
The Fraser Institute didn’t include the average yearly amount of money donated in calculating rankings for its Generosity Index. Still, it said those in British Columbia handed out the highest dollar amounts at $3,318. People in Alberta donated an average of $3,180 and those in Ontario gave $2,729 in 2021. Quebecers wrote the smallest cheques, at an average $1,026 a year.
The data suggests charities and the people who rely on them face challenges ahead, the think tank said.
“This decline in generosity in Canada undoubtedly limits the ability of Canadian charities to improve the quality of life in their communities and beyond,” Fuss said.
But all may not be lost, as other research indicates the country’s younger generations want to give back, whether with their dollars or by volunteering. Ninety-three per cent of millennials and gen-Zers plan to donate money to charity in 2024, according to a separate study from PayPal Giving Fund Canada and AgentsC Inc., and 91 per cent of gen Z plan to volunteer their time. Younger people are also more interested in making monetary donations online, the survey said.
PayPal said such insights could help charities address gaps in their fundraising initiatives, helping them reach more donors at a time of economic, political and environmental upheaval. “The need for philanthropy is stronger than ever with high cost of living, health problems, housing issues, political turmoil and climate change,” Wen-Chih O’Connell, executive director of PayPal Giving Fund Canada, said. “Charities need all the help they can get.”
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United States consumer prices picked up in November on increases in housing and other service-sector costs, keeping inflation stubborn enough to thwart any U.S. Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts soon.
The consumer price index ticked up after being little changed in October, and when stripping out food and energy costs, the so-called core CPI accelerated on a monthly basis as well, according to government figures. Core prices rose 0.3 per cent from October to November. Measured from a year ago, core prices rose four per cent, the same as in October. Economists favour the core metric as a better gauge of the trend in inflation than the overall CPI.
Consumer prices were up 3.1 per cent in November from a year earlier, about a third of what the rate was at its peak in the middle of 2022.
The United States Federal Reserve releases its latest interest rate decision this afternoon. A press conference with chair Jerome Powell follows at 2:30 p.m. ET. Economists expect the central bank to keep interest rates on hold, with the first rate cuts expected in 2024.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and Mike Holland, New Brunswick’s minister of natural resources and energy development, will release the province’s energy strategy this morning.
Scotiabank holds an investor day where it will release its new strategic plan.
Today’s data: National balance sheet accounts; U.S. Producer Price Index
Earnings: Dollarama Inc., Adobe Inc.
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Today’s Posthaste was written by Victoria Wells, with additional reporting from Financial Post staff, The Canadian Press and Bloomberg.
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