Last week, CanadaHelps released the sixth edition of The Giving Report, an annual look at the charitable sector and the state of giving. This year’s Report identifies a wide range of issues and challenges relating to the state of giving in Canada.
Small charities at risk
The Giving Report 2023 finds small charities did not adapt as well as large charities to the financial strains of the first year of the pandemic. While more charities increased their investment in fundraising to help weather challenging times, small charities, which make up 78% of overall charities (those with less than $500,000 in annual revenue) did not increase their investment in key fundraising areas. In 2020, small charities with less than $500,000 in annual revenue experienced an 8% decline in the margin between their total revenue and expenses, compared to 2019. In contrast, medium and large charities with annual revenue above $500,000 were able to better adapt to year one of the pandemic, experiencing a decline of only 4%.
"Many charities like Mealshare are having difficult conversations about their future," said Mona Pinder, Executive Director of Mealshare, a charity that works with the hospitality industry to provide meals to youth in need through its network of partners. "Unfortunately, due to the rising costs of food, fewer dollars donated, and the impact of the pandemic and now inflation on the restaurant industry, we've had to make the difficult decision to close our doors at the end of April. While it's too late for our organization, we hope that Canadians are able to step up and support other charities that are leading critical programs and services to support Canadians across the country."
Bridging the giving gap
Since the launch of The Giving Report, CanadaHelps has continued to raise concerns around the giving gap, which refers to the difference between older Canadians who are giving at an accelerated rate and younger Canadians who are not keeping pace.
On top of an aging group of donors, there is also a smaller group of Canadians giving – only 18.4% of Canadians are donating to charity according to tax filings. That is down 11.1 percentage points in 30 years, with almost half of that drop (five percentage points) down in the last 10 years.
While small improvements have been made in terms of the number of Canadians under 25 years of age giving (growing from 5.9 % in 2010 to 6.7% in 2020), all other ages have had their participation rates decline.
The report notes a clear need for charities to urgently activate Millennials and Generation X and proactively engage even younger generations.
While charities must attract younger supporters, the data shows that progress is stalled. Almost half (49%) of respondents say they’re either dissatisfied or somewhat dissatisfied with the engagement their charity has seen with Canadians aged 18 to 30 years old. However, only 22% say they have implemented a strategy intended to engage with younger Canadians.
“To tackle dire trends, Canadian charities need to focus on understanding their donors, building relationships with younger Canadians and volunteers, investing in capacity, thoughtfully addressing staff burnout, and finally, taking a holistic approach to digital transformation,” says Duke Chang, President and CEO of CanadaHelps. “Without solving these mounting challenges, Canadian charities won’t be able to focus their efforts on creating the positive impact and systemic change required to create safe, healthy, and vibrant communities.”
The complete report is available here.
About The Giving Report 2023
The Giving Report 2023 brings together critical insights and analysis from several data sources. To help Canadians understand the challenges charities are facing and the importance of their giving, CanadaHelps commissioned Nanos Research to conduct an online survey. Completed by 2,948 charity professionals representing 2,860 unique charities representative of all types and sizes, the study provides an authoritative look at the state of the charitable sector today. The report also uses the vast volumes of CanadaHelps’ online giving data, which includes more than $438 million in donations from more than 962,000 Canadians in support of 30,400 charities across Canada in 2022 alone. Environics Analytics provided analysis and insights into demographic, financial, psychographic, and behavioural trends in CanadaHelps data. Imagine Canada provided deeper analysis and data verification of various data from the Canada Revenue Agency.
About CanadaHelps
CanadaHelps is a charity advancing philanthropy through technology. For Canadians, it powers CanadaHelps.org, a safe and trusted destination for discovering and supporting any charity in Canada, along with UniteforChange.com, where Canadians can learn about causes and easily support the collective work of charities addressing a cause they care about.
