Canadian charities are facing “unprecedented strain” due to a projected decline in donations and an expected growth in demand due to the pandemic, according to a new report.
The Giving Report 2022, released on Tuesday by a group called CanadaHelps, says one in four Canadians, or 26 per cent, expect to use or are already using charitable services this year to meet basic needs. One in four Canadians, or 25 per cent, expect to give less this year than they did in last year, the report says.
This is the fifth annual report by CanadaHelps, a platform for online donations. It looked at the impact of COVID-19 on charities, as well as generational differences in giving, the rate of decline in giving and the growing need for charitable services, said Jacob O’Connor, the platform’s senior vice-president of charity engagement.
“We really honed in on the uncertainties that have come out of the pandemic and the unprecedented strain that this has put on Canada’s charitable sector,” O’Connor told CBC News.
“Giving has declined, the demand for service has increased and people’s propensity to give and ability to give has also decreased. It’s kind of a triple whammy there.”
Giving declined 12% from 2019 to 2021: projections
O’Connor said the pandemic had led to cancelled in-person fundraising events, including galas, runs, walkathons and shows.
CanadaHelps projected a 10 per cent decline in giving in 2020 and an additional two per cent decline the following year for a 12 per cent decrease from 2019 to 2021.
WATCH | Canadian charities stretched thin as donations drop, demand rises:
Canadian charities stretched thin as donations drop, demand rises
11 hours ago
Duration 2:42
A new report projects a 12 per cent decline in Canadians’ giving to charitable causes between 2019 and 2021. At the same time, one in four Canadians are using or expect to use charitable services in 2022. 2:42
O’Connor said the projections were based on tax filing data from the Canadian Revenue Agency and a projection model. He said there is a relationship, or strong correlation, between gross domestic product and aggregate giving in Canada. CanadaHelps used OECD numbers and the correlation to make the 12 per cent projection, he said.
“Canadians did give more online, but it didn’t make up for the tremendous decreases that we saw from those other avenues,” he said.
According to the report, four out of five Canadians expect inflation and the effects of the pandemic to have a negative impact on their financial situation.
The Daily Bread Food Bank saw about 55,000 client visits per month before the pandemic. The number has now grown to 130,000. The donations have not tripled to keep pace, according to Neil Hetherington, the food bank’s CEO. (Submitted by the Daily Bread Food Bank)
Neil Hetherington, CEO of Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, said the findings are not a surprise. The food bank saw about 55,000 client visits per month before the pandemic. That monthly number has risen to about 130,000. The donations have not tripled, he said.
“Our biggest concern is actually two years out from now, when the need peaks in terms of usage and donations remain stagnant,” he said. “The need has increased much more so than donations.”
Inflationary pressures have led to an increase in the number of people who need the food bank, he added.
Younger generations give to social causes
O’Connor said the report also found a widening of what CanadaHelps calls a “giving gap,” the rate at which different age groups are giving. The researchers discovered Canadians aged 55 and older are now giving at double the rate of Canadians aged 25 to 54.
“That’s a real problem. It’s something that we have to address as a sector, to engage with these younger generations of donors, because that 55-plus, that propensity to give, is not going to last forever,” he said.
Younger generations, however, donate to social causes, as opposed to specific institutions or organizations, the report found. “This provides some hope for the future,” O’Connor said.
In a news release, CanadaHelps said: “When younger Canadians have the means, they donate. While some young Canadians don’t give financially today, many have the intention to give in the future.”
“New donors that are younger, urban, and diverse all showed a propensity to give in response to urgent needs, especially when related to social justice causes,” CanadaHelps added.
Other findings were as follows:
The percentage of Canadians who give has continued to decline, with 25 per cent of 2006 tax filers claiming donations versus 19 per cent in 2019.
The annual rate of decline in giving by higher income earners, people who make above $150,000, is more than double the rate for families with incomes between $20,000 and $99,000.
According to CanadaHelps, the report was developed using proprietary research and online giving data, which includes more than $465 million in donations from more than 968,000 Canadians in support of 31,700 charities in Canada in 2021.
The report was produced with the help of Environics Analytics, which provided analysis and insights into trends in CanadaHelps data.
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a bid by the Prince Edward Island Potato Board to overturn a 2021 decision by the federal agriculture minister to declare the entire province as “a place infested with potato wart.”
That order prohibited the export of seed potatoes from the Island to prevent the spread of the soil-borne fungus, which deforms potatoes and makes them impossible to sell.
The board had argued in Federal Court that the decision was unreasonable because there was insufficient evidence to establish that P.E.I. was infested with the fungus.
In April 2023, the Federal Court dismissed the board’s application for a judicial review, saying the order was reasonable because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said regulatory measures had failed to prevent the transmission of potato wart to unregulated fields.
On Tuesday, the Appeal Court dismissed the board’s appeal, saying the lower court had selected the correct reasonableness standard to review the minister’s order.
As well, it found the lower court was correct in accepting the minister’s view that the province was “infested” because the department had detected potato wart on 35 occasions in P.E.I.’s three counties since 2000.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick health officials are urging parents to get their children vaccinated against measles after the number of cases of the disease in a recent outbreak has more than doubled since Friday.
Sean Hatchard, spokesman for the Health Department, says measles cases in the Fredericton and the upper Saint John River Valley area have risen from five on Friday to 12 as of Tuesday morning.
Hatchard says other suspected cases are under investigation, but he did not say how and where the outbreak of the disease began.
He says data from the 2023-24 school year show that about 10 per cent of students were not completely immunized against the disease.
In response to the outbreak, Horizon Health Network is hosting measles vaccine clinics on Wednesday and Friday.
The measles virus is transmitted through the air or by direct contact with nasal or throat secretions of an infected person, and can be more severe in adults and infants.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump is refusing to say how he voted on Florida’s abortion measure — and getting testy about it.
The former president was asked twice after casting his ballot in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday about a question that the state’s voters are considering. If approved, it would prevent state lawmakers from passing any law that penalizes, prohibits, delays or restricts abortion until fetal viability — which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks.
If it’s rejected, the state’s restrictive six-week abortion law would stand.
The first time he was asked, Trump avoided answering. He said instead of the issue that he did “a great job bringing it back to the states.” That was a reference to the former president having appointed three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.
Pressed a second time, Trump snapped at a reporter, saying “you should stop talking about it.”
Trump had previously indicated that he would back the measure — but then changed his mind and said he would vote against it.
In August, Trump said he thought Florida’s ban was a mistake, saying on Fox News Channel, “I think six weeks, you need more time.” But then he said, “at the same time, the Democrats are radical” while repeating false claims he has frequently made about late-term abortions.
In addition to Florida, voters in eight other states are deciding whether their state constitutions should guarantee a right to abortion, weighing ballot measures that are expected to spur turnout for a range of crucial races.
Passing certain amendments in Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota likely would lead to undoing bans or restrictions that currently block varying levels of abortion access to more than 7 million women of childbearing age who live in those states.
