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.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
