CanadaHelps has released the 2021 Giving Report, an annual report that provides an in-depth, data-driven look at the state of Canada’s charitable sector. Since the onset of the pandemic, the charitable sector has experienced significant challenges, including a projected decline in overall donations. There are, however, positive signs as 2020 saw a striking increase in online giving as well as newly engaged donors supporting environmental, Indigenous, and social justice charities. These were among key findings in the 2021 Giving Report, the fourth edition of the comprehensive study that examines the charitable sector and its impact on Canada. The Giving Report is available for download here.
For the first time, CanadaHelps developed a projection to understand the impact of the pandemic on total giving, and is projecting that overall charitable giving declined by 10%, falling to 2016 levels. This projection uses all available data from the Canada Revenue Agency going back to 2007, as data reporting on 2020 giving is not anticipated to be made available until late 2022. In contrast, online donations continued to accelerate at record rates. In 2020, 1.1 million Canadians donated more than $480 million online through CanadaHelps, more than double the amount donated online in 2019.
Findings also show a distinct giving gap between age groups. As seen in previous Giving Reports, Canadians aged 55 and older are giving at twice the rate of younger Canadians. However, in comparison, younger people donated more to social justice-related Cause Funds such as CanadaHelps’ Black Solidarity Fund that represents 70 charities supporting the advancement of Black Canadians. Introduced in 2020, Cause Funds are a new approach to giving, enabling donors to support a cause they care about by easily making a single donation to support a group of registered charities collectively working towards the same cause.
Other noteworthy findings include:
- Across the country, charities activated programs in response to the pandemic, and Canadians responded generously with significant increases in donations to hospitals, frontline healthcare workers, and health services. This includes donations of $5.1 million to approximately 630 charities responding to the pandemic through two of CanadaHelps’ Cause Funds, the Healthcare and Hospital Fund and the Community Care Fund.
- The top four charitable categories in terms of fastest growth in online giving included charities supporting Indigenous Peoples, social services, and health.
- While charities supporting Indigenous Peoples saw the fastest online growth of any category in 2020, it continues to receive the lowest volume of donations.
- Online donations to environmental charities saw the fastest growth in the category in four years.
