First let me say that finding reliable Canadian statistics outside of Stats Canada is difficult and over the years I have bookmarked a wide number of sites under my “stats” research folder I am happy to share. If you are aware of another terrific resource, please do provide a comment with a link.
Canadian Charity and NFP Sector Stats
- Imagine Canada Research and Facts
- There are an estimated 170,000 registered charities and non-profits in Canada
- The sector represents 8.1% of Canada’s GDP
- Canadian’s give $14 billion annually
- More than 3/4 of donations go to big four causes – religion (40%), health, social services and international (35%)
- Corporate sponsorships, donations and grants make up approximately $3 billion worth of funding to the charitable sector in Canada
- Both the likelihood of giving and average amounts donated generally increase with age, income, frequency of attendance at religious services and education.
- Statistics Canada 2013 Survey on Volunteering & Giving in Canada
- 44% of people aged 15 and older volunteer
- 66% of those between the ages of 15-19 volunteer
- 82% of Canadian’s made financial donations in 2013 (down from 85% in 2004)
- Donors aged 55 and over gave the most (35% of all donations)
- Four fifths of all donations are made by 25% of donors
- Slightly more than 40% of all financial donations went to religious organizations
- Statistics Canada 2017
- Total donations reported by taxfilers in 2017 was $9.6 billion
- The number of tax filers fell by 48,840 to 5.348 million
- The median donation was $300
- Tax filers over the age of 65 had the highest average donation ($2,500)
- 2015 CRA Analysis by Blumbergs
- $251 billion in total revenue for Canadian charities and total expenditures of $240 billion.
- Government revenue totaled $168.5 Billion
- federal government ($6.8 Billion)
- provincial governments ($152.6 Billion) and
- municipal/regional governments ($9.1 billion)
- $1.9 Billion was received by Canadian charities from outside of Canada
- $135.8 Billion was spent by Canadian charities on salaries and other compensation expenditures
- $16.4 Billion in official donation receipts were issued by Canadian registered charities
- 2018 Canada Helps Giving Report
- 91% of the 86,000 charities in Canada have ten or fewer paid full-time staff
- 66% of the total donations made in Canada go to just 1% of charities
- 30% of all donation dollars are generated in December
- 85% of all government funding goes to the 1% of charities that reported more than 200 employees
- The majority of government funding goes to health and education (87.1% of all government funding that went to charities)
- In 2010 the share of total charity revenue that came from Sales of Goods & Services was 7.9%, by 2016 this had increased to 8.6%.
- In 2016, Sales of Goods & Services accounted for $22.6 billion of charity revenues, 26% higher number than 2010.
- With more than 1.4 million full-time employees, the charitable sector now accounts for one out of every ten full-time jobs in Canada, making it the nation’s largest employer.
- Full-time employment in the charitable sector also grew at twice the rate (2.1% vs. 1.0%) of remaining employment, from 2010 to 2016.1
- PFC’s Canadian Foundation Facts
- The proportion of Foundations to charities remains relatively stable at 12%
- Private and public foundations held about $84.4 billion in assets and made $6.7 billion in grants in 2017
- 2011 Cygnus Canadian Donor Survey (note the 2019 Survey is underway and previous survey results are available for a fee)
- In the 2017 version of the survey, Burk says her findings show that “Over-solicitation is the number one reason why donors stop giving.” She cites a 65% attrition rate between a first gift and second ask, with a 90% attrition rate by the fifth request.
- Angus Reid and CHIMP giving Report 2017
- Three-quarters of Canadians have donated to at least one charitable cause over the past two years.
- Canadians are more likely (57%) to have given in response to a prompt from an organization than on their own initiative.
- Four-in-ten (43%) give on an ongoing basis to at least one charity.
- Among the three-in-ten Canadians who say they should be doing more for charity, half (51%) say financial concerns are the sole barrier.
- A significant portion also say there are a number of factors including the legitimacy (54%) and effectiveness (58%) of charities
- Six-in-ten Canadians (61%) say they would give more if they felt more confident about charities and where the money is going, while half (48%) said they would be more generous if they could find the right cause for them
- Muttart Foundation’s Public Opinion Poll on Canadian Charities
- Four-fifths of Canadians (79%) trust charities, a number that has remained relatively constant over the last 13 years
- Trust in various types of charities differs significantly, ranging from a high of 86% for hospitals and 82% for those that focus on children to a low of 50% for international aid charities and 41% for religious organizations other than churches and places of worship.
- The percentage of Canadians who believe that charities are generally honest about how they use donations is still high at 70%, but has decreased from the 84% who felt that way in 2000. Similarly, only about one-third of Canadians (34%) believe charities only ask for money when they really need it, compared to 47% of Canadians who felt that way in 2000.
- Canadians remain supportive of charities engaging in business activities. Almost nine in 10 (86%) think running a business is a good way for a charity to raise money it can’t obtain from other sources, while eight in 10 (79%) think charities should be able to earn money through any type of business activity as long as the proceeds go to the cause. Almost two-thirds of Canadians (64%) say that charities should not be taxed on business earnings as long as those earnings are used to support the cause, although that number represents a decrease from 71% who felt that way in 2006.
- Mobile Giving Foundation of Canada Study
- The three most popular causes that people would consider donating to through text messaging are illness/disease prevention or treatment (42%), fighting poverty and hunger (42%), and mental health (41%)
- Just under a quarter of mobile phone users (23%) know that when they use their cell phone to make a donation using text messaging that the service provider gives 100% of the donation to the charity.
- Only 11% know that when they donate through a text message that they can immediately receive a tax receipt.
- The top circumstances that would encourage a donation through text messaging is a TV appeal (28%), a news article or press release (27%) and reading about it online (22%). For half of mobile phone users (51%), there is nothing that would encourage them to make a text message donation.
- When charities go door-to-door or canvass on the street, 12% are likely and 27% are somewhat likely to donate to a charity they support this way.
The importance of Cause / Purpose
- Edelman Earned Brand Report (2018)
- 64% of consumers choose, switch, avoid or boycott a brand based on its stand on societal issues.
- POS Giving Report – 69% of consumers have given at point of sale in the last 12 months. Of those, 81% say they like or don’t mind being asked to give at the register. (2018)
- Benevity Engagement Study – Turnover dropped by 57% in employee groups most deeply connected to their companies’ giving and volunteering efforts (2018)
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Accentures-UN Global Company Impact Study – 80% of CEOs believe that demonstrating a commitment to purpose is a differentiator in their industry (2016)
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PwC Global CEO Business Success Survey – Two-thirds are increasing their investments in CSR (2016)
- Ipsos and Companies & Causes Canada Survey on cause marketing (2015)
- 95% of Canadians surveyed felt companies should support good causes
- Almost half (43%) think that Canadians are more giving than other countries
- 83% say they would switch brands to one associated with a good cause, price and quality being equal
- 33% of Canadians claimed to seek out more information about a cause after becoming aware of it through a cause marketing activity.
- Many Canadians claim they are socially responsible (73%) and environmentally conscious (60%)
- Edelman Good Purpose Study – 76% of consumers believe it’s ok for brands to support good causes and make money at the same time – up 33% since 2008 (2012)
- Cone CSR Study – 91% of global consumers are likely to switch brands to one that supports a good cause, given similar price and quality (2013)
- Cone/Porter Novelli Purpose Study (2018)
- 78% believe companies must do more than just make money; they must positively impact society as well
- 66% would switch from a product they typically buy, to a new product from a Purpose-driven company
- 68% are more willing to share content with their social networks over that of traditional companies
- Forbes – Millennials expect more than good products, services to win their loyalty (2014)
- Nielsen’s CSR Study – 55% of global online consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact. (2014)
- 67% prefer to work for socially responsible companies
- 52% check product packaging to ensure sustainable impact
- 49% volunteer and/or donate to organizations engaged in social and environmental programs
- CauseMark Loyalty Study – 69% of consumers have purchased a product in the past year where a portion of sales supported a cause or charity (2014)
- Harvard Business Reviews Business Case for Purpose – 89% of executives surveyed said a strong sense of collective purpose drives employee satisfaction
Benchmarking Stats (mix of US, Global and Canadian)
- Mailchimp’s average email campaign stats by industry
- Constant Contacts average email stats by industry
- Campaign monitor’s average email stats by industry
- Facebook fundraising benchmark data by M+R
- M+R NonProfit benchmark report
- On average, nonprofits raised $1.77 through Facebook for every $100 raised through other online channels
- For every 1,000 email appeals sent, nonprofits raised an average of $45
- Overall, 37% of donors who made a gift online in 2017 donated online again to that nonprofit in 2018
- Overall, nonprofits invested ten cents for every dollar they raised in online revenue
- n 2018, users on mobile devices accounted for 48% of all traffic to nonprofit websites, compared to just 44% for desktop
- Mobile lists (that is, supporters who have given nonprofits permission to send them text messages) grew by 14% in 2018. While mobile lists tend to be much smaller than email lists (on average, nonprofits had 63 mobile subscribers per 1,000 email subscribers), mobile users engage at relatively high rates.
- Fundraising text messages had a click-through rate of 13%, which suggests relatively high engagement
- AFPs 2018 Fundraising Effectiveness Report (data from 5 donor software firms)
- The overall rate of growth in giving from participating organizations was 2.2%
- Larger organizations saw better performance than smaller organizations
- The average donor retention rate was 45.5% in 2017
- 2018 Global Giving Report
- 45% of donors enrolled in a monthly giving program
- 54% prefer to give online / 11% prefer giving via direct mail
- 41% have donated to crowdfunding campaigns that benefit individuals
- 14% have created an online peer-to-peer fundraising campaign
- 41% give in response to natural disasters
- 68% of donors trust most .org domain extensions
- 29% of small donors were inspired to give by social media / 28% by email
- Canada Helps 2018 Giving Report
- 16% of donors using the Canada Helps platform were monthly donors
- In 2017, the average donation amount ($681) for donors who used CanadaHelps to make monthly donations was more than two times higher than the average donation amount ($327) for donors who made one-time donations.
- 35% of donors who made monthly donations through CanadaHelps donated to the same charity for 3-5 years (2013-2017)
- Blackbaud’s Giving Index and Generational Giving Report
- Overall charitable giving was up 1.9% among Canadian charities in 2018
- Online giving increased 6.9% for charities in Canada during 2018
- A whopping 80% of donors say they are concerned about a charity’s overhead expenses. But substantially fewer, 47%, say they actually do the research to ascertain how a cause they support or plan to support is performing.
- From 2013 to 2018, reported use of direct mail fell from 32% of donors to 20%. Every astute fundraiser will note that at this point, direct mail brings in eight or nine times more money than email each year. Around half of all generations say it is an acceptable way to be asked for donations. Among Boomers and Civics, it is the only broadly acceptable solicitation channel other than requests from friends.
- 8% of Millennials who have given at all say they have given via a social channel.
- Crowdfunding has grown dramatically since 2013 across all generations. Among Millennials, the percentage saying they have given via a crowdfunding campaign has risen from 12% to 30% in the past five years.
- Understanding cost per dollar raised by Hilborn
- The generally accepted “Gold Standard” for a well developed program including Annual Giving, Major Gifts, Planned Giving and Campaigns is: $0.20 per $1.00 raised. However, I advocate that it should be a range between $0.20-$0.25 because in my experience some of the best managed charities have even higher overall costs. But a cost ratio of $0.25 or less I believe is a benchmark that most can and should attain. Cost Per Method – see details…
- Costs of fundraising by Affinity Resources (detailed list of fundraising activities and average cost to raise one dollar)