Charitable giving in Canada now tops $10-billion a year and volunteers put in more than two billion hours annually in unpaid labour, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
But rather than celebrate these milestones, charities and volunteer organizations are fretting about what the recession may bring.
“For the past 20 years we have seen modest year-over-year growth in giving, but we don't know what the future will hold,” said Michael Hall, vice-president research at Imagine Canada, a group that promotes philanthropy and volunteerism.
Anecdotally, he said, it appears that giving to charity is slowing, but there are no firm numbers.
During the last recession giving flattened out, but did not decrease, Dr. Hall said. The problem is that when the economy is in trouble, the demand for many charitable services soars, so services are strained.
Volunteering, on the other hand, has been flatlining in recent years but now appears to be on the rise as a direct result of the recession.
“Volunteering is a credible way to gain skills and work experience in a competitive job market,” said Ruth MacKenzie, president of Volunteer Canada.
On the other hand, she noted, the increased demand for services in a recession means more volunteers are needed so groups are not necessarily keeping pace.
The 91-page was released yesterday by Statistics Canada.
It shows that 23 million Canadians aged 15 and over made a financial donation to charity in 2007.
The average donation was $437, up from $400 in 2004, the last time data were published. The biggest beneficiaries, according to Statistics Canada, were religious organizations, which received 46 per cent of donated dollars, followed by health charities (15 per cent) and social services organizations (10 per cent).
Total giving was $10-billion in 2007, up from $8.9-billion in 2004.
The research shows that fewer Canadians give their time than their money.
Almost 12.5 million people volunteered in 2007; that is 46 per cent of the population aged 15 and over.
In total, they volunteered almost 2.1 billion hours, the equivalent of 1.1 million full-time jobs.
Canadians who volunteer do so, on average, 166 hours a year (down slightly from 168 in 2004), the equivalent of about one month's full-time work. That time is spent helping out principally in sports, social services, education and religious organizations.
Mr. Hall said that a troubling trend is that “we rely on a very thin slice of the population to provide us with the bulk of charitable giving and volunteering.”
For example, the top 10 per cent of donors contribute 62 per cent of the total dollars given to charity. Similarly, the top 25 per cent of volunteers contribute 52 per cent of all volunteer hours.
This core group tends to be older, educated and religious.
“The million-dollar question is: ‘Is this group being replenished?'” Mr. Hall said.
