The number of Canadians donating to charity as a percentage of all tax filers — 17.1 % — has fallen to its lowest in 20 years.
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The study found that among the provinces, Manitoba had the highest percentage of tax filers donating to charity (19.3%) during the 2022 tax year, while New Brunswick had the lowest (14.7 %).
Ontario ranked second with 17.6% of tax filers donating to charity and $2,559 being the average dollar value of all charitable donations.
Canadians’ generosity peaked at 25.4% of tax-filers donating in 2004, before declining in subsequent years.
Nationally, the total amount donated to charity by Canadian tax filers has also fallen from 0.61% of income in 2002 to 0.5% of income in 2022.
“The holiday season is a time to reflect on charitable giving, and the data shows Canadians are consistently less charitable every year, which means charities face greater challenges to secure resources to help those in need,” said study co-author Jake Fuss, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute.
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“A smaller proportion of Canadians are donating to registered charities than what we saw in previous decades, and those who are donating are donating less.”
The Fraser Institute is an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“This decline in generosity in Canada undoubtedly limits the ability of Canadian charities to improve the quality of life in their communities and beyond,” said study co-author Grady Munro, a policy analyst.