The good news is that Canadians are giving a higher percentage of their income to charity; the bad news is that fewer of them are doing so, even in Manitoba, whose residents were most likely to report charitable donations on their tax filings.
The annual Fraser Institute Generosity Index shows that in all provinces and territories except Northwest Territories (including Nunavut), the percentage of tax returns reporting charitable donations decreased from 1997 to 2003, the last year for which figures are available.
On the other hand, only Saskatchewan failed to report an increase in the percentage of its tax filers’ income gifted to those more in need. Others ranged from Ontario’s 26.1% increase, followed by Manitoba at 22.5%, to Newfoundland and Labrador, at .8%.
Manitobans, as they have consistently in the past, ranked highest for percentage of returns with charitable donations, at 28.3%. Ontario followed with 27% and Saskatchewan with 26.7%. At the bottom of the heap were Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the three territories, with Nunavut recording only 10.3% of its tax filers as donors.
Highest percentage
Manitoba also led the parade for percentage of income donated to charity, at .99%. Again, Ontario was second with .85% and Saskatchewan third with .83%.
The average individuals’ charitable donation, not factored in to the Generosity Index but reported on by Fraser, was highest in Alberta at $1,468, although the province stood fourth for percentage of income donated and fifth for percentage of returns with charitable donations.
Ontario continued to rank second by this benchmark, at an average of $1,437; surprisingly, Nunavut took third spot, at $1,338, although it was 13th by the two other standards. Quebec was lowest, at $532. The national average donation was $1,165.
The Index also measures generosity levels in the US and by US state, stating the average donation south of the border is $3,731.
“If Canadians were as generous in donating a comparable percentage of aggregate income as Americans, Canada’s charities would have an additional $8 billion in resources,” the Institute claims.
(However, remember the Boston Foundation recently claimed the Generosity Index published in the US by the Catalogue for Philanthropy and based, like the Institute’s report, on tax filings, is skewed to bias against high-income states and in favour of low-income states ([CF November 30].)
