Magic Statistics

New research from Statistics Canada, based on the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (CSGVP), shows that the top 25% of charitable donors contribute over 80% of total dollars given.

Canadians are extremely generous with the money and time they give to charitable and other nonprofit organizations. But it is a relatively small proportion of the population that provides the bulk of the help, according to the latest survey on giving and volunteering.

Although many Canadians give money, charitable and other nonprofit organizations rely on a relatively small group of donors for the majority of their support. The top one-quarter of donors (21% of Canadians) who gave $325 or more during 2004 provided 82% of the value of all donations, the survey showed.

These top donors tended to be older, to have higher levels of household income, and to have higher levels of formal education. People who are employed or widowed, or attend religious services on a weekly basis, also tended to be in this top group of donors.

A similar pattern was seen in volunteering: A relatively small group accounted for a disproportionate amount of time and energy contributed.  The top quarter of volunteers accounted for over three-quarters of total volunteer hours.

The survey also explored participation in voluntary associations.  Here it was found that two-thirds of Canadians belong to a community group, organisation, or association.

A voluminous 101-page report covering all aspects of the survey findings, including analysis of interactions between giving, volunteering, and participating, is available here as a pdf document.

I'm going to say more about the charitable giving results, with some information on the survey's methodology at the end of the post.  Those who want a complete presentation should consult the full report.

Statistics Canada estimates that 85% of Canadians aged 15 or over made a charitable donation in 2004, for total giving of $8.8 billion.

Figure 1.2, found on page 17 of the pdf document, divides Canadian donors into four groups ranked by size of average donation.  The top 10% is made up of those who gave $870 or more; this group accounted for 62%, or approximately $5.5 billion, of the total national donations.  The next group, comprising 15% of donors, includes those who gave between $325 and $869 and accounts for 20% of total donations.

Religion figures prominently in charitable donations by Canadians.  From page 23 of the full report:

Canadians who are actively involved with their religion are more likely than others to be donors and to give more than other donors do. Not surprisingly, these individuals provide virtually all of the donations to religious organizations; however, they also make significant contributions to non-religious organizations.

The CSGVP asked respondents how frequently they attended religious services or meetings (excluding special occasions such as weddings, funerals or baptisms). One-fifth of Canadians (19%) reported that they attended religious services weekly.

Over nine in ten (93%) of those who attended services weekly made charitable donations compared to 84% of those who did not. . . . Those who attended services weekly also made larger annual average donations ($887 vs. $284). Most of this giving (72% of all donations) is directed towards religious organizations. Indeed, the 19% of Canadians who attended religious services weekly account for 74% of the total value of donations to religious organizations. However, they also provide 22% of the total value of all donations to non-religious organizations.

Looking at the composition of the top 25% of donors, 48% of Canadians who attend religious services or meetings at least once a week are top donors, compared to 16% of those who are not weekly attendees.  Top donors who attend weekly comprise only 9% of the total population but account for 42% of total national donations.

Religious organisations were given an estimated 45% of total donations, and received a greater proportion from the top 25% of donors, compared to non-religious organisations.

It is also important to note that, although, as one would expect, charitable donations increase with income, the CSGVP found that giving as a proportion of income is greatest among low-income households.  This is illustrated in Figure 1.5, found on page 20 of the full report.  Donors with household incomes of less than $20,000 donated 1.7% of pre-tax income, compared to 0.5% donated by those with household incomes of $100,000 or more.

Turning to differences among the provinces and territories, residents of each of the three northern territories are less likely than those living in the ten provinces to donate to charitable causes.  In Canada as a whole, 85% donated something, compared to 76% of Yukoners, 79% of Northwest Territories residents, and 63% of Nunavut residents.  As seen in Figure 1.12, found on page 28 of the full report, average 2004 donations per donor ranged from a high of $500 in Alberta to a low of $176 in Quebec.

What I have mentioned here only scratches the surface of the wealth of data and discussion of results presented in the full report.  It is, I would think, the most complete statistical examination of charitable and volunteer work ever produced in Canada.  Anyone interested in the topic will find it a very useful and worthwhile read.

In conclusion, some methodological information:

The target population for the CSGVP included all Canadians aged 15 and over.  The survey was conducted in 2004; current plans call for it to be repeated every three years.  Residents of the three northern territories were included along with the ten provinces.  This was a household-based population survey conducted by telephone, so the results are not based on charitable tax deductions, etc.  Households without telephones were not included; however, these account for less than 2% of all Canadian households.  (In the territories, some face-to-face interviews were conducted as well.)

The definitions employed for survey purposes were as follows:

Donors are people who made at least one donation of money to a charitable or other nonprofit organization in the 12-month reference period preceding the survey. This definition excludes those who made donations of loose change to coin collection boxes located beside cash registers at store check-outs.

Participants are people who reported membership or participation in at least one group, organization or association in the 12-month reference period preceding the survey.

Volunteers are people who volunteered, that is, who performed a service without pay, on behalf of a charitable or other nonprofit organization, at least once in the 12-month reference period preceding the survey. This includes any unpaid help provided to schools, religious organizations, sports or community associations.

Statistics Canada surveys in 1997 and 2000 also asked Canadians about donating and volunteering, but the CSGVP employed a different questionnaire and survey design, so the results are not directly comparable.

The London Telegraph is shocked—shocked—to find out that the age group doing the most to preserve the environment is not young people but geezers.

Youngsters may claim to care most about the environment but in practice do the least to protect it, according to a study.

A poll of more than 2,000 Britons found that 18- to 24-year-olds are far less likely to recycle or save energy in the home than any other group.

The true "eco-warriors" are the over 65s.

The Telegraph provides no documentation in support of the assertion that young people “claim to care most about the environment”.

Check out the video posted at smalldeadanimals and Angry in the Great White North of a 20 May speech by NDP leader Jack Layton in which Flap Jack called for the repeal of Bill C-36, the Anti-Terrorism Act under which 17 Canadian resident Muslims were busted last weekend.

Let's see: In the past month, Mr Layton has been wrong on Canadian socio-economic conditions, the environment, and now national security.  He is quickly becoming one of those people who is so very valuable to have around because, as William F. Buckley said of his friend and neighbour John Kenneth Galbraith, "Whenever he expresses an opinion on something, you can be sure that it's wrong".

So says Christie Blatchford in her front-page column from this morning's Globe and Mail.

I drove back from yesterday's news conference at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto in the northeastern part of the city, but honestly, I could have just as easily floated home in the sea of horse manure emanating from the building.

So frequent were the bald reassurances that faith and religion had nothing — nothing, you understand — to do with the alleged homegrown terrorist plot recently busted open by Canadian police and security forces, that for a few minutes afterward, I wondered if perhaps it was a vile lie of the mainstream press or a fiction of my own demented brain that the 17 accused young men are all, well, Muslims.

But no. I have checked. They are all Muslims.

Barely two days after the nighttime raids that saw 15 of the accused arrested (the remaining two, in Kingston, conveniently were already in the joint on gun charges), the great Canadian self-delusion machine was up and running at full throttle.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair is actively promoting the delusion.

Such is the state of ignoring the biggest, fattest elephant in the room in this country that at one point Chief Blair actually bragged — this in answer to a question from the floor — "I would remind you that there was not one single reference made by law enforcement to Muslim or Muslim community" at the big post-arrest news conference on Saturday.

Indeed, law-enforcement types there took enormous pains to say just the opposite: The arrested men are from a diverse variety of backgrounds ("They're students, they're employed, they're unemployed" one official said, which is akin to running the gamut from A to oh, C); they come from all parts of Canadian society; blah, blah, blah.

Even before I knew for sure that they're all Muslims, I suspected as much from what I saw on the tube, perhaps because I am a trained observer, or you know, because I have eyes.

The accused men are mostly young and mostly bearded in the Taliban fashion. They have first names like Mohamed, middle names like Mohamed and last names like Mohamed. Some of their female relatives at the Brampton courthouse who were there in their support wore black head-to-toe burkas (now there's a sight to gladden the Canadian female heart: homegrown burka-wearers darting about just as they do in Afghanistan), which is not a getup I have ever seen on anyone but Muslim women.

Ms Blatchford's blunt words and refusal to accept politically correct evasions make her a national treasure for coverage of stories like this.  Here is one mainstream newspaper reporter who does not dissemble salient facts with shop-worn platitudes.

For access to the full column, click here.

Previous related post: Homegrown terrorist cells busted in Toronto area

The collect for today, Monday in Whitsun-Week, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

God, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

For the Epistle: Acts 10:34-48
The Gospel: St John 3:16-21