Does charity really start at home?
A Review of Canadian Charitable Donations Sent Out-of-country (July 24, 2023)
According to The Phrase Finder website, “The proverb 'charity begins at home' expresses the overriding demand to take care of one's family, before caring for others1”. Whilst the first use of the phrase is not clear, the site quotes John Wycliff in 1382 stating this fact. It is supposed that this concept arises from 1 Timothy 5:8 which states: “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (NIV)
The purpose here is not to debate this concept in the context of the modern world, but to review whether Canadian charitable donations can shed a bit of light on it with respect to whether donations tend to stay in the country or pass along to organizations outside of Canada. It’s not an analysis that directly responds to 1 Timothy 5:8, but likely many see Canada and their immediate area as ‘home’ with respect to charitable giving.
First we will look at the big picture2. In 2020, registered charities received around $302 billion in general revenues. Of this amount, only $4.7 billion was sent out-of-country (1.6%).
The top five exporters of Canadian charitable donations were:
Mastercard Foundation $816 million
World Vision Canada $305 million
Plan International Canada $168 million
Int. Development Research Centre $114 million
Care Canada $ 92 million
I will leave it to you to look them up and see what they do. (And, in response to the obvious question, there are no registered charities in Canada with the term ‘VISA’ in their name.)
Since I started with the suggestion that the saying ‘Charity starts at home” has Biblical roots, we will now examine what Christian organizations are doing with respect to sending funds out-of-country.
Total revenues by charitable organizations claiming a purpose of furthering Christianity (Code 30) were around $7,900 million in 2020. Of this amount, $141 million was sent outside of Canada. This represents only 2% of all revenues, an amount similar to the 1.6% for all charities, as noted above.
The top five Christian exporters of revenues were: The WatchTower ($27.5 million), Seventh Day Adventists ($8.2 million), Latter Day Saints ($4.4 million), United Church ($4.3 million), and the Mennonites ($3.9%). In total, these five entities exported around 12% of their total revenues.
It seems clear that giving to foreign charitable endeavours is not a substantial share of what most charities in Canada raise. Canadians seem committed to supporting charitable needs of their own country, and likely their immediate areas, ahead of any others.
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1. The Phrase Finder, https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/charity-begins-at-home.html
2. Based on an analysis of 2020 T3010 (Annual Charities Return) data.