If not the ultra-rich, who are the big givers in Canada?

The Role and Composition of Primary Donors in Canadian Philanthropy (June 1, 2023)

In the church, the primary motivations in giving should be love, sacrifice and obedience.  The actual dollar amounts are not all that relevant spiritually, though they are a material comfort to those in need.

Accordingly, donations as a percentage of income is the closest national statistic we have to measuring these spiritual factors.  As concluded in an earlier article, the wealthiest people in Canada fail this metric miserably.  According to a Statistics Canada General Household Survey1 using 2013 financial data, people in the lowest 20% of earners in Canada gave around 2% of their household income.  After that, the higher you go on the income quintile scale, the lower the percentage gets; bottoming out at less than one-half of one percent for people in the highest 20% of earners.  This trend is so well defined that it would not be a stretch to believe it keeps going in this direction as annual incomes move toward the top 1%.

Regardless, there often seems to be a popular assumption that the rich give lots of money, at least on a dollar basis.  After all, we are always hearing about these multi-million dollar gifts to arts centres and universities.  This assumption leads to the belief that nearly all of the top donors in Canada are from the ranks of the very wealthy.  Statistics Canada has examined the role of primary donors in Canada, defining the term as the people in the top 10% of all givers1.  In 2013, this included all Canadians who gave more than $1,150 that year.  Primary donors contributed two-thirds of all donations made in Canada in 2013.  To clarify: 10% of givers contributed 67% of total donations.

Let's look at the composition of these top donors by income level2.  Amazingly, only about one-third of top donors come from the top 20% of earners. (Note that we are now talking about raw dollars, not percentage of income.)  Conversely, two-thirds come from less wealthy people, ranging from zero earnings to around $80,000 of annual income.  A closer look is even more enlightening as we see 22% of top donors have an annual income lower than $25,000.  This is impressive behaviour for the low earners, and an embarrassment for the wealthy; or at least it should be.  One caveat that Statistics Canada makes is that some high-giving, low earning individuals may have significant amounts of assets from which to donate (e.g., high retirement savings, bequeathed money from parents).

Now let’s look at what is really driving the largest segment of top donors.  You will not be surprised.  In 2013, 54% of everyone in the top 10% of donors indicated that they attend religious services on a weekly basis.  Considering that only around 20% of Canadians attend this often, it seems clear that philanthropy is heavily driven by religious behaviour. 

So it should also not come as a surprise that the top recipient category for donations is religious organizations.  In 2013, they received 41% of all donated dollars, representing over $5.2 billion.  Religious donors averaged $1,292 of giving, compared to $365 by people that were less or not religious.

One other tidbit is worth mentioning about the top 10% of donors.  They have been increasing their giving at a significantly higher rate than the lower 90% of donors.  From 2004 to 2013, primary donors increased their giving by 30%, while all other donors increased their giving by 11%.  

In conclusion, the primary donors of Canada represent the most significant driver in Canadian philanthropy.  The significant majority of them are not in the highest-earning 20% of Canadians; over half are high on the religious scale; and a plurality of donations go to religious organizations.  Indeed, the religious organizations in Canada occupy the best seat when it comes to charitable revenues. 

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1. Statistics Canada, Charitable giving by individuals, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-652-x/89-652-x2015008-eng.htm

2. Statistics Canada, Table 2 Personal characteristics of primary donors, other donors and non-donors, 2013,

    https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-652-x/2015008/t/tbl02-eng.htm