Fewer donors but bigger donations for Manitoba charities: Winnipeg Foundation report

Two new reports on the charitable sector say Manitoba is following a national trend in that there are fewer people donating to charity, but those who are donating are giving more.

A reportcompiled by the Winnipeg Foundationand released Wednesdaylooked at data gathered from 439 Manitoba-based charities.

"We have a very resilient charitable sector in Winnipeg but there's stresses and stretched capacity in the city. Most organizations are feeling somewhat vulnerable,"said Winnipeg Foundation CEO Rick Frost.

• Manitoba more generous than rest of Canada, study suggests

"The traditional donors are getting older. Across Canada, and certainly in Manitoba as well, we're relying more on fewer people."

The report looked at giving trends from 1997 to 2017, and found that while fewer people are contributing to charities, the amount they are giving has actually doubled over the last two decades.

Fewer people giving more

Using Statistics Canada data, the report said 26 per cent of Winnipeggers who filed taxes in the 2012-2016 period made charitable donations. That compares to 31 per cent in the 1997-2001 period.

However, the average individual donation amount in 2012-2016 was $1,802, compared to $929 in 1997-2001.

"These trends seemcounter-intuitive," the report says. "Simply stated, they reflect that fewer people are giving more."

Frost said the report suggests there's more workto do when it comes to attracting younger donors and creating awareness about how organizations impact communities.

"Looking at the whole impact and how [charities] affect the quality of life in our province, we probably need to do a better sales job from that perspective," he said.

The Winnipeg Foundation will use the report to develop its strategic plan for the next few years. Frost says it will help the community foundationlook at ways to increase donor participation and try to find ways to encourage smaller charities to work together.

"I think there's an opportunity to look at collaborations and partnerships, avoid duplication and become more effective and more efficient," said Frost.

Funding downturn

The report also showed a need for more predictable funding models for charitable organizations and better training for staff who work for them.

Frost said many charities rely on governments for about half of their funding, much of that coming from the provinces.

The report alsosurveyed Winnipeg charitable organizations in 2017. That survey found that of the charitable organizations that reported a significant change in their funding in the past two years, 60 per cent indicated the change was a downturn.

Of those charities, 56 per cent attributed the funding downturn in part to provincial funding changes.

Manitoba's Progressive Conservative governmentordered a value-for-money review of dozens of organizations in 2016.

• Organizations in funding limbo as Manitoba PC government reviews millions in NDP promises

"We all know that the province is trying to bring its finances under control. Undoubtedly that is putting pressure, to some extent, on charitable organizations," said Frost.

"It's certainly causing apprehension in terms of what exactly are going to be the impacts as we go forward."

While funding may become harder to access, organizations surveyed felt there was stilla significant need for the services being provided.

"Ninety-two per cent of charities feel that there is an unmet need for some of the work that they are doing, that they don't have the capacity to meet all the [needs of] people who are knocking on their door," said Frost.

Youngpeople giving less, new Canadiansmore

Numbers compiled at a national level were also released Wednesday.

A report by Imagine Canada and the Rideau Hall Foundation, called Thirty Years of Giving in Canada,says that Manitoba is in line with a national trend of fewer donors making larger contributions.

"The average gift size, nationally, has doubled but the participation rate is actually down by 30 per cent. [This] has actually masked the fact that fewer people are donating," said Bruce MacDonald, CEO of Imagine Canada.

"These fewer donors are giving more."

The report states the baby boom generationhas been the most important part of the donor pool for the past 30 years and is responsible for more than 40 per cent of total donations since 2000.

Adapting to change

MacDonald said as that population ages, it's important for charities to appeal to new donors, both from younger generations as well as the immigrant population.

MacDonald said the data suggests thatnew Canadians were giving more than those born in Canada and while young people weren't as likely to have donated, the reasons were not always financial.

"One of the reasons they weren't giving is they weren't being asked or they weren't sure who to give to," said MacDonald.

The Winnipeg Foundation's Frost says the surveys provide a means to look at how charities in Manitoba can adapt to changing populations as well as changing technologies.

The rise of crowdfunding siteslike GoFundMeis also having an impact and will likely continue to play a role as technologies change for example, "the way people give online versusthe old way of writing a cheque," Frost said.

"We see all kinds of things changing in society and charities have to change as well."