Environics Analytics (EA) has the privilege of looking at the CanadaHelps individual donor data, which greatly represents Canadian donors. The EA team has analyzed year-over-year trends in overall donations, cause types, monthly donor trends, and Giving Tuesday, to name a few. It has been fascinating to see these behaviours in real-time, from the influx of donations to health organizations throughout the first two years of the pandemic to the dramatic support shown in 2022 to Ukraine and the immediate impacts rising inflation has had on giving. 2023 has been no different.

Through analysis, we’ve brought these constituents to life using PRIZM®, our lifestyle segmentation system, which has helped overlay the demographic and behavioural indicators needed to understand Canadian donors.

CanadaHelps’ donors come from all walks of life and truly demonstrate the differences across the nation. Not surprisingly, we are seeing the same trends from both the 2021 tax filer data in the Giving Report and the newly released 2022 CRA tax filer data; the number of donors continues to decline year over year. After several years of exponential growth, CanadaHelps saw a similar decline this year, with 9% fewer donors than in 2022. This decline was consistent across all population segments, with younger and more diverse segments seeing a higher proportion of decline.

Although the decline in the number of donors is alarming, we’re seeing some positive trends.

• Donors who are giving are giving more. The average gift amount through the CanadaHelps platform was up 7% in 2023 over 2022. Suburban, and rural families saw double-digit growth. Other more established segments also saw stronger increases. Again, younger and more diverse audiences haven’t increased as much, perhaps feeling the pinch of living in high-cost-of-living areas.
• Monthly donations are also a bright spot. The number of donors giving monthly through the platform has more than doubled since 2019. The number of donors increased by 9%, and donation dollars increased by 11% in 2023 alone. Again, the younger segments haven’t increased as much as older, more established households.Because these younger donor segments have been strong givers in the CanadaHelps database in previous years, this implies that external, likely economic factors are impacting their engagement in 2023.

While some of this may seem obvious, it is important to acknowledge these financial barriers:

• People between the ages of 27 and 42 (Millennials) comprise over 35% of the downtown population.
• Over one-third of Canadians are renters, with a large contingent in this younger population. According to Urbanation Inc., rents have increased exponentially over the past 18 months, with February 2024 seeing a 10.4% increase in rents.
• In addition, those who are homeowners have seen their mortgage rates skyrocket. We haven’t even touched on inflation. The long and short of it is that renters and newer homeowners feel the economy's impact significantly more than older populations without housing costs, especially as stock markets have done reasonably well over the past few years. 

As a final message, despite the dreary outlook, focusing on your constituents has never been more critical. Continue to hold their hand throughout these challenging times, and don’t stop reaching out to those younger, more diverse audiences. We will get through this storm and see an increase in giving again.

Jennifer Robins is the Not-For-Profit Lead at Environics Analytics. She provides data and analytical insights to charities, foundations, and non-profits to support and reach their strategic goals.