Ipsos Poll: 22% of Canadians Plan to Access Charitable Services to Meet Essential Needs in the Next Six Months, Up From 14% in January 2022

TORONTO, Nov. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CanadaHelps, the country’s largest platform for donating and fundraising online, has published the findings from a new Ipsos poll that reveals 22 percent of Canadians say they plan to access charitable services to meet essential needs such as food, clothing, or shelter in the next six months. The growing demand for charitable services is exacerbated by rising interest rates, ongoing economic uncertainty, and higher costs of living. This confirms worst fears from a January 2022 Ipsos poll which indicated that this drastic increase in demand was imminent. At the time of the January 2022 study commissioned by CanadaHelps, 14 percent of Canadians were relying on charitable services to meet their basic needs.

To help ensure charities have the funds needed to address growing demands, CanadaHelps has launched a ‘12 Ways to Give’ campaign. The national awareness campaign will showcase the wide range of charitable giving options that are available to meet every budget and lifestyle so all Canadians can help make a difference this holiday season. The holiday season unofficially kicks off on November 29th which is GivingTuesday, a global day to celebrate and engage in giving.

“We know that Canadians across the country are feeling the impact of rising interest rates and the high cost of living, but it’s staggering to see that two in ten Canadians will need support from charities to meet their basic needs in the next six months. Adding to the problem, many Canadian charities are facing significant shortfalls in funding which is making it very difficult to meet such high demand,” said Jane Ricciardelli, Chief Operating Officer and Acting CEO of CanadaHelps. “The launch of the 12 Ways to Give campaign ahead of the holiday season highlights how easy it is for Canadians to make a difference in communities across the country.”

Canadians Relying on Charities to Meet Essential Needs
One in three Canadians (35 percent) between the ages of 18 and 34 expect to access essential charitable services such as food, clothing, and shelter, which is higher than those between 35 and 54 years-old (26 percent) and those 55 years and older (10 percent). One in four parents (27 percent) are among those expecting to access essential services through charities. 30 percent of Albertans expect to access essential services from charities in the next six months — the highest percentage of any province or territory in Canada.

Canadians Planning To Give Less in 2022
At the same time that demand for charitable services is rising, Canadians are widely scaling back their charitable giving. Only 13 percent of Canadians are planning to give more in 2022 than they did in 2021, while 45 percent will give the same amount as they did in 2021, and 20 percent of Canadians expect to reduce their charitable giving this year. 22 percent of Canadians don’t plan to engage in charitable giving — the same proportion of Canadians that expect to rely on charities to meet basic needs in the next six months.

74 percent of Canadians who are giving less this year identified the rising cost of living as the key reason why they are not giving as much as they did in 2021. 31 percent of respondents cited financial challenges from the pandemic as a reason they are giving less, while 10 percent reported that giving isn’t a priority for them. 18 percent of households making $100,000 or more expect to reduce their charitable giving this year, while only 13 percent expect to give more, which indicates that many households with higher incomes are reining in discretionary spending. This finding is similar to data published in The Giving Report 2022 which highlighted that from 2006 to 2019, families with incomes of $150,000 or more had the highest annual rate of decline in donation amount among all income bands, declining at an annual rate of -3.3 percent, while families with incomes between $20,000 and $99,000 had an annual rate of decline between -1 percent and -1.5 percent.

12 Ways to Give This Holiday Season
There are a wide variety of ways that Canadians can give generously this holiday season. CanadaHelps has highlighted 12 Ways to Give, which are easy and accessible to meet every budget:

1. Donate to a Charity on CanadaHelps: With more than 86,000 charities in Canada, there is no better time than the holidays to donate to a charity or cause, and CanadaHelps makes it easy to find a charity to support.
2. Set Up a Monthly Charitable Donation: Canadians can make an impact month after month by starting a monthly donation on CanadaHelps. Monthly giving is one of the easiest ways for Canadians to budget their charitable giving throughout the year, especially during economically challenging times. Plus, monthly donations help charities access reliable funding to help them plan ahead and ensure they have funding throughout the year.
3. Participate in GivingTuesday on November 29th: The global movement was co-founded in Canada by CanadaHelps in 2013, and last year, more than $11.4 million was donated on GivingTuesday using CanadaHelps. Canadians are encouraged to donate, volunteer, or support other causes of their choice.
4. Give the Gift of Giving: CanadaHelps Charity Gift Cards are a convenient and easy way to give. Purchasers select a value and design, write a custom message, and then can print or email the gift card to a loved one near or far. Those making the purchase receive an instant charitable tax receipt for the value of the gift card and the recipients can choose to donate the value of the gift card to a registered charity on CanadaHelps.org. These are feel-good gifts that are perfect stocking stuffers, and can be a great way for parents and grandparents to teach children about charitable giving. Plus, Charity Gift Cards can be purchased in bulk and are a perfect personalized gift for businesses to give to their clients or employees, advance their corporate social responsibility strategy, and engage their team.
5. Give an eCard: eCards can be sent to someone near or far to let them know that a gift has been made in their honour this holiday season. eCards can also be sent in memory of someone to make a difference in their honour.
6. Give a Charitable Gift: A charitable present is the perfect way to make an impact and give a personalized gift in someone’s honour. Find gifts that provide food to people in need, protect animals, support children, improve health, and so much more. Plus, charitable gifts are perfect for any budget and can be browsed by gifts under $25, under $100, or under $250.
7. Support Multiple Charities with a Single Donation on Unite for Change: Unite for Change, powered by CanadaHelps, is a new online platform allowing Canadians to learn, take action in support of a cause they care about, or donate to one of 40 Cause Funds available. Cause Funds are an innovative and new way to give, enabling a single donation to make a broad and lasting impact by supporting a group of registered charities working towards the same cause.
8. Launch a Fundraiser: In just minutes, Canadians can launch a fundraiser on CanadaHelps for one or more charities. It’s the perfect way for Canadians to gather their community, school, family, or friends to make a difference. Plus, supporters receive an instant tax receipt and funds are sent directly to charities.
9. Volunteer: The gift of time and talent is unmatched. 58 percent of charities are fully run by volunteers as highlighted in The Giving Report 2022, and many need extra support during the busy holiday season.
10. Donate Cryptocurrency: An estimated 13 percent** of Canadians own cryptocurrency assets. New to CanadaHelps, crypto owners with bitcoin or ethereum can now donate cryptocurrency in support of any registered charity.
11. Donate Securities: Donations of securities eliminate the capital gains tax and make an even bigger impact as Canadians can donate to their charity of choice while maximizing tax savings. In 2021, more than $31 million was donated via securities on CanadaHelps.
12. Support Emergency Response Efforts in Canada and Around the World: Whether it’s hurricanes that have devastated cities, or floods impacting lives, or the war in Ukraine, there are many ways Canadians can help natural or humanitarian disasters around the world. Charities across the country rely on the generosity of Canadians to provide emergency aid such as food, shelter, medical aid, and humanitarian relief efforts in times of crisis.

For more information on these 12 Ways to Give and many other great ideas for how Canadians can support charities and give back this holiday season, visit the CanadaHelps blog.

About the Ipsos Poll
These are some of the findings from an Ipsos poll conducted between October 28th and November 1st, 2022 on behalf of CanadaHelps.org. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Canadians aged 18+ were interviewed. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

About CanadaHelps
CanadaHelps is a public foundation advancing philanthropy through technology. For Canadians, it powers CanadaHelps.org, a safe and trusted destination for discovering and supporting any charity in Canada, and UniteforChange.com, where Canadians can learn about causes and easily support the collective work of charities addressing a cause they care about. CanadaHelps also develops affordable fundraising technology used by more than 26,000 charities, and free training and education so that, regardless of size, all charities have the capacity to increase their impact and succeed in the digital age. Since 2000, over 3.6 million people have given more than $2.3 billion through CanadaHelps. Connect with CanadaHelps on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

* The findings are from an Ipsos poll conducted between January 28 and 31, 2022 on behalf of CanadaHelps.org. For this survey, a sample of 1,001 Canadians aged 18+ were interviewed.

** Canadians Institutional Investors Are Holding Their Crypto Asset Holdings, KPMG LLP

Note to Media:
The source survey data, an executive summary, and graphics are available for download here.

Media Contact:
Nicole Danesi
Senior Manager, Public Relations & Unite for Change
CanadaHelps
media@canadahelps.org

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9c70d31a-cec8-47b9-8699-7f3a1984e76e