The surveyed approximately 1,000 registered charities in Canada on March 11, 2026, and found that more than half received DAF grants or gifts in the past year. Their report, titled , explores charities’ relationships with DAFs and how these funds are shaping parts of the philanthropic landscape. The report contains six graphs of data and two pages of anonymous, DAF-related quotes from charities.

(2025), a paper by for the Pemsel Case Foundation, examines DAFs and proposes ways to address transparency, oversight and governance issues while preserving DAFs’ philanthropic benefits. The Pemsel Case Foundation is mandated to undertake research, education and litigation interventions to help clarify and develop the law related to Canadian charities.

(2025), byĚýDr. Sharilyn Hale and Keith Sjogren at Watermark Philanthropic Counsel, for TwinRiver Capital, answers the question: If given the opportunity, is there a desire from philanthropic actors to generate social/environmental returns now while making decisions about future giving in Canada? A is available, as is the .

(2025) is from a working group of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners co-chaired by and , with Keith SjĂśgren, the lead author. The report offers a comprehensive overview of current practices and common issues that are often experienced by foundation and charity executives, fundraisers, donors and professional advisors. The CAGP Foundation offers a suite of five practical resources, including a comprehensive guide.

, by the US-based Donor Advised Fund Research Collaborative (DAFRC), draws on data from Internal Revenue Service Form 990, Schedule D, for fiscal year 2024, and provides aggregate data on the number of DAF accounts, contributions to DAFs, grants from DAFs, DAF assets, payout rate and average account size in the US.

is one of many reports from the US-based Donor Advised Fund Research Collaborative (DAFRC). The report draws on interviews with 46 professional fundraisers, and offers practical strategies for identifying, cultivating, soliciting and stewarding DAF donors. focuses on Macro Trends, Donor Behavior and Management & Policy.

Influence, Affluence & Opportunity: Donor-Advised Funds in Canada (2023), a report from KCI and the CAGP Foundation, examines the relationships between charities and DAF donors and the foundations that act as intermediaries between them. It suggests strategies for charities and financial advisors to ensure they maximize engagement of DAF donors, and it identifies key areas for improvement in how DAF foundations can support donors and charities. It also quantifies the increasing contribution of DAF donors to the charitable sector in Canada and examines the challenges, criticisms and misconceptions around DAFs.

Donor-Advised Funds: 2023 Outlook, an essay for PANL Perspectives by Keith Sjogren, discusses what’s influencing DAF increases, changes in share within the DAF community, grants from DAFs and which charities benefit from DAFs.

Question: What is “family business philanthropy”?

Neamat Sidani: It’s a family firm’s voluntary pursuit of social objectives through cash and in-kind donations — to pay back to its local community — allowing the family business to strengthen kinships and family ties within and across generations, and to maintain family legacies. It’s driven by diverse motives and values that are unique to each family business, or business family, and that are worth exploring. There are three underlying elements: the family, the business and the philanthropy.

There’s literature about individual philanthropy and corporate philanthropy, but not much about family business philanthropy, although the phenomenon is popular in some countries, such as Lebanon. Because of the family element, you have “socioemotional wealth” along with economic wealth – you always have nonprofit goals in a for-profit company. In contrast, corporations have financial goals mostly, satisfying shareholders, creating economic benefits and so on, and philanthropy or nonprofit goals are rarely primary.

Q: What are you researching regarding family business philanthropy, and how does it compare to types of philanthropy in Canada?

“After the Beirut port explosion, in 2020, there were initiatives to rebuild the damaged area and to support entrepreneurial initiatives and philanthropic activities.” –Neamat Sidani. Photo is courtesy of Mahdi Shojaeian.

Sidani: I’m looking at philanthropic practices in family businesses, and I’m focusing on the rising phenomenon of family business philanthropy in crises. My research is about the crisis in Lebanon, as an empirical setting, but, of course, there are other parts of the world facing crises and disasters where you see family businesses stepping in to help in the crisis relief efforts through their philanthropy. For example, in Germany family firms helped the government in integrating refugees within their local communities. My research on family business philanthropy touched on a wider research about place-based philanthropy, something that Prof. Susan Phillips and colleagues have analyzed.

In Canada, there are many formal or registered foundations that do philanthropy, rather than philanthropy being practised within family businesses. From the literature ąő’vąđ read and from the MPNL sessions I attended (as part of my research stay at the Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership program at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University), I found out more about the differences in philanthropic approaches in different countries and contexts. In Canada, compared to Lebanon, people rely more on nonprofits, and the Canadian nonprofit sector is large and is a key player in crisis relief. Also, a Canadian businessperson or family will jump into philanthropy, but they usually start a foundation or nonprofit organization, with a board of directors, hired staff, legal processes and other infrastructure, and then they get out of way mostly.

Family business philanthropy isn’t usually formalized like that.

Family business philanthropy involves one business or several family firms that leverage their business channels or operations to reach beneficiaries, and they maintain a philanthropic legacy over many years and even generations – and the family firm is known within communities as one that helps people during crises and that contributes to society. The family name and reputation are key in this aspect.

Also, large family businesses in Canada are publicly listed, with national surveys or databases, so that you can study what businesses are doing in terms of social responsibility or philanthropy. In Lebanon, family businesses aren’t listed, although they comprise maybe 90% of the private sector. In China, to take another example, you have a mixture of listed and non-listed family businesses, with state ownership in the mix. In Italy and Germany, family businesses are privately owned or family owned, and as far as I know, they’re not state owned. There are many differences in the structure and ownership across countries and geographies

Q: Are there examples in the Middle East or anywhere that demonstrate a well-run family business philanthropic initiative?

Sidani: Yes, in Lebanon, where there are several cases, some of which are in my chapter, For example, I studied a case in which the family owners are in the fifth generation of running the business, and they have a philanthropic legacy that supports their community and national initiatives, especially during crises. This kind of philanthropy isn’t sudden; it’s established over the years, because of the family’s values, religion or moral obligation, as well as entrepreneurial traits.

After the , there were initiatives to rebuild the damaged area and to support entrepreneurial initiatives and philanthropic activities. For example, one family business that runs a car-tire company offered free tires after the blast, because many cars had been damaged. In normal times, this kind of philanthropy doesn’t happen — it’s business as usual for a core-business operation. However, in a crisis, they saw the need and, instead of donating money, they repaired car tires as soon as possible, because people needed cars to move around, to help victims, and so on.

Another example, as I previously mentioned, is in Germany, where family businesses collaborated with the public sector to accommodate and employ Syrian refugees in 2015. There’s a study by about this philanthropic intervention of the private sector: “Corporate sector engagement in contemporary ‘crises’: The case of refugee integration in Germany.” The German family businesses were very well embedded in communities. They knew their community’s needs, including job vacancies, and they helped during the refugee crisis.

As I mentioned in “Four Trends in the Creation & Shutdown of Registered Charities in Canada in 2023,” the number of private foundations in Canada continues to grow, while the number of public foundations continues to fall. As of early 2024, there were 6,770 private foundations registered as charities, compared to 6,102 in 2021. Meanwhile, the number of public foundations decreased to 4,780, as of early 2024, down from 4,944 in 2021. In fact, as shown on Tables C and F (below), the decline in public foundations and increase in private foundations have been occurring for some time. To find out more, I took a closer look at 10 years of data about registrations and revocations of public and private foundations, data from the Canada Gazette and T3010 tax forms. (See our “Charity Trends and Revocations” series for other articles and insights.)

Ten Years of Public Foundations Closing Down

Click photo for Don McRae’s “Four Trends in the Creation & Shutdown of Registered Charities in Canada in 2023.”

Public Foundations are falling out of favour as a method of helping Canadians build our society. The numbers show it, and they demonstrate that this has been happening for some time. And there were surprises in what I found. While I expected most foundations to be under the Community Benefit heading (hereafter referred to as Community), I didn’t expect the percentage to be so high: 86.7% of public foundations are registered under Community (see Table A).

Also, you’ll notice in Table A (below) that the number of public foundations (registered as charities) took a dip at the start of the pandemic. Registrations started to increase in 2021 and 2022, but they took a real dip, to 38, in 2023. (Note, I actually looked at additional data, back to 2007, and the 38 registrations in 2023 is still the lowest number of registrations in the past 17 years.)

Table A: Registrations of Public Foundations from 2014 to 2023

Correspondingly, 78.5% of revoked public foundations are under Community (see Table B, below); the major charitable category revoked was “Community benefit – foundations,” with 94 charities in 2023 and 84 charities in 2022. And 13.5% of revocations were for Education charities.

Table B: Revocations of Public Foundations from 2014 to 2023

And as shown on Table C (below), there have been 711 registrations and 1,105 revocations for a net loss of 394 public foundations in the last ten years. In fact, 2012 is the last time that there were more public foundation registrations than revocations. So, the decline has been occurring for some time.

Table C: Public Foundation Revocations Over Registrations from 2014 to 2023

It’s unclear why public foundations have fallen out of favour. It could be that it takes more organization and collaboration to create a public foundation. Maybe Canadians aren’t supporting these groups to the level they were before. (United Ways have certainly found that out in terms of revenue.) It could be that governments and other funders have changed their priorities.

The Past 10 Years of Private Foundations Growing

New private foundations (65.9% of them) are registered mainly under the heading of Community, with Religion taking second place, at 16.8% (see Table D, below). There was a small dip in the number of registrations in 2020, probably due to the pandemic, but new registrations more than recovered in 2021 and onward.

Table D: Registrations of Private Foundations from 2014 to 2023Ěý

In Table E (below), you can see that Community private foundations make up 68.3% of revocations, with Education coming in second, at 17.6%.

Table E: Revocations of Private Foundations from 2014 to 2023

As seen in Table F, below, registrations outnumber revocations of private foundations. There were 2,519 private foundations registered in the ten years from 2023 to 2014. Conversely, there were 1,184 revocations. That’s a net gain of 1,335 private foundations in the past decade. What’s striking is that registrations outnumbered revocations in all ten years (and of note, registrations outnumbered revocations all the way back to 2007).

Table F: Private Foundation Registrations vs. Revocations (2014-2023)

Why All This Matters: A Major Shift in Canada?

Illustration: “Of Pride,” in John Day’s “A Christall Glasse of Christian Reformation,” London, 1569.

I, for one, am concerned that there are fewer public foundations than before, because the trend suggests that our common understanding of charity is changing from a public duty to private effort and, frankly, moving toward a more of how our society takes care of others. In other words, what we view as worthwhile charitable causes or acts is becoming more privatized, more limited and perhaps more about the rich giving to the “needy” (there are still Canadian charities that use that term).

When you consider the number of closed charities, including shuttered public foundations, you have a picture of a loss of a number of community organizations in all parts of Canada — in cities, towns and villages across all provinces and territories — encompassing every major activity that charities undertake.

The increase in private foundations may reflect the current distribution of wealth in Canadian society and the increasing gap between those who have and those who don’t – or more precisely, between those who have a lot and those who deserve a whole lot more. However, the increase in the number of private foundations might also suggest that our society may be increasingly viewing monied individuals’ or families’ predilections of charity in a more favourable light than collective or community responses. If so, we’re poorer for it.

Don McRae is an old, left-handed, male, Scottish agnostic with Wesleyan-Methodist grandparents (hence the agnosticism). He’s also a former federal public servant and a longstanding volunteer, consultant, writer and researcher on the charitable sector. For more than ten years, McRae has studied trends in the charitable sector by analyzing the revocations of charitable status that are published in the Canada Gazette. He digs deeper into trends by examining data from annual charity tax returns (T3010 forms) at the end of the calendar year, and looks at newly registered charities to see what replaces the revoked ones. McRae can be found on .

Photo is courtesy of Janko Ferlic.

Last year, 1,471 new charities registered with the Canada Revenue Agency. During that time, the CRA revoked the registration status of 2,116 charities. That means there were 645 fewer charities in Canada as of early 2024. Year after year, there are fewer registered charities in Canada; there are approximately 86,000 charities currently. By analyzing the revocations data of charitable status that are published in the Canada Gazette and by examining data from registered charities’ annual charity tax returns (their T3010 tax forms), we can identify four trends in our sector. (This story is part of our “Charity Trends and Revocations” series.)

#1 Losing Ground at Christian Charities

Church closings are likely to continue. In 2019, the National Trust of Canada predicted that 9,000 places of worship will close in the next decade.

ąő’vąđ said this before, and I’ll say it again, the Christians are taking a beating. In 2023, there were 340 Christian charities created and 635 revoked for a net loss of 295 registered charities, including about 150 that had been around for at least half a century. Every year, more churches, along with their charitable activities, close, due in large part to pandemic waves that stopped congregations from meeting and raising revenue. It also appears that the continuing waves of COVID infections made older congregants think twice before attending church services. In 2022, religious charities made up approximately 31% of all revocations. In 2023, this increased to 36%.

As I wrote in “Church Closures and the Loss of Community Social Capital,” these closures represent a loss of community capacity that will be hard to rebuild, especially at a person-to-person level. When faith buildings close down, their spaces for community activities (such as arts, culture, sports, recreation, social clubs, education, food banks and social services) also close down.

There are approximately 25,900 Christianity-based registered charities in Canada, and thousands more, along with their charities, will likely close.

And church closings are likely to continue. In 2019, the National Trust of Canada predicted that 9,000 places of worship will close in the next 10 years, and it’s clear, from the revocation data on charities, that the bulk of the closings will be mainstream Christian churches. We’re about half way through those 10 years — so thousands more churches and their charities are likely to close.

Other major religions in Canada are creating more charities than they’re losing. Judging from charity names and based on trends, the new religious charities are for non-Christian religions and smaller Christian denominations. For example, the number of Islam-based registered charities increased to 511. (See Table 1).

Table 1: Number of Charities by Category Code for Calendar Years 2022 and 2023

#2 Losing More Ground at Arts Charities and Volunteer-Run Charities

Volunteer-supporting charities are closing at alarming rates.

In addition to losing more church-based charities, Canada has lost almost 300 arts groups over the past three years. Approximately one-fifth of them were arts charities that taught people to act, sing, dance, paint and undertake other artistic endeavours. In short, a number of arts groups lost the opportunity to perform and, therefore, generate revenue. Also, many theatre companies and other arts group continue to face pandemic-caused economic woes. People aren’t returning to theatres for instance, and some theatres are in danger of losing their buildings.

And Canada has lost another swath of community-building charities: historical societies, hospital and seniors’ residence auxiliaries, literacy groups, museums, seniors’ centres, parent-run school councils, and other charities. A good number of these were run by volunteers.

In addition, there were a number of community-based groups that stopped meeting and/or lost revenue during the pandemic. Many of these helped others with information, counselling, the provision of food/warmth, daycare and after-school spaces.

Lastly, we’re losing public foundations. Some of these were fundraising vehicles for specific groups, but a number were community-based fundraising and granting bodies. (See “Private Foundations Expand as Public Foundations Close Down.”)

#3 The Pandemic Effect Still Shows

More than one fifth of charities reported significant decreases in revenue in their last five years of operations.

Pandemic restrictions from the past are still playing out with charities by stopping or severely limiting charities’ revenue generation. In 2023, COVID led to close-downs of literacy groups, hospital charities and many long-standing welfare and social services groups, some of whom (such as the Edmonton Safety Council, Canadian Arctic Resources, and Employee Charitable Trusts) had been around for more than 60 years. The pandemic closures in 2023 mirror what happened in previous years (see my “Revocations Data Shows COVID Crisis Led to Charity Closures”).

More than one fifth of charities reported significant decreases in revenue in their last five years: 426 out of 1,936 charities faced voluntary revocations and failure-to-file revocations. A number of these charities’ T3010 tax forms contained comments about stopping their activities and trying to wait out pandemic restrictions on holding meetings, performances and classes. Not all of these decreases in revenue were necessarily COVID related. Revocation data before the pandemic had shown similar decreases, but not to the degree of the past four years. Similarly, some new charities never gained traction; a number of charities that registered during the pandemic never submitted their first T3010.

Speaking of inactivity, 470 charities were moribund; that is, 470 out 1,936 revocations (or 24%) included no or little charitable activity in 2023. The number was 451 (or 29%) in 2022, so being moribund remains about the same in both years — and is still a major factor in revocations.

What many people don’t know is that there are still a high number of inactive charities in Canada that have four or five years of no revenue and no activity, which leads one to believe that the overall number of charities will continue its slow but steady reduction in numbers.

#4 Increase in Number of Foundations

Click the image for Don McRae’s closer look at foundations in Canada: “Private Foundations Expand as Public Foundations Close Down in Past 10 years.”

The trend from previous years continued in 2023 with the number of foundations increasing to 13.5% of all registered charities in Canada — for a total of 11,550 private and public foundations. Also, last year, the number of private foundations in Canada continued to grow (to 6,770 private foundations), while the number of public foundations continued to fall (to 4,780 public foundations). Here are some of the new foundations that started in 2023:

• Edmonton Elks Foundation
• Saskatchewan Indigenous Community Foundation
• Northern Lights Community Foundation – Fort McMurray
• Jeunes Philanthropes de Quebec
• Black Culture and Heritage Foundation for Canada
• Markham Foundation for the Performing Arts
• Operation Underground Railroad, Inc.
• Subway Care Foundation

For a more detailed analysis of trends in foundations in Canada, see McRae’s “Private Foundations Expand as Public Foundations Close Down in Past 10 Years.”

Don McRae is an old, left-handed, male, Scottish agnostic with Wesleyan-Methodist grandparents (hence the agnosticism). He’s also a former federal public servant and a longstanding volunteer, consultant, writer and researcher on the charitable sector. For more than ten years, McRae has studied trends in the charitable sector by analyzing the revocations of charitable status that are published in the Canada Gazette. He digs deeper into trends by examining data from annual charity tax returns (T3010 forms) at the end of the calendar year, and looks at newly registered charities to see what replaces the revoked ones. McRae can be found on .

Photos are courtesy of Karl Fredrickson, Ruth Gledhill, Piron Guillaume and Luke Chesser.

• Sameera Mehra,ĚýĚý(Brazil)
• Susan Phillips, MPNL program, ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ UniversityĚý(Canada)
• Ana MarĂ­a SĂĄnchez RodrĂ­guez,ĚýĚý(Mexico)

Moderated by Michael D. Layton, at the US-based Johnson Center for Philanthropy, the webinar is available for viewing:

One of the many effects of the pandemic was a major shutdown of many forms of face-to-face volunteering. Meetings stopped, museums closed, theatres were dark, sports venues were empty and choirs lost their voice. And this is important, because 58% of charities across Canada are solely volunteer run, according to Canadahelps’ Giving Report 2023. While virtual volunteering tried to fill the gap and the easing of restrictions has brought back many types of person-to-person volunteering, the number of volunteers and hours isn’t back to pre-pandemic levels. (This story is part of our “Charity Trends and Revocations” series.)

Don McRae studies trends in the charitable sector by analyzing the revocations of charitable status that are published in the “Canada Gazette.” Other articles in his “Charity Trends and Revocations” series are found here: /panl/don-mcraes-charity-revocations-series.

But something else is changing. Our traditional model of volunteering was hit by a major shock with the pandemic, one that stressed and, in some cases, broke our ways of helping each other. As a society, we need to find ways to build back better. But first, we need to recognize that the pandemic sped up changes that were already occurring in volunteering and philanthropy; specifically, the loss or erosion of a number of volunteer hubs.

Many of the organizations that are incubators for volunteering or that facilitate and provide resources toward that end are in trouble. Data on the registration of new charities and the revocation of older, mature groups suggests we’re losing parts of our system of volunteer support with little else but computer screens to replace the assistance and personal contact our society has come to rely on.

Read Don McRae’s update to this article from April 2024: “Four Trends in the Creation & Shutdown of Registered Charities in Canada in 2023.”

We’re losing the groups that bring people together at the local level and that provide space, tools and money to support community causes. We’re losing churches, service clubs, auxiliaries and other groups that provide the structure for volunteering at the local, regional and national levels.

Religious institutions are closing down

In 2019, the National Trust of Canada predicted that we’ll lose 9,000 places of worship the next ten years. And it’s clear, from the revocation data on charities, that the bulk of these will be mainstream Christian churches. With the exception of Baha’is Assemblies, which are usually too small to have their own building, the other major religions in Canada are creating more charities than they’re losing.

The information from the shows this trend. Since 2000, 7,171 Christian charities have been registered and 8,036 Christian charities have been revoked for a difference of 865 charities. The article Church Closures and the Loss of Community Social Capital gets into more detail.

Churches are neighbourhood organizations. They provide funds for local groups, set up soup kitchens and foodbanks, run thrift shops, provide opportunities for youth, like Scouts and Guides, and sponsor immigrant and refugee families

They advocate for their neighbourhoods and communities. Most churches have kitchens, meeting rooms, auditoria, gyms and stages. But it’s not only the loss of one congregation and its volunteer habitat that’s at stake.

To read all of Don McRae’s stories in our “Charity Trends and Revocations” series, click the above image.

In 2020, a report entitled looked at what would happen to Canadian communities when faith buildings close down and are no longer available to community groups and nonprofits. Thirty-two percent of respondents said that they paid nothing for their spaces, and 27% said they had other arrangements, including bartering or exchange of services. Other groups said that they paid minimal amounts. The organizations using these spaces were arts and culture, recreation and sports, social clubs, education and research, food security and daycares. The convenience of the location is a major factor for these groups. The loss of this community infrastructure and social capital is clear. But they’re not the only change in the charitable sector.

Volunteer-supporting service clubs are disappearing

A quick scan of budgets of 46 Lions Clubs indicated that more revocations are coming. Fourteen of them (30%) had annual revenues under $1,000, and 19 of them (41%) had revenues under $5,000.

Service clubs bring people together to volunteer and raise funds to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities. These clubs undertake a number of projects to meet local needs. They support school breakfast programs, youth activities, medical research and equipment, seniors, scholarships and bursaries, summer camps, sports, recreation, music festivals and more.

The charity database shows that there are 440 Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis and Optimist Clubs charities in Canada. It also shows that another 283 have been revoked. On the face of it, these numbers look good. If we look at the number of new charities and revoked charities since 2000, the picture changes. There were 88 new club charities since 2000. In the same time period, 199 of these clubs were revoked.

Auxiliaries charities are attracting fewer volunteers

“Auxiliaries” are often volunteers who assist health care workers and raise funds for hospitals, seniors’ homes and other areas in health. Hospitals were essential during the pandemic, but not all of their functions continued. Those people who did the work for the auxiliaries charities stayed at home. Gift shop volunteers and people who provided information and helped out with fundraising — or who delivered books, or who undertook the little acts of caring that improve patients’ experiences — were gone.

There are 357 auxiliaries registered as charities and another 238 of these groups that have been revoked. Again, if one looks at the numbers since 2000, the picture changes. There have been 39 new charitable auxiliaries since 2000, but 163 of these groups have been revoked since then. The pandemic hit these groups hard and several have lost their charitable status, in part because their members are older and still have health and safety concerns about face-to-face volunteering.

Community resource groups are decreasing

These are the two charitable categories that capture groups that undertake activities that affect local communities. Community resource organizations include daycares. community resource centres, women’s groups, friendship centres and immigrant settlement, to name a few. Public amenities groups include libraries, museums, playgrounds, historical societies, recreation centres and cultural associations.

Because they’re community-based, the pandemic restrictions hit these organizations particularly hard. There were 205 community resource groups registered since January 1, 2020. Over that same time period, 294 groups have been revoked for a loss of 89 groups. Similarly, 208 public amenities groups were registered since January 2020 and 292 have been revoked, for a loss of 84 groups.

A sampling of the revocations data shows the loss of community information groups, daycares, seniors’ groups, heritage and historical societies, local recreation groups, family services and museum support groups. A good number of these groups were in smaller or rural communities where they may have been the only provider of the service or activity.

Volunteer centres and bureaus face shrinking budgets

On the whole, volunteer centres have a precarious funding model. With the exception of some government support in Quebec and New Brunswick, there’s no concerted government support for these groups in Canada. In a survey of 61 volunteer centres with charitable status, it was found that 30 centres had a decrease in funding in the past year, five maintained their budget, and 24 had budget increases. The bad news was that two of the centres closed down since the previous survey. Thirty-two of these groups have been revoked, with 25 of the revocations occurring since 2000. Twelve volunteer centres have been registered since 2000.

Volunteer centres not only provide a wide range of volunteer opportunities, they also target their placements. They help students to find interesting positions so they not only meet their school volunteering hours, but also find possible career choices. They help newcomers by giving them the chance to learn language and social skills while making a contribution to their new community. They provide seniors with specific supports reducing their social isolation and giving them the sense of inclusion and fulfillment that volunteering provides.

This is not new; charitable organizations have a life cycle. They form to fill a community need; they meet it and wind down operations and close down. Sometimes, as with community information centres, much of their business can now by met by a quick internet search. The problem is that the information part has been resolved for consumers, but the community part of this equation is lost.

Many of these groups either don’t have or can’t initiate succession plans to rejuvenate their organizations. In their last Public Information Returns, volunteers from churches, auxiliaries and similar groups have mentioned that the next generation of people were not taking over. Several groups tried to recruit new people to carry on, but the efforts were too late and did not bear fruit.

The point is that a number of the key organizational building blocks of volunteering in our society are under stress or disappearing, and we have not created the organizational structures to replace them. Our model is changing and the pandemic has only sped up this process of loss.

The way forward

There are three things that we can do to address this: research to understand the changes; recognition of the need to act; and the provision of sustainable funding to voluntary organizations.

The pandemic has shifted the ways in which we volunteer. We know anecdotally and from a few limited surveys that volunteering rates have gone down. There has been dislocation. Volunteer managers were redeployed or let go during the pandemic. We know that virtual volunteering has found a place in our support to communities, but we have little idea of its effectiveness, especially over the long term.

We need comprehensive research to show what has changed and what has remained the same, with an emphasis on face-to-face volunteering, especially for older volunteers. Then we need to re-tool and carry out a National Action Strategy on Volunteerism, according to , to support or recreate the role these groups play in community building.

But the key to success rests on action. Funders, from foundations to corporations to government and charities, need to recognize the loss that’s occurring and then be willing to address this issue together. Hollowing out our downtown cores or rural centres is a straightforward loss of the community. It can only lead to mounting social costs over the long run.

For example, churches are closing down in rural, urban and suburban parts of Canada. In some cases, the cause is a declining number of congregants paired with an increasingly old and expensive building. If the building is still in good shape, it can and has been repurposed as a community hub, giving groups a place to meet and undertake activities. There have been recent successes in Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa toward that end. It has taken a fair amount of good will and a coalition of funders, especially from the former owners, but it has worked. We need more innovation like this to move on.

Finally, support from funders must recognize operational needs. Too many groups depend on a fragile patchwork of funding sources. A number of recent revocations have shown mature charity groups failing after decades of cobbling budgets together when one partner changed their funding priorities.

Most voluntary groups, even if they respond to the specific priorities of funders, don’t receive the core support necessary to fund full operations. They receive support for expenses related to projects and rarely for the full operational infrastructure of the group. The funding support doesn’t support the policy development, research, evaluation and expertise that make voluntary groups the ideal candidates to build social capital.

The ways in which we volunteer have changed because our society is transforming. Older models aren’t as effective as they used to be. Some models were shaken or even broken by the pandemic. We see this in the revocation of charities that supported communities. We know what’s happening; we need the will to address it.

Read Don McRae’s update regarding volunteer-run and other charities: “Four Trends in the Creation & Shutdown of Registered Charities in Canada in 2023” (April 2024).

Don McRae is an old, left-handed, male, Scottish agnostic with Wesleyan-Methodist grandparents (hence the agnosticism) — and is a Board Member of Volunteer Canada. He’s also a former federal public servant and a longstanding volunteer, consultant, writer and researcher on the charitable sector. He can be found on . Photos are courtesy of Karl Fredrickson, Sandro Schuh and Welcome Hall Mission.

Panellists:

Diana Leat, Philanthropy Advisor & Associate, Centre for Philanthropy and Public Good, University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

Keratiloe Mogotsi, Lecturer & Programme Director, Centre for African Philanthropy and Social Investment, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Michael Moody, Frey Foundation Chair for Family Philanthropy, Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, Grand Valley State University, USA.

Susan Phillips, Professor & Supervisor, Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University, Canada.

Charles Sellen, Global Philanthropy Advisor & Instructor, Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University, Canada.

Moderated by Jennifer Conley, Chief Advancement Officer at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University.

While the effects of the COVID pandemic may be diminishing, several emergent forces will likely preclude sliding into a comfortable new normal in 2023. In particular, five trends, already apparent in 2022, stand out that will require adaptation and innovation across the sector. These focus on operational matters for organizations, and recognizing that the sector as a whole still needs to address the overarching issues of climate change and Indigenous and racial justice.

1. The long-term decline in giving and volunteering will be amplified

Fewer Canadians are giving to charities: this has been a consistent decline over the past decade that has resulted in a concentration of giving among a shrinking older population. In recent years, the decrease in participation rates and amounts donated has been most acute among families earning $150,000 or more (). Inflation, mortgage costs and household debt can be expected to take a bite out of charitable giving across the general population in 2023. This will put pressure on fundraising for a wide range of charities, which, when coupled with impending government austerity and rising costs due to inflation, will likely necessitate cutbacks or revamping of programs and services.

Formal volunteering (through organizations) has experienced a similar long-term decrease and concentration among the Baby Boomer generation. While GenZs (born 1996–2012) and Millennials (1981–1995) volunteer in substantial numbers and in , their number of hours is about half that of the Boomers, leaving a substantial gap in volunteering. In the , 66% of nonprofits indicated they were facing a shortage of volunteers and half experienced challenges of retention, resulting in a reduction or cancellation of services.

So far, the decline in giving and volunteering hasn’t been on the radar of Canadian governments, even though it has significant public policy implications. For example, in times of disaster, governments count on the public stepping up with donations; this is likely to drop quite dramatically or become even more unpredictable in coming years. Given that contracts with charities for “public” services rarely cover the real costs of these services, governments rely on philanthropy to subsidize the delivery of these services. These invisible subsidies can be expected to shrink in 2023. Given the multitude of research that shows that volunteering has positive benefits for social cohesion, generalized trust and societal wellbeing, reduced volunteerism is not only a loss for charities and nonprofits and those they serve but for Canadian society as a whole.

2. An increase in big gifts

A $500 million bequest to the Winnipeg Foundation by Miriam Bergen, including the shares of her real estate company, is the largest gift from an individual to a charity in Canadian history.

In spite of the general decline in giving, demographics and growth in the number of ultra-affluent households may lead to a rise in very large gifts, as Keith SjĂśgren observes in an article on the economic and financial drivers of philanthropy in 2023. The signs are already evident in the historically large gifts made in recent years, including: to rebuild a hospital facility in Mississauga, the largest gift ever made to a Canadian hospital; by the foundation of James and Louise Temerty; and a including the shares of her real estate company, to the Winnipeg Foundation.

“Donor-Advised Funds: 2023 Outlook,” an article by Keith SjĂśgren, looks at what’s influencing the increase in Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) in Canada, as well as how charities benefit from DAFs and why DAFs will likely attract increased scrutiny from regulators.

As retiring professionals sell their practices, and as older entrepreneurs sell their family businesses – and as wealth passes from one generation to the next, some of the sudden increase in wealth is likely to be donated. During these “liquidity events,” Donor Advised Funds (DAFs), which provide immediate benefit of tax credits and delayed decisions on disbursements, are likely to become even more popular (see the DAFs article by Keith Sjögren).

Other than windfalls for a few select charities, this results in the growing importance of wealth advisors and family offices. If advisors are going to serve their clients well by having conversations and providing guidance about philanthropy, they’ll need to be well informed about the sector. (For example, .) The and offered by the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP) is also a good place to start.

Philanthropy is in for a shake-up as we see more mega-gifts directed toward systems change and radical innovation. Some of these are already in motion, including the (created by Lululemon founder Chip Wilson and family) to protect pristine wilderness in BC and the commitment of the Ivey Foundation in five years for action on climate change. In early 2023, the federal government will select which organization will implement its $200 million Black-led endowment fund, which should create new leadership not only for Black communities but for justice-oriented philanthropy overall.

3. Philanthropy and the sector will be under greater scrutiny, with higher expectations

Charities can expect increased scrutiny in 2023, particularly related to their governance following the scandals surrounding WE Charity and Hockey Canada.

The critiques that have been levied at philanthropy in the U.S. – that it’s founded on injustice and inequality and is elitist and elite-serving – have moved (albeit less vigorously) into Canada, producing greater scrutiny of institutional philanthropy. The federal government’s 2022 consultation on what percentage of registered charities’ assets (then at 3.5%) must be disbursed annually opened up vigorous discussions about the work of foundations, the value of perpetual endowments, and the need for better data. While the question of the mandatory (for organizations with investment assets over $1 million), the debate surrounding the DQ decision has led to wider questions about the work of foundations. On the positive side, this may prompt greater use of impact investing to put assets to work, and may lead to more transparency and strategic efforts to make philanthropy more impactful. Charities, too, can expect increased scrutiny, particularly related to their governance following the scandals surrounding and Hockey Canada.

4. Leadership transition and labour-market shortages

While the worker shortage is most acute in caring professions, the nonprofit sector in general can be expected to struggle to retain or attract employees unless it can make working conditions, salaries and the advantages of the nonprofit environment more attractive.

In the U.S., COVID-19 is said to have sparked the Great Resignation of workers leaving their jobs. This hasn’t been the case in Canada. Indeed, 2022 was a banner year for the Canadian labour market: the economy gained jobs and unemployment decreased. The exception is in health and social services – jobs that are a significant part of the nonprofit sector, particularly for Despite record high number of job vacancies in health and social services (higher than in any other industry), in this sub-sector; people are leaving and not entering this field due to burnout, compassion fatigue, working conditions and low pay.

While not experiencing massive resignations, Canada seems to have experienced a during the pandemic: people reconsidered what they want out of work and life. This rethink is being manifested at the top end of leadership in the sector – in Executive Director/CEO positions – which already faced an aging demographic and has led to (although we don’t have good data).

Replacing leaders won’t be easy as the sector has never invested heavily in training and professional development or in building a successful pipeline, particularly a diverse and inclusive one (For example, download the pdf from the Ontario Nonprofit Network and the Mowat Centre). The good news is that there should be plenty of opportunities for those seeking leadership positions in the sector, although the leadership transition could be bumpy, at best, for many organizations.

5. Engaging digital and configuring core business

As organizations moved to remote work during the pandemic, we all became more proficient at working online – with all the challenges and creativity that entailed. With the speed of technological change, however, that experience may seem like dipping a toe in cold water when organizations need to take the full, polar-bear plunge. Few of us know how to do that or appreciate the opportunities and pitfalls that ChatGPT and other AI applications will create for nonprofits’ core business operations and the kinds of skills this new digital era will require.

In short, there are new challenges ahead for the sector but also the advantage of young, diverse leaders who can lead change. Their work needs to be supported with better data and analysis, with cultivation of new leadership and governance skills, and critical conversations about the direction of philanthropy. Now in its tenth year, the Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (MPNL) program was created to be a key part of this support system.

Dr. Susan D. Phillips is a Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration and Graduate Supervisor of the Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership program at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University, and an Editor of “PANL Perspectives.” Phillips is on and . Photo of polar bear is courtesy Hans Jurgen-Mager

Charitable giving is built on a foundation of accumulated wealth or surplus income and is dependent on a willingness and ability to give without sacrificing personal or family wellbeing. To assess patterns of charitable giving in 2023, we need to consider three economic and financial drivers of giving.

#1. The economy

The Canadian economic outlook for 2023 – at least for the first half of the year – is for slower, if not negative, economic expansion, as well as uncomfortable inflation and interest rates, persistently high levels of personal debt, and volatile asset values.

These factors, already in play in the final quarter of 2022, have created a situation that has resulted in a decline in both financial wealth and per capita net worth. Total financial wealth in Canada was reported by Investor Economics to have fallen by $500 billion in the first six months of 2022, despite an increase of $100 billion in savings account balances. reported in December 2022 that per capital net worth in Canada fell by 3.8% in the third quarter of 2022.

The outcome of these financial trends and the declines in the number, frequency and size of liquidity events will be a decrease of liquid resources available for both spontaneous and strategic giving. This situation will continue until business conditions stabilize and inflation eases, which may not be until late in the second half of 2023.

#2. The role of affluent households

At least in the short term, evidence suggests that both national wealth and income, as well as giving, will remain concentrated within a relatively small number of affluent and high net worth (HNW) households.

Average giving by these households has steadily increased over the past five years as has the number of households in wealthy cohorts. In 2020, approximately (10.1% of all donors), representing 40.5% of total donations. Also, the annual number of gifts over $100,000 increased from 4,710 in 2017 to 5,530 in 2020, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5%, while, over the same period, the total number of donations claimed in annual tax filings decreased at a CAGR of -1.4%.

What hasn’t increased over the past five years is the percentage of households within the cohort who are active supporters of Canadian charities. It’s unlikely that 2023 will witness any change in the reluctance of some 300,000 affluent and HNW households to change their habits.

As a result, the charitable sector in 2023 will be required to rely on all levels of government, as well as a relatively modest number of affluent and HNW households (no more than 1 million), to provide revenue and capital.

#3. Demographics

Although the economic outlook for 2023 is mostly gloomy, there are three fundamental demographic factors that may positively influence flows to the charitable sector in 2023.

The inter-spousal and inter-generational transfers of wealth

Conservatively to be in the range of $1.5 trillion to $2.0 trillion over the next decade, inter-spousal and inter-generational transfers have represented, and will continue to represent, a growing source of revenue whether through bequests or the generosity of inheritors.

It’s not unreasonable to forecast that $10 billion of this “money in motion” will be received by the charitable sector over the next ten years.

In a number of cases, the preliminary and final transfer of wealth involves a significant liquidity event – the conversion of hard assets (such as real estate) or illiquid assets (such as shares in a family business) into cash. Despite the anticipated slowdown in 2023, these events that will continue to fuel some of the largest wealth transfers as well as charitable gifts in the next decade.

An obvious driver of the wealth transfer is an aging population.

provides evidence that those older than 65 are the most generous donors, and survey-based research shows that there’s heightened interest by donors in being witness to the impact of charitable gifts. Combined, these factors suggest that the rise in giving by retired Canadians seen in recent years will continue in 2023. For 2020, reported that donors over the age of 65 represented 32.2% of all donors and contributed 45.1% of total donations.

As further proof of this 65+ cohort giving more, the median donation claimed by this cohort was 65% greater than the median donation for all donors. However, this age group, many of whom are on fixed incomes, will be disproportionally affected by inflation, and there are indications that some lessening of donation activity is possible.

Wealth controlled by women

Although slightly dampened by the global pandemic, the increase in the share of wealth and income controlled and influenced by women is a third demographic factor. In 2020, total income generated by Canadian women was estimated to be $663 billion, and at the end of 2020, accumulated financial wealth controlled by affluent and HNW women – those most likely to give to charities – was estimated to be $2.1 trillion.

Women, globally, are recognized as being more generous than men, and there is every reason to believe that they will change the shape of philanthropy over the next few years.

Summary

Despite pessimistic projections made in the most recent the expectation is that total donations in 2023 will be similar to that estimated for 2022. That said, that rate of increase in total donations in 2023 won’t meet the rate of inflation.

Although some current donors are likely to give less in 2023, if at all, the drivers outlined above may herald a slight increase in the level of giving by affluent Canadians. This view recognizes that almost 50% of total donations flow from the accounts of the affluent and HNW, and that 2021 saw an increase of approximately 150,000 households in the HNW segment.

The projection also considers the results of a recent poll by the that indicated that 32% of those polled earning over $200,000 were considering cutting back on their donations as the result of the increase in living costs and debt service expenses. The impact of this finding is reduced by the fact that most major gifts flow from liquidity events or accumulated wealth not earned income.

Philanthropy, in terms of dollar flows, is unavoidably linked to fluctuations in national prosperity rather than the funding needs of charities. The relative scarcity of donors and donations, a situation that’s unlikely to correct itself quickly, may force the sector to critically examine the opportunities for economies of scale which may flow from consolidation, cooperation and other forms of strategic alignment.

is a consultant and researcher on wealth and financial services, as well as Chair of the MPNL Advisory Council. Read his 2021 article, “Fundraising Opportunities with High Net Worth Canadians & Their $5.9 Trillion.” Photos on this page are courtesy of Diego Jimenez, Donald Giannatti, Toa Heftiba, Charles Deluvio, Jeff Sheldon, Jonathan Chung and Dahlia Katz.