One in three Canadians age 18 to 24 will turn to charity to meet basic needs in coming months

A new Ipsos poll reveals 22 per cent of Canadians plan to access charitable services over the next six months — up from 14 per cent last January — just to meet basic needs.

“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,” said Jane Ricciardelli, chief operating officer and acting CEO of CanadaHelps. “Adding to the problem, many Canadian charities are facing significant shortfalls in funding, which is making it very difficult to meet such high demand.”

The poll, commissioned by CanadaHelps, found individuals ages 18 to 34 were most in need of assistance. One in three Canadians in that demographic expected to rely on charity for essential services, such as shelter, clothing and food in the coming months.

Albertans also exceeded the national average when it came to those planning to access charitable services in the next half-year. A full 30 per cent of people living in that province expect to meet their basic needs with assistance from charitable organizations.

Chevy Cottrell, communications co-ordinator at Edmonton’s Food Bank, says his organization is seeing people from all walks of life come through the doors, but that there’s been a seeming increase in those under 40 accessing their services.

“Alberta in general has seen the largest increase in food bank use,” he said. “Specifically with our organization, we were serving around 25,000 clients a month at the start of this year, and now we’re serving upwards of 35,000. It’s the largest jump in our 41 years of being a food bank.”

Donations have also dipped as Albertans across the board struggle with inflationary pressures. “People are just trying to get by themselves and put food on the table for their families,” said Cottrell.

Members of Alberta’s nonprofit community stood alongside business leaders in late November and called on the provincial government to provide an urgently needed, one-time cash injection of $30 million just to keep the sector afloat. 

“Between the pandemic, rising inflation, and now a looming recession, this essential sector has been dealt blow after blow,” said Karen Ball, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations.

Organizations in other parts of the country are also feeling the pinch.

Julie Cookson, executive director of the Toronto-based Anishnawbe Health Foundation, sees demand for services grow daily, driven by a complex set of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and inflationary pressures.

The foundation’s community health centre, which supports the mind, body, spirit and emotional wellbeing of Indigenous clients, has seen more people dealing with the trauma of the pandemic, colonization and the ongoing overdose crisis, as well as individuals struggling to afford food as prices continue to climb.

“Definitely with inflation, and particularly around food security for the community, it’s a challenge and we’re seeing higher demand,” said Cookson. “Food isn’t the core area of what the health centre does, but it is so connected to health we’ve worked to been able to provide some food cards and gift cards …and healthy food hampers.”

Four years ago, their Winter Solstice hampers went to about 45 Indigenous families. This year, roughly 150 hampers will be delivered by volunteers.

Nicole Danesi, senior manager of public relations for CanadaHelps, said while it’s been apparent for some time that demand for charitable service is growing, the Ipsos poll has made it possible to hone in on where demand is most acute. The survey also provided valuable insights into how current inflationary pressures have impacted charitable giving.

“The demand and the donations are not really matching up and we really want to highlight that right now,” Danesi said. “Demand is exceeding capacity.”

Only 13 per cent of Canadians are expected to give more in 2022 than they did in 2021, while 45 per cent will give the same amount, and 20 per cent expect to reduce their charitable giving. The rising cost of living was the driving factor, with 74 per cent of respondents citing it as the primary reason they scaled back contributions.

Another 31 per cent of those surveyed cited financial challenges related to the pandemic as a key reason they’re giving less. Eighteen per cent of households making $100,000 or more also expected to give less and charitable giving by families earning more than $150,000 per year continued to decline at an annual rate of 3.3 per cent.

“It’s not a surprise that Canadians are all facing challenges when it comes to inflation,” Danesi said.

To encourage Canadians to find ways to give, CanadaHelps has launched the “12 Ways of Giving” campaign, which outlined various options, from donating through its platform, to volunteering, to donating securities or cryptocurrency.

“The intention behind the campaign is to really highlight the number of different ways Canadians can give and really show Canadians that they can adapt their giving,” said Danesi.

She pointed to monthly donations as a way Canadians can spread their giving out over the year, while also providing charities the stability of knowing what they will receive from month to month.

For those wanting to contribute to a particular cause, but don’t know the best method of getting money in the hands of organizations on the ground, Danesi suggests Unite for Change, a recently launched platform powered by CanadaHelps, which allows people to donate to cause funds supporting groups of registered charities working towards a common goal.

“The impetus behind our cause funds was research pointing us towards the fact that younger Canadians are really deeply passionate about specific causes, but they may not know about a charity to support when it comes to, for example, fighting climate change,” she said.

Cookson said donor fatigue, particularly after nearly three years of the pandemic, has been an issue. She isn’t surprised that inflation has led to a decrease in charitable giving, both at her own organization and beyond.

“There was that outpouring of community support that happened during the pandemic, and hopefully people realize that it’s still needed,” she said. “Particularly, thinking about it from a social justice lens, I hope those who can, think about the communities where maybe they haven’t given before and think about supporting their work at the community level.”

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