Boosting friendship, community events may bring back dropping donors: New report
Why It Matters
The number of donors has declined considerably over the past decade. To make their budgets work, some charities are targeting more significant gifts from wealthy Canadians. However, new research suggests that there could be another vital way to raise revenue.
Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part mini-series exploring the link between social connectedness and giving.
On Wednesday, a new report confirmed a well-known, gloomy trend—that the number of Canadians donating to charity is declining—and suggested a new culprit.
In 2023, the number of Canadians who donated through CanadaHelps’ online giving platform decreased by nine per cent compared to 2022 — dropping from about 920,000 to 840,000.
This downward trend mirrors the latest Statistics Canada data, which found that in 2022, for the 12th year in a row, fewer Canadians claimed a charitable donation tax credit than the year prior.
Several studies have sought to explain the drop, focusing the most attention on Canadians’ declining purchasing power, according to Steven Ayer, a charity researcher who penned the CanadaHelps report.
However, though the report confirms that less cash on hand is part of the story, CanadaHelps CEO Duke Chang said the data reveals that declining social connectedness is also a significant factor.
People spending more time alone, less time with friends
Facebook launched 20 years ago with a promise to bring us together, said CanadaHelps’ CEO during the launch of his organization’s report last week.
But while today it’s much easier to order groceries to your home, “technology has also created more ways for us to be apart,” he said.
Several meta-studies have found the increase in time spent on technology has negatively impacted mental health.
However, Chang said it may also negatively impact giving.
In 2003, Americans spent about an hour per day socially engaged with friends, according to the American Time Use Survey. Fifteen years later, that figure has been cut in half.
Americans spend more time alone to fill the hours — from 285 minutes per day in 2003 to about 310 minutes per day in 2019.
While no comparable data exists in Canada, Ayer said the statistics are likely similar here, and the increase in time spent alone contributes to weaker social connections.
The more friends you have and the more activities you participate in, the more likely you are to meet other people and learn about different opportunities to engage, said Ayer.
The same is also true in reverse, he said.
During COVID lockdowns, people often didn’t see friends with whom they only played weekly sports. This meant they were less likely to be invited by these friends to additional gatherings and less likely to meet new people, he said.
“All these sorts of things are mutually reinforcing cycles.”
In Canada, the proportion of adults reporting having zero friends doubled between 2013 and 2022, from six per cent to 12 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
During that period, the percentage of people who know many or most of their neighbours dropped by 10 per cent, from 42 per cent to 32 per cent.
This is bad news for charities that may be seeing increases in isolation-related service needs, but it’s also bad news for giving, according to the CanadaHelps report.
Less time with friends correlated with less giving
CanadaHelps’ survey found that people with more close friends tend to give more.
Eighty-four per cent of people with seven to ten close friends reported donating in 2023. The same was true for 53 per cent of people with zero or one close friend.
The CanadaHelps survey confirmed a long-observed trend: People who attend religious services are also more likely to donate.
Seventy-one per cent of people who attend religious services reported donating, compared to 57 per cent of their peers who do not.
Two other recent studies have had similar findings.
A Toronto Foundation report comparing survey results from 2018 and 2022 found an overall decline in self-reported giving but that the decline was more modest among those who participated in three or more social groups (a drop of two per cent, from 89 to 87 per cent) compared to those who participate in no groups (a decline of 11 per cent, from 63 to 52 per cent).
It also found the giving drop was much less significant among those who attend a monthly religious service than those who don’t (a five per cent decline, compared to a 16 per cent decline).
A Community Foundations of Canada report comparing survey results from 2013 to 2022 also found an overall decline in self-reported giving, but that the drop was more modest among those who volunteer (a decrease of ten per cent, from 85 per cent to 75 per cent) compared to people who don’t (a drop of 18 per cent, from 69 per cent to 51 per cent).
Community event building a solution
Pete Bombaci, executive director of non-profit GenWell Project, which promotes in-person social connections, said the findings are no surprise.
Connection is at the root of happy and healthy people, but it’s also at the root of happy and healthy philanthropy, he said.
“If you want somebody to give you money, you need to make sure that you’re making the time to help them understand why.”
Ayer, too, said the findings are intuitive.
People with more close friends are more likely to be asked by their friends to give or volunteer alongside them — and more likely to say yes, he said.
While social networks like LinkedIn have been effective at helping people build dispersed social connections, they have been less effective at helping build relationships where people feel compelled to take action if asked, he added.
Bombaci acknowledged that many charities face tight budgets and that putting more money on in-person community event building may be a stretch.
But Bombaci urged charities to see it as a long-term investment.
He said that any time or energy investment in bringing people together for face-to-face discussions, volunteering or programs will reap dividends for community health and giving.
Chang echoed this message on Wednesday, issuing a challenge to the charities in the room.
“Before giving season this year, find three new ways to build community around your cause,” he said.
“If you can do that, the likelihood that you will drive up more success and resources is higher.”
Tell us this made you smarter | Contact us | Report error
