The sublime number ninjas giving you real data, for free, every day
There’s a resource that every Canadian non-profit has access to, yet seem to rarely use.
We talk a lot about data here at FoG – the available data, the lack of available data, when the available data sucks, why is the data formatted this way, argh!? – but when I talk to those in the social good sector about their data, I often discover that they’re not accessing Canada’s best, most rigorous data, for free.
I’m talking about Statistics Canada, and if you’re not signed up for their daily newsletter, you are missing out.
Those glorious number nerds churn out data sets in easy-to-digest formats every single day. And the data is RIGHT THERE!
I think most Canadians equate StatsCan with things like the census (very important) and job numbers (also important) and keeping track of things like how much cheddar cheese is currently in Canada’s stockpile (this is so, so important to me.)
But there’s so much more.
Take Thursday’s daily email, which was a goldmine for the social impact sector:
- Study on drinking behaviours of youth in Canada (fewer are drinking)
- Study shows that yep, young people in cities are struggling financially, and it’s getting worse
- More people are planning to have kids than compared to a few years ago
- A tool that shows 2025 stats for housing investment, stock, counts, social transfers, and environmental impacts
- A new infographic that shows obesity levels over time (I bet in the next few years this will start to decline)
- A podcast on the Happiness Crisis in Canada
Look, I don’t usually shill for other people’s newsletters – I want you to read this one, and share it with your co-workers and friends to boot – but if you’re not signed up for StatsCan’s The Daily, you should be.
Your job. Your mission. Your news.
With your support, the sector you're building gets the journalism it deserves, and you get a tax receipt.
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