Canadians Cut Back Charitable Giving As Budgets Tighten Amid Economic Uncertainty
Economic stress prompts Canadians to scale back on giving - domestic causes take priority as global crises persist



Facing strong economic headwinds and uncertainty due to tariffs and fears of a recession, a majority of Canadians say that they are likely to reduce charitable donations this year due to economic pressures.
This sentiment is stronger among Canadians aged 35-54 (55%) who are facing the costs of raising families along with aging parents, as well as Albertans (60%). Those who said they planned to vote Conservative (60%) or Bloc (57%) in the last election were also more likely to say they planned to cut back, while Liberal (45%), NDP (43%) and Green voters (31%) were less likely to agree they would cut back. Men (52%) and women (54%) were statistically no more or less likely to say they would cut back. Even among those with incomes of $100K+, 50% said they planned to reduce their charitable giving.
These findings suggest that Canadians are faced with the tough choice of prioritizing their own expenses over giving to charities, making it harder for charitable organizations to raise money and possibly increasing competition for the charitable dollars that are left among organizations.


Canadians aged 55+ were more likely to hold this view (76%), while those who were intending to vote NDP (60%) or Green (41%) in the last election were least. Those with incomes over $100K were more likely to prioritize domestic causes (75%).
These findings suggest that as Canadians cut back on charitable giving, they are directing what dollars they do give to domestic priorities rather than international ones. This comes as international crises from Ukraine to the Middle east continue to put pressure on the global world order.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between April 23 and 27, 2025 as part of our election partnership with Global News. For this survey, a large sample of 8,224 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed online. Weighting was employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 1.3 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.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sanyam Sethi
Vice President, Public Affairs
[email protected]
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