Majority of `Higher Net Worth' Canadians View Increasing Need for Private Philanthropy

Toronto, ON - According to a recent national telephone poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Scotiabank, a majority (73%) of `higher net worth' Canadians agree that there is an increasing need in Canada for private philanthropy to support social priorities.

This group was also asked, "If you were ever in a position to establish a private foundation, which social priority would you support?" responses cover a wide set of causes, with one-quarter (26%) mentioning `healthcare', 22% mentioning `education', and 18% mentioning `arts or theatre'. One in five `higher net worth' Canadian households (18%) have considered endowing a private foundation as a means to establish a permanent philanthropic legacy.

These are some of the findings of a national Ipsos-Reid telephone poll conducted on behalf of Scotiabank between May 17th and June 1st, 2004. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 300 higher net worth Canadians, defined as Canadian adults with household financial assets in excess of half a million dollars. With a sample of this size survey findings are accurate to within 177 5.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population been polled.

`Higher net worth' Canadians were asked about the need for private philanthropy or public sources of funding. A large majority (73%) agree that there is an "increasing need for private philanthropy" in Canada. Among this group, only 17% feel that public sources of funding are sufficient, while 5% volunteered `both equally' and the remainder said `neither' or `don't know'.

When `higher net worth' Canadians are asked: "If you were ever in a position to establish a private foundation, which social priority would you support?" responses cover a wide set of causes, some of these very specific, with others more general. For example, one-quarter (26%) mention `healthcare', just over one-fifth (22%) note education, 18% say `arts or theatre', 11% `under-privileged children' and 10% say they would support post-secondary education including university scholarships. All other social priorities were mentioned by fewer than 10% of respondents.

One-fifth of `higher net worth' households in Canada (18%) say that they have considered endowing a private foundation as a means to establish a permanent philanthropic legacy, while 82% have not.

Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900