How and Why Canadians Give
A considerable number of Canadians (42%) proactively seek out information on the cause/charity and contact them to donate, while six in ten (58%) say the charity approaches them and they donate based on the information they receive. These proportions have remained quite consistent over the past four years. When looking for information on charities they support, Canadians continue to primarily access this information online (a total of 75%: 42% from the organization’s website or 33% from a general online search – up 4 points from 2015), followed by from family/friends/ (39%, up 7 points from 2013).
When past 12-month donors are asked how they made their last donation, cash (34%) is the most common method of donation, followed by credit card (23%), cheque (19%), online via credit card (12%). Six percent donate via pre-authorized payment.
Mail solicitation is the most commonly accepted method to be approached for a charitable donation (34%), followed by e-mail solicitation (27%), and preference for e-mail is up by seven points from 2015. There has also been an increase in preference for solicitation by a cashier (20%, up 6 points).
Future plans for charitable giving indicate a preference for a traditional model for the most part, with a majority of Canadians saying they prefer to donate to charitable organizations in the way they always have. That said, four in ten (39%) think (8% strongly/32% somewhat) they will be more inclined to give directly to causes through crowdfunding than give to a charity.
While still half (48%) of Canadians (15% far too much/33% a little too much) think they are approached for donations too much, the number who say “far too much” continues to drop (down a total of 11 points from 2013 - down 6 points from 2015 and 5 points from 2013). More than four in ten (43%) say they are approached the right amount and nine percent say not enough.
When Canadians are asked about what motivated them to make their last gifts, there is nearly universal agreement among past 12-month donors that they are motivated to donate out of a desire to help those in need (64% strongly agree, up 8 points, and 32% somewhat agree) and at least to some extent pre-disposed toward charities that share their beliefs or morals (53% strongly agree, up 10 points and 42% somewhat agree). But, more are also motivated by contributing to their local community (48% strongly agree, up 6 points, 38% somewhat agree), and giving back because the charity benefitted them or someone they know (31% strongly agree, up 5 points, and 27% somewhat agree).
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between October 10 and October 17, 2017, on behalf of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. For this survey, a sample of 1,500 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults 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.
