VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The amount of money Canadians donate to registered charities—as a share of their income—has plummeted 32.2 per cent since 2006, finds a new study by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

And Canadians remain far less generous than Americans.

“Canadians continue to donate less and less every year, which means charities face greater challenges to help those in need this holiday season and throughout the year,” said Jason Clemens, Fraser Institute executive vice-president.

The study, Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2018 Generosity Index, finds that only about one-in-five Canadian tax-filers (20.4 per cent) claimed charitable donations on their tax return in 2016, the latest year of available data. That’s a decline of 16.9 per cent since 2006.

South of the border, however, almost one-in-four (24.8 per cent) of Americans claimed donations on their tax returns in 2016.

Likewise, the total average amount of income donated by Canadians dropped from 0.78 per cent in 2006 to 0.53 per cent in 2016. Americans, by comparison, gave 1.46 per cent of their income in 2016—nearly three times the percentage Canadians claimed.

Notably, of the 15 least-generous jurisdictions in North America, 12 are Canadian.

Manitoba, which ranks 42^nd overall on this year’s index of all 64 Canadian provinces, territories and U.S. states, is again the most generous Canadian jurisdiction. Utah remains the most generous jurisdiction overall.

Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario are tied for 50^th followed by British Columbia (54), Nova Scotia (55), New Brunswick (57), Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec (tied at 59), Yukon (61), Northwest Territories (63) and Nunavut, which ranks last at 64^th.

“Americans continue to be far more generous than Canadians with charitable giving, and that has been true for many years,” Clemens said.

Decline in charitable donations—as a share of income—by province since 2006

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jason Clemens, Executive Vice-President (in Vancouver)
Fraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:
Bryn Weese, Senior Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute
(604) 688-0221 Ext. 589
bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org