Is declining social connection amongst Canadians causing fewer people to make financial donations to charities? In the June 2024 CharityVillage Connects podcast episode, we did a deep dive into the 2024 Giving Report from CanadaHelps to explore this topic and other important findings from their research. 

As part of our discussions, we interviewed Julie Fiorini, General Manager, Donor Services and Brand Marketing for CanadaHelps. In our interview, Julie helped fill in some context about the report’s findings, including what it revealed about the power of social connection when it comes to philanthropy. 

We asked Julie to give us some background on what this year’s Giving Report reveals about the Canadian giving landscape, particularly in relation to the impacts of climate change and other complex crises. 

Julie Fiorini: Yeah, it’s interesting. One of the key findings from the report and from the data is that fewer Canadians are giving. And we’ve been seeing this alarming trend for a number of years now. 

What we’ve taken away though, what’s different this year, is that the report is really highlighting the fact that Canadians have become increasingly disconnected. And this started obviously before the pandemic, but the pandemic and the social isolation caused by that definitely perpetuated that. And so what we are actually seeing now is that with that social disconnection, and shrinking social networks, we are seeing now that that is directly correlated with lower rates of giving, which is very concerning.  

And so, as we’re looking at the fact that fewer Canadians are giving, we’re also seeing that with charities, they are facing heightening demand, which was exacerbated by the pandemic. And many Canadians, in fact, are turning to charities for essential services now, some of whom are doing that for the very first time, essential services like food and shelter, which is also deeply concerning.  

And to your point about climate change, what we specifically wanted to delve into with this report is sort of the disconnect between what Canadians say and what they claim to be concerned about versus what they do. 

And so we really dove into climate change as an existential issue, which many Canadians self-report to be very concerned about. And in fact, what we’re seeing though, is that that is not translating into donations for charities that directly support environmental causes. 

In addition to important barriers to giving that include rising inflation and financial constraints, we were surprised to find the report emphasized the power of social connection when it comes to philanthropy. Julie offered this further insight, stemming from the report’s findings.  

Julie Fiorini: Of course, at CanadaHelps, we’re definitely not psychologists or epidemiologists who can study this. But what we have found, especially with the primary research conducted for this year’s Giving Report, is there absolutely is a correlation between Canadians who have smaller social networks and their propensity to donate and volunteer. And when we say social networks, we’re not talking about the number of friends you have on Facebook or the number of followers you’ve got on Instagram or TikTok. We’re actually talking about real human social connections. And that’s through your family, through your friends, through your work networks and that type of thing, your neighbours.  

From 2013 to 2022, the stats show that the number of Canadians with six or more close friends has declined by 40%. And so from 2013, 37% of Canadians self-reported having six or more friends. That number has dropped in 2022 to only 22% of Canadians self-reporting that they have six or more friends. And then with those who actually do report having many close friends, more than 80% of those donate to charity. And those who claim to not have many close friends, just over half of those donate.  

So you can see that a strong social support system, a social network in the real sense of the word, not social media networks, absolutely has a correlation with charitable giving and the feeling of community and wanting to make the world a better place, to use that cliche. And so, you know, those who feel a very strong sense of belonging to their community, that figure has also dropped by a staggering 12 percentage points. So there’s no doubt of the correlation between pro-social behaviours and the link to charitable giving. 

At the same time that we’re seeing this decline in social connection, it’s undeniable that, for many Canadians, life has become increasingly difficult over the past several years. 

Julie Fiorini: We truly are currently facing that proverbial double-edged sword. So on the one hand, we’ve got fewer Canadians who are giving to charity. And on the other hand, so many Canadians are now turning to charities for assistance, for just basic needs, some of whom are turning to charities for the first time ever in their life because they actually have nowhere else to turn. 

And CanadaHelps actually commissioned a survey with Ipsos last fall, so that was Fall of 2023, where the stats showed one in five Canadians were currently using charitable services to meet those essential needs. And as I mentioned, almost seven in 10, so 69%, said that this was the first time that they had to turn to charity for support to help them meet those essential needs. 

And at the same time, that research also showed when we asked charities how they were able to keep pace or if they were able to keep pace with this unprecedented demand, more than half of them, 57% of them, said they actually are unable to meet current levels of demand, which really speaks to the gap between the growing challenges charities face and their ability to provide support. 

What does this mean for the charitable sector? We asked Julie to wrap up our interview with some final thoughts. 

Julie Fiorini: Getting to the heart of that disconnectedness and disconnection that Canadians are feeling is truly what we have to try and address, not just as the charitable sector, but society at large. It really is all of our collective responsibility to try and get ourselves back on track, to make people, if I can be blunt, actually give a damn again about the world, their communities, how we exist in this world, and how we continue to support each other and support the most vulnerable amongst us. It really is going to be a critical challenge that many charities face.  

We’re absolutely seeing that now with the arts sector in particular, who is struggling because it’s very challenging in this climate with the financial strain on everyone to justify supporting charities, supporting arts-based events that just seem to be more of a nice to have versus a need to have. And so getting to the heart of that disconnection and trying to re-engage Canadians, make them understand that the impact they can have will make a difference on them and the communities at large. It’s something we have to all try and address together. 

Want to hear more from Julie? Listen to her full interview in the video below. And read the full report, The 2024 Giving Report: From Disconnection to Collective Action, here. 

Listen to Julie and other experts discuss the latest findings from the 2024 CanadaHelps Giving Report in our new podcast episode. Click here to listen.