Nonprofit Fundraising on the Rise in 2012 in Canada According to Report

As 2012 is coming to a close, early research on nonprofit fundraising is being released and the results are very promising. Most recently I wrote about how Healthcare Experienced its First Fundraising Increase since the recession and I also wrote about the latest Blackbaud Index which reflected a continued decline in nonprofit fundraising. Recently BMO Harris Private Banking released results from their 2nd Annual Philanthropy Report and although the results do not lineup with Blackbaud’s findings they are still worthy of reporting and an encouraging sign for a strong upcoming year.

The research was conducted in early November 2012 and was based on a survey of a random sample of 1,000 Canadians aged 18 years and older. The results included:

• 79% of Canadians made a gift in the past twelve months which is up 11% from 2011. A significant increase that suggests we have come full circle and more Canadians are being generous in their giving to charitable organizations and less cautious of the uncertain economic climate. Though throughout the year Blackbaud’s results showed a decline in 2012 over 2011 results, this may certainly signal that 2012 was a transitioning year in Canada which could lead to a much stronger 2013.
• Canadian donors also had a 14.3% increase in the average total donations for the year (representing $70) from $487 in 2011 to $557 in 2012. These results are definitely encouraging for nonprofits as it represents donors having become more generous with their gifts and indicates there may be an opportunity for additional increases for the coming year provided the economy keeps at the current pace.
• Geographically, Ontario came out on top when it comes to percentage of respondents who had made a donation with 85% and the highest average total donation being $778. Manitoba & Saskatchewan (combined respondents) came in second at 84% and $751 and the Atlantic region with 78% and $616.
• Quebec unfortunately had the lowest results in both areas with 72% of respondent having made a donation and the lowest total average was $129. Are the substantially lower results indicative of nonprofits facing the challenge of serving the province’s bilingual population, or do they simply have less of a presence due to other factors? As the 2nd most populous province in the country with over 7.9 million residents, nonprofits should consider Quebec as an untapped market with potential for significant growth.

As I recently reported, Healthcare fundraising experienced its first increase in 2011 since the recession and this research further validates it as the health and medical nonprofit sector is the most supported by 60% of respondents, followed by anti-poverty at 45% and animal welfare organizations completing the top three at 30%.

The results from the BMO research is based on surveying Canadian respondents versus the Blackbaud Index which measures raw giving data from American charitable organizations. It’s important to take advantage of the variety of reports available that allow us to compare results from varying research sources and based on a variety of areas. I will feature the same results for the US in a future report.

_________________________________________________________________________________

For nonprofit, nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Pinterest or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.