Year-End Report Card from CanadaHelps Reveals Positive Giving Trends Despite Serious Challenges Facing Charities

TORONTO, Dec. 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CanadaHelps, the country's largest platform for donating and fundraising online, today released a year-end report card highlighting the ways Canadians have stepped up to help charities in 2021. As of November 30, 2021, donations through CanadaHelps totalled $304 million. This represents a year-over-year increase of 6.9%, which is a significant drop compared to the tremendous growth in online giving seen in year one of the pandemic (116% year-over-year increase), and below the pre-pandemic growth rate of 21% in 2019. The softening of growth in online giving comes at a time when demand for charity services is rising, and 42%* of charities are not able to meet the current level of demands.

Despite these challenges, CanadaHelps observed five positive giving trends this year:

• More Canadians Made Multiple Donations: Donors making two or more donations on CanadaHelps.org increased by 87.2% versus last year.
• Monthly Giving is on the Rise: The number of Canadians that established monthly giving plans increased by 23.6%. Monthly gifts now make up 10.3% of total donations.
• More Donors are Leveraging the Extra Tax Benefits of Security Donations: Donations of securities, including stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, increased by 52% and have raised 99% more in donations versus last year. Securities represent 7.3% of total donations.
• Younger Donors Emerge: Of the 12% of Canadians that have increased the amount of money they donated to charity amid the pandemic, 17% are younger Canadians (aged 18-34) ? that's more than any other age group.
• Charities and Donors Demonstrated Great Resilience: Charities launched new virtual and hybrid fundraising strategies to replace in-person events and Canadians responded. Ticketed events this year grew by 49% while revenue from charity walks, runs, and other "thons" increased by 52%.
  

"At a time when charities are facing an unprecedented demand for services, we renew our call to Canadians to donate whatever they can to a charity or to a cause they care about," said Marina Glogovac, President and CEO of CanadaHelps. "This year, most Canadian charities are facing operational challenges due to critical drops in revenue and greater demand for their services. Although several positive and encouraging giving trends have emerged this year, charities ? and our communities ? are reliant on the generosity of Canadian donors."

Further insights on online giving trends are available here.

In addition to making an online donation, there are several other ways in which Canadians can support charities through CanadaHelps:

• Purchase Charity Gift Cards as a stocking stuffer that not only gives back but also makes it easy to teach children about charitable giving.
• Donors can establish an annual giving goal, set up a monthly donation to a favourite cause, track their giving performance, and access their charitable receipts via a CanadaHelps account.
• Support several charities with a single donation to a Cause Fund through Unite for Change.
• Create a fundraiser on behalf of a charity to celebrate a milestone or special event.

These insights on year-to-date giving come as CanadaHelps reaches a significant milestone of $2 billion in online donations processed over its 21-year history.

About CanadaHelps
CanadaHelps is a charitable foundation working to increase giving in Canada through technology. CanadaHelps.org, provides a safe and trusted one-stop destination for making donations, fundraising, or learning about any charity in Canada. CanadaHelps also develops affordable fundraising technology and provides free training and education for charities so that, regardless of size, all charities have the capacity to increase their impact and succeed in the digital age. CanadaHelps also powers UniteforChange.com, a new website where Canadians can support, learn, and engage with a range of causes. More than 3.2 million Canadians have donated more than $2 billion to charities using CanadaHelps since its founding in 2000. For additional information, visit CanadaHelps.org or connect with CanadaHelps on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

*Imagine Canada, Sector Monitor, August 2021

Jodi Echakowitz
Boulevard Public Relations
[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b37ea1f5-a3fa-42af-8874-de94c6e09ad4