By: Kathleen Kloepfer

According to the "Talking about Charities" survey commissioned by the Muttart Foundation in July of 2000, 2004 and again in 2006 virtually all Canadians agree that charities are important to Canadians. Strong majorities (76%) believe that non-profits understand the needs of the average Canadian better than the government. In fact, 70% believe that charities are doing a better job than government in meeting the needs of the average Canadian. Canadians also want to know more about the programs and services charities deliver, how they spend their money and what percentage of their money goes toward fundraising. A majority (64%) of the Muttart respondents believe that charities do not have enough money to do their work.

Corporate and Individuals

Corporate and individuals are becoming increasingly focused donors. They are using the Internet more every day to conduct their research. They do not respond to unsolicited requests from out of the blue and they do not suffer from guilt or sympathy. It is interesting to note that corporations are dramatically narrowing their interests. Trends show that companies want to give smartly and are looking through the advertising clutter for ways to stand out. They are looking to engage their people and energies to support community needs, in addition to offering financial support.

The individual donor of tomorrow is also focusing his or her giving. According to Imagine Canada, 91% of all charitable giving are derived from individual donors, making it clear why significant effort of securing donations from individuals should be given priority. Individuals tend to give from three sources: discretionary or disposable money, capital holdings and estates.

According to Imagine Canada's National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating, published in 2004, the national average annual donation was $400. Donations in terms of total donation value to each sector were directed as follows:

Corporately, the trend is to give only to causes/organizations that tie directly back into the core business bottom line. As once presented on the American Marketing Association website – corporate philanthropy is dead. In an interesting article in Stanford’s Social Innovation Review (Summer 2005) titled Philanthropy, Inc made several interesting points:

• “In an attempt to become more strategic in their philanthropy, corporate donors are tying their gifts more closely to their company’s business objectives, short-, medium-, and long-term.”

• “Not surprisingly, this broad change in corporate giving patterns is starting to ring alarm bells throughout the nonprofit world… Companies are giving money for sexy cause-marketing on issues of the day and to that end are very savvy about publicity… Meanwhile, they are leaving out groups that are doing critical work but are not grabbing headlines.”

• Philanthropy is increasingly related to the bottom line. There’s a market logic that has really won the day. The fact that corporations define wheter or not they should be positively engaged with communities as being a business issue is very problematic for the whole field.”

There are currently close to 85,000 registered charities in Canada, double the number two decades ago. There is an additional 81,000 organizations that while not registered charities are nonprofits in revenues flowing through Canada’s nonprofit sector (NSNVO, 2004). This is creating real competition in the sector to get to the money first. This sector employs just over 2 million Canadians. An additional 1.6 million Canadians do volunteer work each month.

There is a total of $112 billion in revenues flowing through Canada’s nonprofit sector (NSNVO, 2004)

Ten new charities are being registered every week, according to Globe & Mail Journalist, Andre Picard. It’s no wonder Corporations are having trouble keeping up.

Impacts on today

Non-profit organizations are being faced with some radical changes due to three factors: globalization, the technological revolution, and government downsizing. Governments are not simply reducing support; they are eradicating it all together. The question becomes who is responsible? The individual sector says business, but according to Imagine Canada, “even if every company donated 1% of its pre-tax profits to the voluntary sector, this could not replace current government funding.”¹

Non-profit organizations are feeling very vulnerable. The demand for their services is growing and there simply isn’t enough money and volunteers to make it all happen. They are doing more with less and soon, in some cases, the less will be none. They too, are looking for ways to fill the gaps and realize that aligning themselves with like-minded corporations and creating more meaningful partnerships is the key to survival.

Demand from corporate and non-profit sectors is growing. The need for organizations to plan their fundraising strategies and processes is key to an organization’s success.