WINNIPEG -- Manitobans lead the country in charitable giving, according to a new report by the Fraser Institute.
A news release announcing the findings contained in the institute’s report, “Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2019 Generosity Index,” said 23.4 per cent of Manitoba tax filers claim some sort of charitable contribution.
That’s the highest percentage among Canadian provinces and territories. New Brunswick as well as Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest, at 17.9 per cent.
Manitoba also donated the highest percentage of its aggregate income to charity among the provinces (0.80%) while Quebec donated the lowest (0.24%). The numbers are based on 2017 income tax filings, the most recent available.
Jake Fuss is a senior policy analyst with the Fraser Institute and a co-author of the report. He says while Manitoba leads Canada according to these figures, it lags far behind the most generous givers among all 64 Canadian provinces and territories and U.S. states.
“Canadians might be surprised to learn that Americans are far more generous when it comes to claimed donations to registered charities, and that’s been the case for many years,” Fuss said.
The report indicated Manitoba was ranked 44th on that list. Topping the entire survey was Utah, where residents donated about four times more of their aggregate income than those of Manitoba.
Comparing the two nations, in 2017, Americans donated 1.52 per cent of their aggregate income to charity.
In the same year, the Canadian percentage was just over 0.5 per cent.
These figures are based on information gathered from the Canada Revenue Agency and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
The report also showed Canadian charitable giving as measured by the percentage of household income donated each year during the period of 2000-2017 trended upward for a time, reaching a peak in 2006 of 0.78 per cent. Since then, the percentage has shown a steady decline, to 0.54 per cent in 2017.
Source: Fraser Institute
