In being part of the corporate world, it seems as though businesses have an unspoken obligation to be socially responsible. Although there are a variety of ways for a company to contribute to its community, donation and volunteering with local charities are among the most common. In fact, much of the support non-profit organizations gather comes from corporate companies. A corporation’s dedication to bettering its community contributes to its overall corporate philanthropy. Corporate philanthropy contributes to an organization’s reputation, image, morale and other communication initiatives that it values.
In 2019, Statistics Canada published a graph that displays a pattern in the number of donors in Canada between the years 1997 and 2017 (see the image below). Within these twenty-years, the population within Canada has continued to increase. Surprisingly so, the graph shows a steady plateau over this period, leading to the conclusion that the number of donors within Canada has been gradually decreasing. This leads to the question of – why?
The graph from Statistics Canada shows that the number of donors within Canada has remained relatively the same for 20 years. Research within The Giving Report by CanadaHelps suggests that government funding in 2016 accounted for more than two-thirds of charitable revenue, leading to the idea that many Canadians might assume charities can function successfully without donations from the rest of the nation. Unfortunately, Canadians are failing to realize that this is far from being true – most of Canada’s smaller charities are being left without much funding at all. The same source explains that Canadian charities are seeing more support come from the older generations than the younger, which provides a reason for the plateau in donations over the past two decades as populations have grown, but support has remained the same.
As the older generations continue to age and even lessen in numbers, Canada’s charitable sector faces an immense threat to its already-weakened financial stability. CanadaHelps explains that reliance is upon the nation’s organizational leaders to spark conversation about the growing issue of low funding to promise the future of its charitable sector. The Giving Report suggests that social capital is key to the success of a charitable organization, meaning that Canada’s charitable sector depends heavily on both formal and informal relationships. The report also explains that getting to know a neighbour has a significant impact on social capital.
The Giving Report discusses the conclusions of Chief Economist for Imagine Canada Brian Emmett that explain a growing social deficit within Canada. A social deficit, as defined by Emmett, is the gap that occurs when service demand from charities is not equal to the available funding that pays for them. As the older, charitable population diminishes, Emmett predicts that the social deficit will become so severe within the next ten years that Canada’s charitable sector will see major setbacks in its ability to serve, or even fail altogether. By the time we reach 2026, Emmett predicts that the financial gap between charitable demand and funding could reach up to $23 billion. This deficiency in funding will likely lead to increased wait times for services such as healthcare, closure of various organizations that cannot withstand a drop in funding and an overworked volunteer and working population that dedicate themselves to the industry.
Some might wonder – “how does this affect me?” Many Canadians may not understand the magnitude of charitable work in this country, but it comes in so many different forms – churches, schools, hospitals, festivals, childcare and programming, zoos, etc. The charitable sector may be underappreciated or unrecognized, but it plays a major role in the lives of many Canadians. Canadian charities must break down walls and find opportunities to foster relationships with the individuals and the corporations of this nation to help themselves promise the future of their financial stability. It is equally important that Canada’s corporations continue to and even increase their dedication to the charities of this country that have been a constant resource of support to those in need.
At Black Gold, we look forward to new opportunities in 2020 to participate in charitable work, and we encourage our friends and peers to do the same.
References
Information on the above topic was pulled and summarized from the following sources:
https://www.acad.mtroyal.ca/adc/comm4849/print.php?type=1&page=1
https://www.canadahelps.org/media/The-Giving-Report-2018.pdf
