TORONTO, March 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CanadaHelps, the country's largest platform for donating and fundraising online, today released the results from a new Ipsos poll that suggests many generous Canadians could be missing out on the financial benefits of charitable giving this tax season. According to the poll, only 56 percent of those Canadians who made charitable contributions last year intend to claim the charitable tax receipts on their 2023 income tax returns — while almost one-third (32 percent) say they won't, and 11 percent are unsure if they will.
The Ipsos poll also reveals that men (62 percent) are more likely than women (50 percent) to claim charitable donations on their 2023 income tax returns. Further, Canadians who are 55+ (61 percent) plan to maximize the taxable benefits of charitable donations this tax season more than those aged 35-54 (55 percent) and 18-34 (52 percent).
“Not only is charitable giving a great way to have a positive impact on your favourite cause, Canadians can receive a charitable tax receipt which can be used to maximize federal and provincial government tax incentives and could equal up to 49 percent back through charity tax deductions,” says Duke Chang, President and CEO of CanadaHelps. “That could mean a $494 tax credit on a total of $1,000 donated in a single year in some provinces.”
Tax receipts make Canadians more generous
The poll finds that receiving a tax receipt for charitable donations makes a difference to Canadian donors and influences their decision to give. Nearly half (45 percent) say the ability to receive a tax credit makes them more likely to give to charities. Tax receipts are particularly attractive to younger Canadians, with 57 percent of those aged 18-34 saying it is more probable they will donate if they receive a tax receipt, compared to those who are 35-54 (48 percent) and 55+ (33 percent).
According to 2020 tax filer data highlighted in the 2023 version of CanadaHelps’ Giving Report, the number of Canadians who claimed charitable tax credits was 18.4%, which dropped from 23.4% in 2010, and 29.5% in 1990 (11.1 percentage points in 30 years).
More than one-third of Canadians plan their giving each year
The Ipsos poll also reveals that charitable giving is not just done on a whim for more than one-third of Canadians. 35 percent say they create a budget for their annual charitable giving each year, with men (39 percent) being more likely than women (30 percent) to do so. The poll also finds that Canadians aged 18-34 (42 percent) tend to plan their annual charitable giving more than those who are 55+ (33 percent) or 35-54 (30 percent).
“While charitable tax receipts provide a great incentive for Canadians to give, those who donate without claiming their contributions on their tax returns are missing an opportunity to reap the benefits that come with charitable giving,” adds Chang. “Building donations into their annual budgeting process can help Canadians optimize the financial benefits of their charitable giving, and CanadaHelps tools can be leveraged to help calculate charitable tax credits, as well as learning how to create a strategic giving plan for the year.”
CanadaHelps makes charitable giving and tax claims easy
In addition to making it easy to donate to any one of Canada’s 86,000 registered charities, CanadaHelps also provides instant tax receipts. Those with a CanadaHelps account do not need to keep track of receipts for their donations made to charities through CanadaHelps, they can access their charitable receipts at any time via CanadaHelps or by using CanadaHelps’ receipt download tool. Donors can also choose how they want their tax receipts – one at a time or as an aggregated, single roll-up receipt for all donations made throughout the year.
A CanadaHelps account can also help Canadians create a strategic giving plan for the year – including setting up a monthly gift that is more manageable for their budget, and determining giving goals for the year – so they can maximize the taxable benefits of charitable giving.
About the Ipsos Poll
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between March 1 and 5, 2024 on behalf of Canadahelps.org. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Canadians aged 18+ were interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
About CanadaHelps
CanadaHelps is a public foundation advancing philanthropy through technology. For Canadians, it powers CanadaHelps.org, a safe and trusted destination for discovering and supporting any charity in Canada, and UniteforChange.com, where Canadians can learn about causes and easily support the collective work of charities addressing a cause they care about. CanadaHelps also develops affordable fundraising technology used by more than 30,000 charities, and free training and education so that, regardless of size, all charities have the capacity to increase their impact and succeed in the digital age. Since 2000, over 4.6 million people have given more than $3 billion through CanadaHelps. Connect with CanadaHelps on X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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Note to Media:
The source survey data and a fact sheet are available for download here.
