Volunteering and Philanthropy

On a self-reported basis, about half of Ottawa residents over the age of 15 were involved in some form of volunteer work in 2013. This was the second highest rate among Canada’s six largest cities.  At 53% of its residents reporting being engaged in volunteerism, Calgary had the highest. Montreal residents reported the lowest rate (31%).

The average number of hours contributed by those who volunteer is another important measure of engagement. The average for Ottawa in 2013 was 136 hours per year, the second lowest after Montreal. Toronto had the highest average, at 152 hours.

In the past ten years, both the proportion of residents involved in volunteering, and the average number of hours contributed, have trended downwards for Ottawa.

Among Canada’s six largest cities, and based on charitable deductions claimed when filing income tax, Ottawa consistently has the highest proportion of residents donating to charity. In 2016, that proportion was 25%. The spread between cities is fairly modest however, with the lowest proportions (Montréal) standing at around 20% in 2016.

Although Ottawa modestly outpaced other cities in terms of the proportion of those contributing to a charity, average annual donations by residents in Ottawa have been significantly smaller than in all cities except Montréal.

For all six cities, there has been a clear downward trend over the past 15 years in the percent of tax filers making charitable donation claims. At the same time there has been an upward trend in the average amount claimed. In other words, a smaller proportion is giving, but those who do are giving more. The upward trend in amount given has been less pronounced in Ottawa than in most other cities.

It is important to recognize that tax filer data is not a complete record of charitable giving by individuals. Based on Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey, over 80% of Canadians donate each year to not-for-profit organizations. This includes relatively informal mechanisms that typically involve small donations (e.g., canvassing on street or shopping mall, collection plate at church).

At $1,574, the average donation by Ottawa residents, based on tax filer data, is the second lowest among Canada’s six largest cities. The fact that median donations show less variability between the six major cities suggests that in some cities, the averages are skewed by a relatively small number of very large donations. Nonetheless, Ottawa is still at the low end of median donations at $390. Montréal is an outlier on both average and median charitable donations.

One way to take into account the impact of differing levels of wealth on charitable giving is to compare how much is given relative to income. For the 25% of Ottawa residents who claimed charitable giving when they filed taxes in 2016, the median amount given was 0.52% of their median income. The only City with a lower proportion of giving relative to income is Montréal. Vancouver has the highest levels of giving relative to income, at 0.75%.