Canadians have raised $480M for rent, food through fundraising campaigns

Canadians created more than 200,000 fundraising campaigns to cover everyday expenses over the course of three years, raising more than $480 million combined, according to new data released by the global crowdfunding platform Gofundme.

The donation platform says it recorded a 274 per cent increase in Canadian campaigns that mention “cost-of-living” since 2020. The two most common reasons for these fundraisers were listed as food and housing.

Ved Khan, Gofundme’s senior corporate affairs manager in Canada, said approximately 140,000 campaigns focused on supporting Canadians with housing costs and 56,000 were dedicated to helping Canadians with the cost of food throughout the same time duration.

Gofundme found that 214,912 campaigns were created and $480,212,706 was raised to support Canadians seeking support for cost-of-living-related expenses between 2020 and 2023.

Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver were the cities with the most cost-of-living campaigns.

According to Statistics Canada, the Consumer Price Index rose at an annual average of 3.9 per cent in 2023, following a 40-year-high increase of 6.8 per cent in 2022 and a 3.4 per cent increase in 2021.

Leigh Adamson, an Ottawa woman, started a Gofundme campaign to support Claude Lorette, a friend who has been living in his car since February 2023. The fund has since raised approximately $8,300.

According to the February 2024 Rentals.ca report, average rental prices for all residential property types in the country have increased 20 per cent since January 2020, about $373 per month to an average of $2,196 in January 2024.

The data collected by Gofundme show that, in 2023, approximately 35,525 campaigns were created solely to support Canadians struggling with rent.