The state of giving
Charities battle for donors’ dollars during the season of giving
Charities in B.C. say donations are mostly on track this year, but donor behaviour and the changing faces and needs of their clients are keeping them on their toes.
In recent years, donations have been on the rise. In a report this year, Statistics Canada said Canadians gave $12.8 billion to charities or non-profits in 2013, donating $531 on average, up from $470 in 2010. British Columbians had the lowest national donor rate in 2013 — 78 per cent — but were second only to Albertans in how much they gave, averaging $704.
Charles Weinberg, from the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business, said British Columbians’ economic woes this year might cause some people to clamp down on their charitable donations while at the same time, the Syrian refugee crisis could have an impact on how and where people give.
“It’s a compelling cause, it sort of reaches at your heart strings, but the dilemma is that it’s the end of the year and people who make charitable donations in December, where they say, ‘OK, now I want to step back and see who I want to give to’ — for them, it may be switching from one behaviour to another.
“Some people are going to donate money they just otherwise wouldn’t have, but some people are presumably going to be making a choice — one charity or another.”
At the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, B.C.’s largest food bank, donations have dipped slightly compared to last year, spokeswoman Ariela Friedmann said.
It’s tricky to pinpoint why donations are down, she said, but the number of people using their services remained steady year over year, with 26,500 clients visiting weekly.
Friedmann said they have been approached to see how they can help feed Syrian refugees, and they are working on a plan to do so.
For now, she said, their 14 distribution points are seeing more workingclass people using the food bank, folks living paycheck to paycheck while struggling with the high cost of living in Greater Vancouver.
“The face of our members is changing; people who are working, newcomers to Canada, students, a lot of families — about one in five people who come in have children,” Friedmann said. “The other big trend is seniors. People can only stretch their pension dollars so far. At the end of the day, people are struggling to make ends meet.”
Typically, the organization pulls in 65 per cent of the funds it uses to keep its shelves full year-round during December, Friedmann said.
When it comes to donations, she said cash is best: It goes a long way toward providing clients with fresh, nutritious B.C. produce.
Donor dollars are worth three times their value because of deals the GVFB has worked out with kind local farmers who cut them a break.
Michael McKnight, president and CEO of the United Way of the Lower Mainland, said his organization is on track to raise the same amount as in 2014, just over $26 million.
Last month, UWLM launched a campaign to raise $500,000 to support the settlement of Syrian refugees, a cause for which donors have shown increased interest, McKnight said.
UWLM has run such programs in the past to aid refugees from East Africa and Afghanistan.
“Those services are aimed at families with young children, where they now need to understand how to get their kids registered in school, learn English as a second language so they become employable, understand how to find a doctor — just the normal things that most families take for granted.”
Asked if UWLM’s other programs will be impacted by the focus on the Syrian refugee crisis, McKnight said it seemed unlikely.
“Certainly, it’s on people’s minds as we see the heart-tugging stories of people fleeing the communities that they grew up in for safer places around the world,” he said.
Jay Singh, co-ordinator at the AMS (Alma Mater Society) Food Bank at the University of B.C., said donations are up, but not keeping pace with demand, which has tripled since last year.
The food bank had about 540 visits between May and December this year, up from 167 during the same period in 2014, he said.
Singh said much of demand can be chalked up to rising tuition costs and rents, but it’s awareness of the food bank that’s the biggest driver.
“I feel like students on campus already needed to use the service, but they didn’t know that it existed,” he said. “It’s a kind of catch-22 where you want to raise awareness for people who need to use it, but at the same time, if you’re going to do that, you need to be able to raise the amount of food.”
Singh said many of the food bank’s clients are adult graduate students.
“They have children, maybe spouses, and they’re studying for the PhD or their Master’s program,” he said.
Singh said the food bank needs more sustainable help — donations coming on a regular basis — so they know what their inventory will look like on a week-to-week basis.
“… Some people are presumably going to be making a choice — one charity or another.”
— CHARLES WEINBERG
UBC SAUDER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS