Charitable donors, 2023

In this release, charitable donation data are based on a preliminary version of the T1 Family File (tax filer data), which is based on an early version of the T1 file received by Statistics Canada from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Statistics on changes in amounts between years do not take inflation into account. The Consumer Price Index rose 3.9% in 2023, as shown in table 18-10-0005-01.

The median is the value in the middle of a group of values (e.g., half of people make donations above this value and half of people make donations below this value).

Canadians contribute in many ways to charitable organizations. This release reports only on donations to charities and approved organizations for which official tax receipts were provided and claimed on tax returns. To verify whether a charity is registered under the Income Tax Act, tax filers can consult the charity listings available on the Canada Revenue Agency website. It is possible to carry donations forward for up to five years after the year in which they were made. Donations reported for the 2023 taxation year could include donations that were made in any of the five previous years. According to tax laws, tax filers are permitted to claim both their donations and those made by their spouse to receive better tax benefits. Consequently, the number of people who made charitable donations may be higher than the number who claimed tax credits.

Charitable donations made through crowdfunding platforms for individuals or organizations not linked to charities registered under the Income Tax Act are not captured in this data release. Moreover, several charitable organizations will not issue a tax receipt for small donations. Other small donations, such as those made by text message without issued tax receipts or donations at checkout counters of retail stores, are also not covered.

Another source of donation data at Statistics Canada is the General Social Survey (GSS) on Giving, Volunteering and Participating. This survey collects information on all monetary donations reported by individuals, regardless of whether the donation resulted in a tax credit. For 2018, data from this survey revealed close to $11.9 billion in total donations by Canadians, while donations by individuals, as reported on their tax forms, totalled just over $9.9 billion (for comparability, the territories were removed from the tax-reported amount). The large difference in median amounts reported also points to the fact that many small donations are not captured in the tax data.

The GSS also focuses on volunteering. While the youngest age group (15 to 24 years old) had the lowest participation rate with respect to charitable donations, this same age group had the highest participation rate in volunteer activities.

The T1 Family File will undergo a redesign starting with the 2024 reference year. The redesign is a statistical best practice that will increase the timeliness of the data, expand population coverage, and enhance precision at lower geographic levels.

However, due to the redesign, the release of the 2024 data, which would have occurred in spring 2026, will be delayed to winter 2026/2027.

Data tables: Access the latest tables.

• Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 4106.

Previous release: Fewer charitable donors, less money donated in 2022.