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Connection
STEWARDSHIP
Examining Data on Giving in Canada
38
PRESBYTERIAN
SUMMER 2024
presbyterian.ca
By Dr. Lori Guenther Reesor, D.Min., speaker, writer and stewardship coach. Lori blogs at lgreesor.com, and is the author of Growing a Generous Church: A Year in the Life of Peach Blossom Church
Twenty dollars cash in an en- velope for the weekly offering is quite common. Ask any treasurer. So, is a $20 per week donation generous? Answer: It depends!
Tax filer data is the most reli- able measurement of charitable giving. In studies asking people how much they donate to charity, people often describe themselves as considerably more generous than the income tax data shows. Humans forget that we’re not great with numbers; we answer questions based on how we’d like to be. A weird but helpful compar- ison is alcohol consumption. Peo- ple report drinking much less than liquor sales demonstrate. Charita- ble giving is the reverse: people self-report giving more than the charitable receipts demonstrate. Tax data is based on receipts. While there are reasons and ways people give that aren’t receipted, most people who give $20/week ask for receipts!
Generosity of the average Canadian donor
In Canada, someone who gives $20/week or more is generous when compared to other Canadi- ans. The fact is that the majority of Canadians don’t give at all, at least in a receiptable way.
According to 2022 information recently released by Statistics Canada, the median amount Ca- nadian donors gave that year was $380: half gave more than $380, and half gave less. That’s to all causes.
Twenty dollars per week is $86.60/month or $1,040 a year (there are 4.33 weeks in a month). The typical Canadian donor gave $380 annually; only 5% of Cana- dians gave $1000 or more yearly.
So, $20 a week is more gener- ous than the typical Canadian do- nor. This aligns with many studies showing that people attending re- ligious services regularly give the most overall.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Treasurers will also tell you that there are people in the congrega- tion who give much more than $380 every month. What do we know about those donors?
Let’s zoom in on the smallest slice of the pie: the 5% of tax filers who donated more than $1,000/ year in 2022.
I removed the very few top donors who gave more than $50,000 to eliminate the outliers. That left about 1.5 million donors who together gave over $7 billion. The average for this group was $4,692/year, $391/month or $90/ week. (The median is probably lower, but the average still gives us a very good idea.) We should pause here to say, “Thanks be to God!” because these donors carry many places of worship and charities that benefit us all.
Based on church-giving data I’ve seen, that number rings true to me. It’s this shrinking group of the most generous people who make it possible for churches to function well. They compensate for church members who don’t give at all and for members who can’t or don’t give as much.
Older donors give more than younger donors
We can learn even more about these donors. In 2022, Canadi- ans claimed over $11 billion in charitable donation receipts. 34% of those donors were aged 65+, and collectively, they gave over $5.4 billion. [1,684,145 donors x $3,240 average giving = $5.4 billion.] This means the Canadian donor aged 65+ gave an average of $3,240. (The average is simply the total divided by the number of donors. The median is $590. Half of senior donors gave more, half gave less.)
If you’re sharp, you’ll notice that older donors gave almost half of the total donations ($5.4 out of $11 billion). Correct! For- ty-eight percent of the total giv- ing in 2022 came from donors over 65, even though that de- mographic only comprised 34% of total donors. That’s because older donors typically give more than younger donors.
While $20 weekly in an envelope is more generous than the typical Canadian, it’s not as generous as some of the faithful senior saints whose gifts carry many church- es and charities in Canada. Our churches benefit from the gener- osity of these older generations, who will not be around forever.
Express gratitude
If you retain no numbers at all from this article, please remem- ber that most Canadians don’t give at all (in a receiptable way) and that our senior members tend to be some of the most gener- ous people in Canada. It’s their countercultural generosity which supports ministry. Their faithful giving expresses their gratitude to God. They have entrusted the church with their money to share as we participate in God’s mis- sion together. And thank the do- nors—they are giving when many aren’t. Thank God for all the giv- ers who support our churches.
Now, if you are wondering if you are a generous donor, we need to look at giving related to income.
Generosity related
to income
Christians (and other faiths) be- lieve in proportional giving. Give as you are able. If God has given you more, give more. If God has given you less, give less.
I’m reminded that $1,000 a year looks different if you’re mak- ing $40,000 annually compared to if you’re making $100,000.
The median income of tax fil- ers who gave gifts in 2022 was $71,240, significantly higher than that of all tax filers, which was $41,930.
Consider the typical tax filer who
made $71,000 and gave $380/ year to charity. I wish there was a way to make that look more gener- ous. It’s about half of one percent. If that person gave $1000/year ($20/week) to charity, their gift still only reflects 1.4% of their income. If the person giving $20/week is earning $41,930, they are giving 2.3% of their income.
Since this is income tax data, we can look at total income and total giving. When we add it all up, Canadians gave 0.7% of re- ported income to charity in 2022. A quick refresher on percentages: 0.7% is not 7 cents on the dollar; it’s 7 cents for every 10 dollars, 70 cents for every 100 dollars. Manitobans (with a big shout out to Winkler and Steinbach, the most generous cities in Canada) gave 1% of their reported income. I’ve talked to donors in both plac- es. I can attest that Manitobans are not richer than their cousins in Ontario or British Columbia. They are more generous.
People who regularly attend church may be some of the most generous people in Canada, but when we look at what we are giv- ing, the only way to answer the question, “Am I generous?” is by looking at what we have been given. Pray, “Lord, help me to be generous.”
Generosity comes
from learning
Now, some might say that we haven’t looked at expenses. Someone making $71,000 a year might suppor t a family of four. Inflation has been crazy in the past few years, and the cost of living is high. In today’s mar- ket, a young person or young family has to put a higher per-
centage of their income towards basic expenses, like rent and/or mor tgage payments.
However, here’s the thing: gen- erous people don’t wait until the economy or their circumstances improve. They find ways to give out of what they have. Many gen- erous people give more during hard times, and people with lower incomes are often more gener- ous (based on a percentage of income) than those with higher incomes. Generous people may volunteer a lot! They pray. Gen- erosity means letting your money follow your prayers and sharing time as well as money.
Generous people might start small and grow their percentage as they have more discretionary income. They make an intention- al, faithful decision about what they can afford to give and how to give that generously.
Generosity doesn’t just happen. I’ve talked to lots of generous do- nors. They learned to be generous from their family, their church and their communities. They learned to give in grateful response to a gener- ous God. They give in proportion to what they earn, and they do it be- fore their other (often discretion- ary) expenses. Generous donors tell me, “Whatever I have given away, I have never, ever missed it.”
Learning generosity comes from talking about money, see- ing generosity and belonging to a generous congregation that both talks about giving and is generous in its giving—to the community and the world.
Generosity is a joyful and life- giving spiritual practice built by sharing stories and praying to- gether. It grows our faith and communities. Thanks be to God!