Stressed and Stretched: New Report about State of Charities in Manitoba

Stressed and stretched—that’s the state of the charitable sector in Winnipeg.

That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Winnipeg Foundation, a registered charity that pools and invests gifts from donors in the local charitable sector.

The report was based on data from 439 Manitoba-based charities, and combined with data from Canada Revenue Agency tax filings, findings from an online/telephone survey of Winnipeg charitable organizations and from three focus groups held with leaders from local charities.

The report notes that while Manitobans are still the most generous in Canada—in terms of percentage of income donated, it led the nation with 0.83% donated versus the Canadian average 0.56%—the number of people in the province making a charitable gift is declining.

This matches trends in Canada as a whole, as reported by groups like CanadaHelps.

In November 2017, it reported that the total amount donated by Canadians was 7% lower in 2015 than in 2006.

In the same timeframe, it said the percentage of Canadian families (not taxfilers) reporting donations dropped from 45% to 40%.

Meanwhile, the Fraser Institute reports that the percentage of aggregate income donated to charity in Canada has declined from 1.26% of aggregate income in 2005 to 0.83% in 2015—a decline of 34%.

It also echoes the findings of Imagine Canada’s report Thirty Years of Giving in Canada, which concluded that “the donor base is getting ever-smaller.”

And yet, although the number of givers is going down, total giving in Canada is up. Which means, the Winnipeg Foundation says, that “fewer people are giving more.”

The Foundation concludes: “Donors are very special people, and becoming harder to find.”

To promote giving, “every effort must be made to thank those who give and to demonstrate the impact so we can rebuild the donor base in our province.”

For Manitoba charities, the challenge is a big one.

65% of groups surveyed say they will not be able to function in the future without a more stable funding situation.

The challenges include lack of a meaningful reserve fund; inability to attract and retain qualified staff (partly due to lower salaries); and an uncertain funding environment (both government and private funding).

Based on the findings, The Winnipeg Foundation is drafting its 2019-2021 Strategic Plan with a focus on strengthening the sector by enhancing capacity-building opportunities including professional development and promoting charitable giving across the province.

It will also support the exploration of potential collaborations, mergers and partnerships in the sector and convene the sector to promote the exchange of ideas and best practices.

In the end, the Foundation notes that while charities in the province are stressed and stretched, they are still standing.

The question is how many of them will still be standing 10 years from now.