One of the most significant reports released each year for Canadian charities is the CanadaHelps Annual Giving Report, produced in partnership with Environics Analytics each Spring.

As the year comes to a close and a new one begins, it’s an ideal moment to reflect on the trends and shifts that have taken place across the charitable sector—affecting organizations of all sizes, missions, and purposes. From Indigenous-led charities to healthcare and animal welfare organizations, this year’s report explores the challenges, opportunities, areas of resilience, and the white spaces where gaps in support remain.

The charitable landscape has undergone many changes over the past years. Here’s a look at the causes Canadians are supporting most, how social and economic forces are influencing the sector, and the individuals and families who, despite difficult times, continue to give generously.

Giving Highlights

  • Local and regional giving saw a surge in donations.
  • GivingTuesday, monthly giving, and securities donations emerged as strong areas of fundraising opportunity.
  • Charities faced new challenges due to the affordability crisis and the postal strike.
  • Average donation amounts are rising, but the total number of donations continues to decline.

What Charities and Causes are Donors Giving To?

Healthcare, education and local or regional organizations are the top three causes Canadians gave to in 2024. Of these, educational charities in particular have more than doubled the support they receive.

Counter to this, causes serving the public benefit, animal-focused charities and social service organizations have experienced plateaued growth in giving in the five years post-COVID.

Indigenous charities, environment organizations and local or regionally focused charities have experienced noteworthy changes. Let’s explore these distinct cause-based trends further.

Indigenous Charities

External events, whether it be breaking news stories or economic factors, influence the types of causes Canadians support.

Organizations serving Indigenous communities have experienced donation growth of over 400% following the discovery of potential unmarked graves at former residential school sites across Canada, including in Kamloops BC.

However, it’s also worth noting that even as giving to Indigenous causes has increased significantly, they only make up just under 1% of all giving.

Environment Charities

Environmental organizations experienced the most significant year-over-year growth in donations of any type of cause.

Despite this surge in growth, environment charities only account for a small overall percentage of the donations that come through CanadaHelps. This demonstrates that although climate change continues to rank high as a very important cause for many demographics, including younger millennials and gen-z donors, values can be misaligned with actual revenue certain causes receive.

Canada-First Local and Regional Organizations

Charities focusing on local and regional ‘or Canada-first’ issues have seen successful donation growth over the last year, and now rank in the top three causes Canadians give to.

Most likely, the patriotic pro-Canada sentiment rising across the country extended into the Canadian charitable sector and ignited this boost in funding for local and regional organizations.

What are Areas of Opportunity for Charities?

Securities donations

Donations of securities have grown 5X since 2018. From $11.5 million in 2018 to over $57.6 million in 2024, representing a 5x increase.

As wealthier donors account for a larger percentage of charitable donations, this number will likely continue to rise. For more on how your charity can leverage securities donations, check out our blog “Securities Made Simple” which explains why you should try it, how CanadaHelps can support you, and how to get started with messaging. 

Monthly donors

Monthly giving continues to rise. It represents a steady and reliable stream of donations for charities. In 2024, for example, monthly giving accounted for 18% of all donations to CanadaHelps – a new but modest increase from 16% in 2018. Most charities are aware of the benefits of monthly giving but how do you build your monthly supporter base? Check out FoodShare’s success story, where they share tactics, numbers and more on growing monthly donors.

GivingTuesday

GivingTuesday continues to be an important day for charitable fundraising. Total donations on GivingTuesday hit $16.2 million in 2024, a 19.5% increase from 2023. GivingTuesday donations have increased more than 5x between 2018 and 2024. Be a part of Canada’s largest generosity movement with our GivingTuesday resources that make it easy.

What Challenges are Charities Facing?

External events continue to influence Canada’s fundraising landscape – bringing new and unexpected challenges to the charitable sector.

Charities are resilient organizations – quick to pivot and adapt to any obstacles that pop up. Throughout 2025, the many challenges charities encountered were the Canada Post mail strike, the continued affordability crisis, record-high inflation and the reality that the number of charitable donors claiming donations on their tax returns continued to decline, see graph below.

The Canada Post Mail Strike

The cross-country Canada Post mail strike had a significant impact on the 2024 end-of-year giving season, triggering substantial revenue losses for charities who rely on the postal system to accept donations and receive mailed cheques. During the strike action in late 2024, CanadaHelps research indicates that Canadian Charities lost roughly $266 million.

The postal strike accelerated the transition to digital giving – underscoring how online fundraising is no longer optional and why charities should register for electronic funds transferring systems.

Affordability and Inflation Crisis

Record-high inflation, the affordability crisis and rising costs of living are hitting Canadians hard. Economic issues continue to have ripple effects on the charitable sector – increasing demand for services and resulting in declining donations as Canadians are forced to tighten our pockets.

This trend can be seen in the fact that donors with lower household income of under $60,000 have the most steep drop-offs in making charitable donations. Counter to this, high income Canadians account for the biggest increase in donations. In fact, top income earning taxpayers of over $1,000,000 show the biggest uptick in charitable giving.

Who are Canada’s Donors?

One of the most important aspects of charitable fundraising is knowing and understanding who your donors are. The Giving Report contains rich data on this front, breaking down the landscape of Canada’s donors into subgroups. Each group of donors has specific values, messaging and charitable causes that best speak to them. Let’s dig into the people behind Canada’s diverse giving landscape.

Senior Donors Steal the Show

Data in the 2025 Giving Report shows that older Canadians – especially wealthy Canadians aged 65 and older – drive the vast majority of charitable giving. With one in four charitable donors aged 65 or older, this demographic makes up about 35% of all donors.

The 8 Charitable Donor Profiles in Canada

Downtown donors – account for 13% of all giving and give significantly to arts and cultural charities and Indigenous charities.

Senior donors give more to animal and environment causes.

Wealthy families account for 22% of donations despite making up just 8% of households. They disproportionately give to health, education, and arts and culture.

Diverse families consistently support religious, international and local charities.

Suburban and rural families donate less frequently to arts and culture organizations, and more frequently support animal charities, international causes and social services.

Older suburban and rural donors are the strongest supporters of public benefit charities and animal charities.

Next Steps

Now that you have a snapshot into Canada’s giving landscape, take some time to reflect on the insights in The Giving Report and how you can incorporate them to benefit your charity’s annual planning, and grow your fundraising program in the new year. For a more detailed exploration of these themes, we recommend downloading your copy of CanadaHelps 2025 Giving Report, or watching our Giving Report webinar.