CanadaHelps Launches Small Charity Week with New Data Spotlighting Challenges Facing Small Charities, Canadian Business Journal

TORONTO, September 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — canada helpis the nation’s largest platform for online donations and fundraising, launched today small charity week, an initiative that focuses on small charities across Canada, many of which are facing significant funding shortages and increased demand. Smaller charities with annual revenues of less than $500,000 experienced the largest drop in donations, with revenues received falling by $1 billion (or 25%) between 2019 and 2020. increase. Charities work with communities across the country to gain insight into the challenges they face and learn how they can help.

CanadaHelps also provides educational programs throughout the week to over 1,100 charity professionals from small charities across Canada to help them effectively plan their fundraising efforts for the upcoming holiday season. so as to take advantage of its vast resources. Small Charities Week will take place from September 12th to 16th, 2022. Click for more information on Small Charities Week. here.

Small Charities Facing Increased Demand for Their Services
To better understand the challenges facing small Canadian charities, CanadaHelps surveyed more than 600 small charities across the country in August. Most of those surveyed fall into the following categories: 28% provide social or community-based services, 17% focus on arts and culture, and 16% are religiously affiliated. 12% provide education services and 10% are immersed in health. 7% focus on animals.

The findings highlight the significant challenges facing small charities.

• 41% of charities experienced an increase in demand at the start of the pandemic, but only 5% saw demand return to pre-pandemic levels. Charities that saw high demand during the pandemic are now the new normal for 14% of respondents, but 23% of charities continue to face increased demand. Demand decreased at the start of the pandemic for 32% of charities. While half of these charities have returned to pre-pandemic demand levels, 11% of respondents (many of whom provide critical community-building services) have not seen a return to demand, and respondents 5% of respondents believe demand will continue to decline.
• 29% of charities saw donations increase at the start of the pandemic, but two-thirds (20% of all respondents) have returned to pre-pandemic levels. 51% of charities saw donations drop at the start of the pandemic. This decline in donations was the new normal for half of these charities (25% of all respondents), but one in five of these charities (10% of all respondents) The amount continues to decline.
• 59% of charities say demand exceeds their capacity, but only 27% have the capacity to meet demand.
• 83% agree that inflation has increased the cost of providing services, and 65% agree that inflation has reduced contributions received from individual Canadians.
• Just over half (51%) agree that increased demand for services and/or decreased funding will lead to increased levels of staff burnout. Meanwhile, 55% have seen a decline in volunteer numbers, and volunteer numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels.
• 39% of smaller charities said their program quality would decline if endowment funding declined, 38% would be forced to cut programs, 32% would be unable to meet demand, and 17% would need to reduce staff I think it will be.

Jane Ricciardelli, Chief Operating Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer, CanadaHelps, said: “With inflation impacting discretionary spending among Canadians, increasing both the cost and demand for providing essential services, we can step up and help lessen the burden on smaller charities. It’s more important than ever for people.”

Helping a small Canadian charity optimize its online fundraising efforts
During Small Charities Week, CanadaHelps will offer a series of free webinars and resources to small charities on how to optimize digital fundraising as service demand remains high and operating revenues are under pressure. learn aboutThis includes Small Charity Masterclass An easy-to-implement program that teaches digital fundraising best practices, allowing small charities to learn from the brightest and brightest in the fundraising department.

Fast Facts on Canada’s Philanthropic Sector
Canada’s charity sector is one of the largest charities in the world, with approximately 86,000 charities registered. Based on the latest Canada Revenue Agency data for calendar years 2019 and 2020, we see that smaller charities are lagging behind.

• Smaller charities (with less than $500,000 in annual revenue) experienced the biggest year-over-year decline in donation receipts, down $1.016 trillion (-25%). In contrast, large charities (with annual revenue of $2,500,000 or more) received $731 million in donations (+6%) year over year.
• Of great concern is the -2% decline in profit margins (the difference between total income and expenses) for smaller charities. Medium and large charities, on the other hand, were able to align costs with revenues and achieve positive margins of 5%.
• As stated in CanadaHelps annual report report, 78% of Canadian charities are classified as small charities. Of those, 90% employ less than 10 full-time his staff, and 58% are run entirely by volunteers.

About the survey method
Results are based on a survey sent out on August 12th and completed by 702 charity professionals. Of those, 657 (94%) receive donations and work for small charities whose earnings are less than her $500,000.

About CanadaHelps
CanadaHelps is a public foundation that advances philanthropy through technology. For Canadians, it empowers CanadaHelps.org, a safe and reliable destination to discover and support all of Canada’s charities. UniteforChange.commakes it easy for Canadians to learn about causes and help collaborate with charities working on causes they care about. CanadaHelps also develops affordable fundraising technology and free training and education used by more than 25,000 charities, so that all charities, regardless of size, are more impactful and empowered in the digital age. have the ability to succeed in Since 2000, over 3.6 million people have donated his over $2.3 billion through CanadaHelps. Helps on connecting with Canada twitter, Facebook, Instagram When LinkedIn.

Nicole Daneshi
Senior manager, united for public relations and change
canada help
[email protected]

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