December 22 , 2009

So Canada, what gives? Ipsos asks online users
68% of us have sponsored someone this year

A new study on Online Charitable Giving by Ipsos Reid has found that over two-thirds (68%) of online Canadians have sponsored someone in a fundraising event in the past year.

Other popular forms of donation include adding a donation to a bill at a store (60%), buying a product from a retail store with a portion going to charity (58%), and buying a lottery ticket with a portion going to a charity (57%).

Generally, women are more likely to donate through most methods than men. Interestingly, online Canadians from lower income households are significantly more likely to have donated by buying products from a charity and by giving to street interceptors. In contrast, higher income households are significantly more likely to sponsor someone in a fundraising event and attend a benefit dinner or event. Buying lottery tickets with a portion going to a charity also increases with household income.

Regionally, those in Quebec are much less likely to sponsor someone in a fundraising event (38%), on the other hand residents of Quebec are more likely to give to street interceptors (48%). Those in Atlantic Canada (71%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (77%) are more likely to give to someone who comes to their door.

Study author Mark Laver notes that “Canadians donate through a variety of methods, however passive techniques such as responding to an email request – 18% are much less successful. Those donation methods that involve a level of intervention are much more successful. These methods include sponsoring someone in an event, adding a donation and purchasing a lottery ticket with a portion going to charity.’

Among online Canadians that have donated to a charity in the past year, the biggest beneficiaries have been Medical charities (77%), followed by Poverty and International development charities (51%). Children’s charities (41%), Social charities (33%) such places of worship or the arts, Environmental (31%) or Political/Justice causes (7%) are less likely to be the recipients of charitable donations. Donations to Medical and Children’s charities tend to increase with household income.

Across the country, Albertans (92%) and Atlantic Canadians (89%) are most likely to give to Medical causes. Furthermore, those in Western Canada are more likely to donate to Poverty/International Development than the rest of the country. Respondents from Quebec were least likely to give to social causes (13%).

Laver continued, ‘the medical community has clearly been the most successful in building a bond with Canadians. Charities involved with diseases and medical conditions are at the forefront of donations in this category, followed closely by Hospitals and Medical Centers.’

Canadians also stay close to home with their donations. Among those that have donated in the past year, almost three-quarters (71%) say that their donation benefited their local community, followed by 41% who state that the donation benefited Canada as a whole.

One-in-five (20%) of online Canadians state that their donation benefited the International community. Atlantic Canadians (87%) were most likely to state that their donation had affected their local community. Ontarians (48%) and Albertans (45%) were more likely to state that their giving had affected Canada as a whole, while British Columbians were more likely than others in Canada to state that their donation had benefited developing countries (27%).

This release is based on the findings of an Ipsos Reid syndicated study, the Inter@ctive Reid Report, fielded in September, 2009. This online survey of 1,055 Canadian adults was conducted via the Ipsos Online Panel. The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. Quota samples with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results that are intended to approximate a probability sample. An unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.36 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.