An outpouring of Canadian generosity to support refugees fleeing war-torn Syria is not expected to affect the bottom lines of other local charities this holiday season, charity watchers say.
In fact, as the giving season gets underway, some groups anticipate that Canadians will open up their wallets a little wider this year.
That generosity is expected to get a kickstart this ‘Giving Tuesday’ a global day of charity that started in the U.S. several years ago as a charitably oriented follow-up to the consumer-focused Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
With an influx of refugees expected in the coming months who will need food, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities, many Canadians have already been in a giving mood as they focus on the crisis at hand.
But that’s not to say that they won’t be opening up for other causes.
“The fear, it turns out, is often unwarranted,” says Woodrow Rosenbaum of GIV3, a charity that encourages Canadians to be more giving to all causes and acts as one of the champions of Giving Tuesday. “When we have big spikes in giving in response to some need, we do not see a corresponding drop in overall giving,” Rosenbaum says.
In fact, Rosenbaum says, people tend to give more. Pointing to examples like the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Sandy, he says history shows people give more overall when they’re inspired to do so.
“What we see is that consistently the rest of the giving is unaffected or in fact gets a continued and sustained lift. When you engage people in giving, they tend to give more.”
That idea is echoed by Kate Bahen, managing director of the Toronto-based Charity Intelligence, a group that helps people make informed decisions about giving.
“When we talk about 2015, are we going to see a cannibalization where we see people giving to Syrian refugees rather than let’s say the Salvation Army or the food bank? I don’t think so. I think this is going to be an ‘and,’” Bahen says.
She says while some people might decide to cut back on spending on themselves or for Christmas presents, overall giving tends to remain unaffected by crises.
“I think the Syrian refugees would be an emergency response,” Bahen says. “People just stretch themselves a little bit further. They don’t cut back on their charitable giving; they give more.”
While it will be months before charities are able to tally exactly how generous people are this season, at least one local group says they haven’t seen general giving impacted by a focus on refugees.
“We’ve found that traditionally Canadians, especially Torontonians have always been very generous , especially around holiday time,” Adriana Suppa of United Way Toronto & York Region said in an email.
While Rosenbaum says Canadians tend to be “extraordinarily” generous, he acknowledges there has been an overall downward trend in giving over the last 25 years in Canada.
According to numbers compiled by GIV3, over 80 per cent of Canadians typically make a charitable donation of some size each year. However the total number of private donations has been stagnant over the past eight years and is not keeping pace with inflation. As well, younger and middle aged Canadians seem to be giving less.
It’s a trend Rosenbaum says charities have been trying to reverse and Giving Tuesday has been playing a growing role.
“We’re expecting another big year for Giving Tuesday,” Rosenbaum says.
He says more than 4,200 Canadian charities are on board this year, with some, such as Free The Children, offering matching donations to encourage people to give. He also notes that the charity day has seen rapid growth, with a 205 per cent increase in overall dollars donated from 2012 to 2014.
“The upward trend and momentum that is gained on Giving Tuesday during what is the most critical time for charities in Canada is really encouraging,” Rosenbaum says. “I think it shows that there is a great propensity and interest in the charitable sector from Canadians, who are very generous compared to many other places.”
A list of participating charities can be found on www.givingtuesday.ca.
