Manitobans top charitable giving list

WINNIPEG – Manitoba again had the most tax filers donating to charity in Canada in the 2011 tax year.

A new report from the Fraser Institute says 25.9 per cent of Manitobans reported a tax-deductible contribution to charity in 2011; the Canada-wide rate was 22.9 per cent of tax filers.

Manitoba also ranked first among provinces and territories for the percentage of the province’s total income donated to charity. Overall, 0.89 per cent of income earned in Manitoba was donated to charity. Only 0.64 per cent of Canada’s total income was donated to charity.

Manitoba is not at the top of the list for amount contributed to charity. The average dollar value of charitable donations in Manitoba was $1,698. That ranks below Alberta ($2,321), British Columbia ($1,889) and Ontario ($1,714); however, higher incomes in those provinces mean they are not ranked as highly as Manitoba in the Fraser Institute list.

Fewer Manitobans are donating more money to charity, the Fraser Institute says. In 2001, 28 per cent of Manitoban tax filers gave to charity; in 2006, 27.4 per cent gave. However, the percentage of Manitoba income donated to charity is up slightly from 0.81 per cent in 2001. It did drop from the 1.16 per cent donated in 2006.

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“There’s been a downward trend in the proportion of Canadians donating to registered charities and the share of income they donate,” said Charles Lammam, study co-author and resident scholar in economic policy at the Fraser Institute.

The study also shows that fewer Canadians donate to charity than Americans — 22.9 per cent versus 26 per cent in the United States. They also donated less money – 0.64 per cent of Canadian income was donated to charity, but 1.33 per cent of American income was donated to charity.