June 10, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
As fund raisers and others digest the recent Giving USA report, which provides data on American philanthropy, a similar report was released this week about America’s neighbor to the north.
Statistics Canada, a research organization in Ottawa, said that in 2007 — the most recent year it examined — Canadians gave $10-billion to charity. That’s a $1.1-billion increase from 2004, when the group previously looked at charitable giving in the country.
In part because of the country’s smaller population, that total pales in comparison to what Americans gave in 2007, which equaled more than $230-billion.
But the study also showed that 46 percent of Canadians age 15 and older volunteered. By comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January that 26 percent of Americans volunteered during the period between September 2007 and September 2008.
What do you think? What is the difference between how Americans and Canadians approach philanthropy and volunteering?
