A survey of nearly 3,000 Canadian charities found that more than half said they were unable to meet help needs, while nearly a third reported a significant drop in revenue.
The sixth edition of the Giving Report states that the philanthropic sector faces “serious challenges” due to “unprecedented growth in demand…combined with inflation and revenue shortfalls”.
The online Nano Poll, commissioned by giving platform CanadaHelps, surveyed 2,948 charity professionals representing 2,860 charities between November 14-22, 2022.
“This year’s report shows very clearly that many Canadian charities are beginning to succumb to the pressure of increased demand for services and stagnant revenues, and we are now at a point where most charities cannot meet the demand,” said President Duke Zhang. CanadaHelps CEO said in a release Tuesday.
The report found that 57 percent of respondents said they were unable to meet the growing need for help, 40 percent said levels of need were higher than before the pandemic, and 22 percent said demand “significantly exceeds” capacity.
Staff burnout is the second biggest problem after inflation, with nearly 60% of charities surveyed reporting having the same number of paid staff despite increased demand for services.
The report said 15 per cent of charities surveyed had reduced staff numbers since the start of the pandemic.
The Canadian Research Insight Council, the polling industry’s professional body, said online surveys cannot specify a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
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