EDMONTON – When it comes to giving time and money to others, Saskatchewan leads the rest of the country, said a new volunteer study.
In Saskatchewan, almost half of the population aged 15 and over were volunteers, according to the 1997 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating.
Manitoba and Alberta were close behind, with about 40 percent of the people doing some kind of volunteering, compared to the national rate of 31 percent.
But Michael Hall, director of the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy, told delegates at the International Association for Volunteer Effort conference not to make too much of the numbers, since there are regional problems like unemployment that hamper some people.
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“This is not a contest,” he said.
“There are variations in regions, different social and economic characteristics. I urge you not to jump to assumptions what this means.”
The four Atlantic provinces had the highest rates of financial donations, ranging from 84 percent of the population in Newfoundland to 82 percent in New Brunswick. The national rate was 78 percent.
However, donations in the Atlantic provinces tended to be smaller than other provinces. Albertans tended to make larger donations. They averaged $337 a year.
The survey was the most extensive ever conducted by Statistics Canada to find out who volunteered, why they donated money and to what activities.
“We tried to examine the ways Canadians supported one another in their communities,” said Hall.
More than 18,000 Canadians were surveyed about their donations and volunteering time.
The survey showed three out of 10 Canadians volunteered their time and skills and eight out of 10 Canadians made direct financial contributions to at least one charitable organization.
During a 12-month period before the study, Canadians gave an estimated $4.5 billion in direct financial support. They gave an additional $1.3 billion in indirect support by buying chocolate bars, raffle tickets or supporting charity bingos and casinos.
“This is not an insignificant amount of time these people are giving,” said Hall.
But he did notice significant changes since the last survey 10 year ago. While more Canadians are volunteering, each is spending fewer hours volunteering. The total number of hours has decreased 42 percent from 191 to 149 hours a year.
“Each Canadian is contributing a little bit less than they did 10 years ago.”
As most people suspected, the majority of the volunteer time and donations comes from a small percentage of the population. One-third of all donors account for 86 percent of the donations and one-third of all volunteers account for 81 percent of the total volunteer hours.
“A core group of Canadians are responsible for providing the bulk of support in the country – much comes from few.”
In 1987, 57 percent of volunteers were female and 43 percent were male. In 1997, 54 percent were female and 46 percent male. On average, men still volunteer more hours than women (160 vs 140).
“This allows us to dispel myths and preconceived notions that volunteering is a female activity.”
Another preconceived notion is that most volunteers have jobs. The study showed part-time workers are more likely to volunteer than full-time workers.
There are links between donations and volunteering. People who donated were more likely to volunteer and vice-versa. They were also more likely to be volunteering or donating to more than one organization.
There were strong connections between religion and donations. Canadians who have a religious affiliation are more likely than others to be donors and volunteers. Nine out of 10 who attend religious services are donors and 46 percent are volunteers.
Donors who attended services weekly had higher average donations ($551) than those who did not ($148).
The study also noted the likelihood of giving and the amount given tends to increase with age, education and income.
However, people with low incomes tended to give a higher percentage of their income than those with high incomes.
