In this episode of 15 Minutes to Change the World, we are looking at the charitable sector and giving trends in Canada. We'll discuss how Canadians can support charities, and how charities themselves can weather the challenges of this new era.
Our guest today is Marina Glogovac, President and CEO of CanadaHelps, whose mission is to inform, inspire, and connect donors and charities, and to improve access to effective technology and education in the charitable sector.
In this episode of 15 Minutes to Change the World, we are looking at the charitable sector and giving trends in Canada. We'll discuss how Canadians can support charities, and how charities themselves can weather the challenges of this new era.
Our guest today is Marina Glogovac, President and CEO of CanadaHelps, whose mission is to inform, inspire, and connect donors and charities, and to improve access to effective technology and education in the charitable sector.
Hello, and welcome to 15 minutes to change the world. We're in 15 minutes, you can learn a bit more about the world and how you can help change it. My name is Lana Alsofi and I'm the host of this podcast. In this episode of 15 minutes to change the world, we'll discuss how comedians can support charities and how charities themselves can weather the challenges of this new era. Our guest today is Marina global vest, president and CEO of Canada house, whose mission is to inform, inspire connect donors and charities, and to improve access to effective technology and education in the charitable sector. Thank you so much Marina for joining us today. Thanks
Speaker 2:
For inviting me along. I'm really excited to be here
Speaker 1:
And thanks for your patience. As we record our podcast today via zoom, we have, uh, the joys of 2020
Speaker 2:
That's right.
Speaker 1:
Well, first off Marina, can you tell us a bit about Canada helps and the work that you do
Speaker 2:
Canada helps was founded in 2000. It is a registered charity that is dedicated to increasing charitable giving across Canada. Um, we provide a safe, trusted one stop destination for making donations, federal racing, or learning about any registered charity in Canada. And we also developed affordable racing technology and provide free training for charities, especially smaller shapes is so that regardless of size all charities have the capacity to increase their impact and be successful in this digital age.
Speaker 1:
Well, I recently Canada helps release the 2020 giving report, uh, which provides insights about the growth of online giving in Canada. Uh, can you talk about some of the highlights in the report and what it means for community and charities and donors?
Speaker 2:
First of all, it's important to remember that the 2002 venture report was pre COVID. We released it literally just before the pandemic kind of broke out. So we have to discuss it within that context. And I think our 2021 report, which is coming in March of next year will be very important, uh, to actually fully capture what happened this year. But some of the trends that we've seen that we saw in 2002, which report is an increase in online giving and especially increase in mobile giving. And we know now just from our own experience post COVID, that this trend has been greatly accelerated. Um, and, um, I think that, you know, what came out of that is that the online fundraising infrastructure and the digital capacity really is just so crucial right now. And we also know from that report and we're experiencing it again this year is that, um, that economic recessions are really bad for the sector in 2008 recession. Uh, the overall giving fell by about$1.4 billion and the, and the average amount of giving fell as well. And it hasn't recovered yet. We know from some research by imagine Canada in Angus street already, and anecdotally from talking to hundreds of charities that this recession has actually hit charities a lot harder, but overall Lama, what we saw in the 2000 intellectual report, and it's been consistent with the two previous report reports is that the overall giving in Canada has been on a slow decline since two towns. And six
Speaker 1:
Is that Marina is that across age groups and demographics.
Speaker 2:
Basically we see in the giving report that the overall participation rate in donating has been steadily declining. For example, each went from 25% of texts hours in 2006 to 20% in 2016. And the biggest job in donation rates is in the 45 to 54 age band. Um, but really all age bands have seen a decline. Now what's interesting is the donors that are age 55 and plus, uh, gave almost double of all age groups. So this is clearly showing that donors for age 55 plus are really shouldering an enormous, uh, chunk of donations in Canada and the cohorts that are coming after them. I really not keeping up with that level of giving. And of course we also see that very, uh, very pronounced in younger age groups. And, uh, you know, there has been many, uh, there haven't been many explanations as to why that is from, you know, that there are different are more digital. They don't have the same, uh, you know, the same, um, relationships to charities and so on and so forth. But I think when we look at this in, in the totality, we see that this is actually a very concerning overall chain that will at some point create a real crisis for the charitable sector in Canada. And of course the pandemic and what we're experiencing this year is going to just, uh, really accelerate that.
Speaker 1:
Well, one finding that stood out, um, in the recent report was that donations to international and indigenous charities have both seen higher than average growth, which is very positive. So what do you think we can attribute this trend to, and how can Canadian charities build on this increased interest in support the
Speaker 2:
Donations to those two categories have been growing faster than they had in the past. And I think the reason is that, I mean, these two issues along with the environment are very pressing issues and they're becoming more high profile issues, especially for younger generations. International giving is often driven by, uh, by world events and crisis. And unfortunately there are just so many each here. Um, we also see that initially, um, that support of crisis is huge, but it's not necessarily sustained over a period of time. Um, I mean there are two major demographic categories of people who are giving to international issues. One are the donors, uh, you know, the tend to be kind of middle age and older, you know, who typically have college education and incomes higher than the Canadian. Um, Everage and then we also see, uh, younger people, younger demographics engage in this. And, um, you know, it's, it's interesting also to say that at least for the indigenous peoples, which I'm really, we were so happy to see this, but still, uh, the overall amount given to indigenous peoples, uh, related causes is it's about 1.6%. So it's amazing to see this, this growth in giving, but overall, this is still such a tiny portion of the overall giving.
Speaker 1:
What can charities do to reach people more effectively and to better meet the needs of support? Yeah.
Speaker 2:
One thing, excuse me, that has really come up in this time is, is the entire, um, sort of digital capacity, digital infrastructure. And most importantly, the digital know-how because all of a sudden we're all on zoom, we're all online, we're all digital. And the acceleration of digital economy is really evident and I think is here to stay. So I think, I mean, there is a lot to be said about, you know, how are you effective in this, uh, you know, era? How are you effective in delivering your programs? How are you, uh, retooling and pivoting and introducing technology, not as, uh, adjacent to what you do, but now as sort of core of what you do, and then how do you reach donors online? How would you keep them? There is a massive skillset, which is very sought after, and of course not just in the charitable sector, but in all sectors, including for profit. So charities, I think, are now realizing that they need to start on that journey of kind of more dedicated, more focused acquisition of those skills, because they will need them for a very long time. I think this transition has now been, um, kind of more complete. So I would say that, you know, learning how to operate and investing into the digital capacity, starting with, you know, website optimization, um, donation forms, just setting up a basic infrastructure, uh, email, uh, communication, infrastructure, analytics, infrastructure, website, optimization homepage, just some simple things. And then really engaging in, um, starting on this journey. And I remember one stat that stuck with me from, uh, all my research on, you know, they're just not transformations and you know, why so many don't succeed and you know, what are the factors and so on and so forth? I think one thing that stuck with me is that, uh, digital transformation success is more than three times more likely in organizations that invest in sufficient digital talent. So I think also hiring digitally savvy people who can also relate to younger demographics is important because we often try to communicate to different demographic groups, uh, the same way. And of course, that's one of the, you know, that's one of the key learnings in, in, in all of it that we need to adjust our approach.
Speaker 1:
Uh, what do you say to, to charities Marina who are perhaps too, too constraint in their budgets and unable to invest in technology? So what advice can you give these charities who, who really want to embrace this new technology? They realize it's important, but they just don't know where to start. Well,
Speaker 2:
As I said, I think it's important to, um, make a case to their fenders, to engage with their boards, to see how that investment could be made. It's easy to start somewhere. And I think to be honest about the gap, um, I, I absolutely understand, and this is also, uh, Nama, why I think so many charities are, are having a hard time now because we, they all kind of got caught in this moment of time when the lab, which the capacity overnight became so critical, many, many, many charities that are coming, you know, from years of not investing enough in themselves, uh, we're just caught by not having tools that they needed to actually transition.
Speaker 1:
Well, I know that connecting charities and donors through technology is a big part of your work. I wonder if you can tell us, are there any exciting technological trends or charities that are doing some, some exciting work in terms of acquisition that's technology that you'd like to tell us about?
Speaker 2:
I have a basic, uh, uh, fundraising technology, uh, tool set that we offer to charities. And we just launched a very exciting, we launched the donor management system, which goes with the rest of our tools. So I would say that is the most basic thing that anybody can do. And then we also so many seminars and webinars, and we have, uh, white papers and other resources that charities can use to actually learn how to become better at online donor acquisition and retention, how they deliver those services. We actually launched on Canada helps we launched one cause fund, which is called charity innovation and adaptation fund, which is specifically designed to help charities invest into the acquisition of digital capacities.
Speaker 1:
That sounds really neat. Uh, the webinars and the things that you mentioned, um, can any charity or person looking to learn more access these?
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. Absolutely. They're all free of charge and they're, uh, they can all be found on Canada helps.org under the four charities resources. And we have a huge library of all the past ones.
Speaker 1:
Finally, Marina, what would you say to our listeners who are considering supporting a charity? What should they consider and how can they help beyond just making a donation?
Speaker 2:
I think anyone who's financially able to, to do so, it would be great if they can make a donation to charities November and December giving season are really, really critical for charities in like normal times. But this year, uh, November, December are even more consequential because Sherry is have to replace a lot of lost revenues. And I think the average is something like 60%, but of course, um, if, if you're not able to make a donation, um, anything that shows generosity that shows kindness, um, that, you know, helps, helps amplify the voices of churches that do not have marketing budgets being on social media, supporting them that way, uh, is important. Uh, also people can find a way to do something for their communities, maybe connect with somebody who is a lonely at home, write them a letter, offer help, anything outside of ourselves that basically, uh, is about helping someone else I think will be so important during this holiday season.
Speaker 1:
Rena, thank you so much for your time today and thank you for all of your insights on charitable giving. I've really enjoyed our conversation. You're welcome. Thank you. And, uh, thank you to everyone for tuning in as always, you can stay up to date on our newest episode of 15 minutes to change the world on Spotify iTunes and on care.ca/podcast.