Information on the Voluntary and Charitable Sector

Alberta's Voluntary Charitable and Nonprofit Sector

The sector affects all Albertans in every community in the province and directly contributes to the quality of life of Albertans.
Mandates range from sport, recreation, arts, culture, health care, social services, faith and education.
The voluntary sector is comprised of self-governing organizations that exist to serve the public benefit but do not distribute private profit to members.
The sector includes incorporated organizations, registered charities and groups that are not incorporated or registered.

There are approximately 19,000 charities and nonprofit organizations in Alberta.
Approximately 8,800 of these are Canada Revenue Agency approved registered charities.

A charity is registered federally under the Income Tax Act and is able to issue official tax receipts for charitable donations.
A nonprofit organization is registered provincially under the Societies Act.

A 2004 national survey by Imagine Canada (released in 2006) provides some valuable information on charitable giving in Alberta.

93% of Albertans made either a financial or an in-kind donation to a charity or nonprofit organization.
79% of Albertans made a financial donation of the total 8.3 million donations. Average donations were $122 / donation and a total of $500 / donor for a total of over $1 billion.
82% of all financial donations came from just 25% of donors.
1/3 of donors supported religious organizations and contributed nearly half (49%) of all the money donated by Albertans (average amount donated was $588).
59% of donors contributed to health organizations.
Donors generally give for altruistic reasons - ie: feel compassionate about those in need (88%), believe in a worthwhile cause (88%), want to contribute to their community (76%).
Albertans are more likely to give spontaneously than to plan their giving but those who plan ahead make larger donations.
Donors do not give more because they cannot afford to do so (70%) or because they feel their donations are sufficient (66%).
Barriers for not donating at all were that they were not approached and did not know where to make one.
Some donors did not give more because they did not like the way the request was made (40%). This relates to the tone of the request (44%), frequency / volume, multiple requests (51%).
Albertans are most likely to make a donation as a result of being asked to sponsor someone in an event (35%), door to door canvassing (32%), church collection (32%), and in response to mail requests (27%).

Full results of the survey can be seen at www.givingandvolunteering.ca/