By Laurie Fox, National Campaign Director, Canadian Association of Gift Planners

While Canadians are unquestionably generous, charitable giving is on the decline. The 2018 report Thirty Years of Giving in Canada, released by the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) and Imagine Canada, found that donations were dropping across all age categories, and donors aged 50 and over account for 74% of donations.

Total donations have continued to rise only because those who give are giving more. But charities are left chasing an ever-decreasing pool of aging, affluent donors.

Our own research at the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP) has demonstrated similar trends. We’ve found that only 5% of Canadians leave a gift to charity in their will – a number that has not changed much in over a decade. CAGP Foundation would like to shift that figure, and help more Canadians become extraordinary philanthropists.

To that end, we’re thrilled to partner with the RHF, along with our other seed funders, on Will Power, a multi-year campaign to encourage more Canadians to leave a gift in their will to charity. Will Power will unleash a new wave of generosity in Canadians, with the potential of generating $40 billion over the next 10 years for charities to do more social good.

Generosity of spirit is a critical part of what it means to be Canadian. This campaign will give more Canadians the opportunity to widen the circle of giving and support the important work of our charitable sector.

At this stage of the campaign, we’re focusing our efforts on sharing information with charitable organizations and professional advisors, and encouraging them to join our movement. In the meantime, we are fine-tuning the campaign itself, which will begin to roll out in our pilot communities of Hamilton, Oakville, and Niagara Golden Horseshoe in the fall of 2020.

If you work or volunteer in the charitable sector and would like to learn more about the Will Power campaign, please visit www.cagp-acpdp.org/en/will-power or contact me at lfox@cagp-acpdp.org.

Thank you to the Will Power seed funders:

  • Hamilton Community Foundation
  • Rideau Hall Foundation
  • Toronto Foundation
  • CAGP Foundation
  • Oakville Community Foundation