The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Strong concern among affluent Canadians that social priorities ? such as healthcare, education and the arts ? are not receiving adequate funding could lead to a dramatic increase in private giving, according to the results of a new Scotia Private Client Group / Ipsos-Reid poll. A majority of affluent Canadians (73 per cent) see an increasingly vital need for private philanthropy, primarily because social priorities are not receiving adequate funding. The increase in private giving is also being driven by more favourable tax treatment for donations and a large intergenerational transfer of wealth. The survey also found that 18 per cent of affluent Canadian households (or 62,000 households) have considered establishing private foundations. "If only one in 10 of these 62,000 motivated households do end up establishing a private foundation, we will still create more than 6,000 new private foundations and provide billions of dollars to worthwhile causes. Over the next generation, there could be more than 10,000 private foundations compared to the 4,500 currently in Canada," said John Doig, Managing Director and Head of Scotia Private Client Group. "Even by conservative assumptions, we are on the verge of unprecedented growth in Canadian philanthropy." By comparison, as at January 2004, the United States had 56,600 private and community foundations. "The United States has traditionally led Canada proportionately in philanthropic giving. Yet, between 1996 and 2002 charitable giving in Canada increased by 62.5 per cent," said Malcolm Burrows, charities and gift planning consultant, Scotia Private Client Group. "Clearly, Canadians' attitudes towards giving are shifting." Affluent Canadians feel that private philanthropy has the strongest role to play in arts and culture. However, when asked which social priority they would support, healthcare (26 per cent) and education (22 per cent) lead arts and culture (18 per cent). "One of philanthropy's strongest motivators is personal experience or interest in a cause," said Burrows. "With an aging population and the public's traditional concern with health issues, it is not surprising to see healthcare lead the list. This generation also has a profound interest in leaving a legacy and this is often connected to personal experience." The poll was based on a randomly selected sample 300 higher net worth Canadians, defined as Canadian adults with household financial assets in excess of half a million dollars.
