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Interview Opportunity Canadians Becoming More Charitable With Age and Want to Direct Where Their Funds Go, According to BMO Research

The context
In May 2006, the Federal Government eliminated the capital gains tax on publicly-traded stocks donated to charities and public foundations. Since many Canadians tend to make charitable contributions during the “giving season” at year-end, BMO Harris Private Banking asked Ipsos Reid in late October 2006 to look at the impact of the taxation changes on Canadian boomers' philanthropic intentions. The findings add to results of earlier BMO research that found Canadians are becoming more charitable with age.

Research highlights –
Becoming more charitable with age

When pre-retirees were asked how much time they expect to spend on doing non-profit or charitable work when they retire, 16 per cent said they expect to spend “a great deal of time” and 72 per cent said “some time”.*
The likelihood of spending or expecting to spend “a great deal of time” doing non-profit work or charitable work increases with age: 15 per cent of those aged 45-54, 16 per cent of those 55-64, 23 per cent of those 65-70 and 22 per cent of those 70-plus spend and expect to spend a great deal of time on this activity.*
When boomers were asked to rank a list of activities that would most likely appeal to them at age 62, fully 49 per cent of respondents ranked volunteering as a first or second choice.**
Residents of the Atlantic provinces were most likely to give top ranks to volunteering (67%), closely followed by residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (61%).**

Desire to direct giving

When it comes to charitable giving, 74 per cent of respondents, or three in four Canadian boomers, indicated a preference in directing their contribution to a specific cause or purpose, because they want to know their donation is being well spent.
Respondents from Quebec (86%) were most highly represented in this group.
5 per cent of survey respondents said they plan for charitable donations when they think about their savings goals.
Residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (8%), and Alberta (7%) are most likely to plan their philanthropy, at least twice as likely as the respondents in Quebec (2%) and the Atlantic provinces (3%).**

Tax changes to increase charitable giving

7 per cent responded that the elimination of capital gains tax on donations to charities of publicly-traded stocks has encouraged them to give more to charities this year.
Residents of Alberta (10%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (10%) were twice more likely than residents of British Columbia (5%) or Quebec (5%) to be in this group.**

These research results build on other recent research, such as the Statistics Canada report released November 23, 2006 on trends in charitable giving in 2005. That study found that Canadian taxfilers opened their pocketbooks wider to charities in 2005, with more than 5.8 million donors contributing a record high $7.9 billion, 13.8 per cent higher than in 2004.
(http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/061123/d061123e.htm).

The implications
Marvi Ricker, Vice President and Managing Director, Philanthropic Services, BMO Harris Private Banking is available to discuss regional research findings, as well as:

the evolving nature of philanthropy and projections for 2007;
the impact of legislation on giving; and
“creative giving” options, such as securities and art, or through Donor Advised Funds.

*The BMO Retirement Trends Study was conducted for BMO Financial Group by Ipsos Reid. It canvassed 5,325 Canadian financial decision-makers 45 and over from October 21 to October 27, 2005.

**Survey conducted for BMO Financial Group by Ipsos Reid of 1,411 Canadians aged 45 – 60 between November 30 – December 3, 2006.

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