Canada’s charitable sector posted its strongest year of online giving since the pandemic in 2025, with donations through the country’s largest online fundraising platform reaching $529 million, a 10 percent gain over the prior year. The gains are concentrated among a small number of affluent givers, and everyday philanthropy is retreating.
Fewer than half a percent of donors, approximately 3,894 individuals, generated more than 16 percent of total giving by donating publicly traded securities. That group has expanded rapidly, with the number of securities donors rising 200 percent since 2020 and the combined value of those gifts increasing 361 percent. Large cash donations also grew, with twice as many donors contributing $10,000 or more. Donations under $100 fell 17 percent, a shift that tracks the inflation and affordability pressures squeezing smaller donors out of giving.
Financial momentum is increasingly tied to a narrow group of wealthy Canadians giving through vehicles like securities donations that require planning and financial sophistication. Widespread participation, which has historically provided the sector with both funding resilience and community connection, is contracting.
The geographic picture runs differently. Atlantic Canada outpaced national growth in online giving, with Nova Scotia leading by a wide margin over its 2019 baseline. Toronto and Montreal grew more slowly than the national average, while donations to local and regional organizations reached $121.8 million in 2025 and have nearly tripled since 2019, making community-based causes the largest single giving category on the platform.
More than two-thirds of Canadian charities report operating under heightened service demand, staffing shortages, and financial uncertainty. The 88 percent of organizations still meeting their core missions do so against a funding structure where volume depends on a shrinking group of major contributors.
