Teen Giving in Canada

Canadian Teens – a powerhouse of giving

As part of our quest to find Canada’s Next Top Teen Philanthropist, Mackenzie Investments commissioned a customized survey of Canadians aged 13-19 to measure their giving and volunteering beliefs, actions and trends.

What we found is that teens, typically viewed as a “me generation,” are pumping millions of their own money into their communities and volunteering close to 100 million hours a year to support the causes they believe in. And they’re doing it for all the right reasons.

Some key findings about teens include:

 

The research also revealed other interesting points:

So many causes, so little time

When asked which charitable causes interested them the most, health, poverty and the environment came out on top.

• Here were the top five Canadian teen choices: “health issues” first (30 per cent), “poverty” (21 per cent), “environmental issues (20 per cent), “global issues” (10 per cent), and “gender issues (4 per cent).

Youth and their parents – who’s doing better?

Teens are a confident bunch; just under half (43 per cent) believe their own generation cares more about charitable issues and causes than their parents generation.

• Ontario teens have the biggest bragging rights, with 52 per cent believing their generation cares more than their parents did.

But teens still look to parents for guidance

61 per cent of Canadian teens say parents / family members are their charitable role models.

• So much for peer pressure – only 36 per cent of Canadian teens say friends or classmates are their role models.
• One-third (32 per cent) say teachers or guidance counselors.

If I had a million dollars…

Teens were asked how much they would give to charity if they won a million dollar windfall; and they said they would donate an average of $134,402.

• Mackenzie asked the same question in 2007 of Canadian adults aged 18+ and the average donation amount was $117,000 – teens are thinking bigger!
• Those in Saskatchewan and Manitoba were the most generous, saying they’d give $204,226

 

Money doesn’t grow on trees, so where are they getting it?

A whopping 82 per cent of teens in Canada donate money that comes from a part-time job, part of their allowance and organizing fundraising events.

• Only 16 per cent of Canadian teens ask their parents for extra money to donate.
• 50 per cent of Albertan teens say their part time job is the main source of the money they donate, compared with 30 per cent nationally.

Brangelina? Sure, they’re great, but I want to change the world

When it comes to philanthropic motivation, only 12 per cent of teens donate time or money to charity because of celebrity influence. They’re more altruistic than that.

• 59 per cent of teens want to help the community in which they live. • And 6 in 10 want to contribute to making the world a better place.
• Only one-third say they have to for school requirements, and 16 per cent want to build a name for themselves in their community.

The gift of time

Regardless of age, language or school stage, teens are volunteering. 84% of Canadian teens volunteer at least 5 hours a year to charitable causes - much higher than Canada’s national average of 42 per cent.

• 56 per cent of teens in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have volunteered their time, compared to 44 per cent nationally.
• 13 per cent of Ontario teens donate more than 80 hours a year, compared to 9 per cent nationally. Atlantic Canadians are second at 11 per cent, and only 4 per cent of Albertans volunteer more than 80 hours a year.