Charitable donations reported by tax filers* are not the only way Canadians give, but they provide a handy and consistent source of data that we can compare over time.

As of 2021, 528,270 Alberta tax filers donated almost $1.7 billion to charities for an annual increase of 7.1%.

Total donations in Canada came in at $11.8 billion for an increase of 11.5%.

The median donation in Alberta went from $510 in 2020 to $550 in 2021.

The trend toward fewer donors continued with the number of tax filers reporting a charitable gift in 2021 down by 2.9% compared to 2020.

In 1997, 25.9% of tax filers in Alberta made a charitable donation compared to just 17.1% in 2021.

It’s a similar story nationally with the proportion of tax filers donating to charity going from 25.7% in 1997 to 17.7% in 2021.

The median donation for the country as a whole increased from $340 in 2020 to $360 in 2021.

Alberta and Manitoba led the provinces with a median donation level of $550 in 2021; Quebec was the lowest at $150.

Manitoba had the largest percentage of tax filers who made a charitable donation at 19.7%; New Brunswick was at the other end of the spectrum at 15.4%.

*A charitable donor is defined as a tax filer reporting a charitable donation amount on line 34000 of schedule 9 of the personal income tax form.

Answer to the previous trivia question: According to Travel Alberta, Alberta’s tourism sector generated $8.4 billion of GDP in 2019.

Today’s trivia question: England’s Charitable Uses Act (a.ka. Statute of Elizabeth) was an early effort at defining charitable purposes. In what year did it become law?