In an effort to understand the views and attitudes of Canadians towards the charitable and nonprofit sector, we have conducted a series of public polls supported by BMO over the past year. From the public’s understanding of the work of charities to the level of trust and attitudes towards administrative costs and salaries, we asked it all! In this post, we share some of the key insights from our most recent national survey.

Trust in charities

In recent years, when it comes to the nonprofit and charitable sector, the media has been widely fixated on negative stories. From questioning the salaries of CEOs to where donations go and the obsession with low administrative costs, nonprofits and charities have been under scrutiny. This negative narrative likely has an impact on trust in our sector. For example, the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer shows NGOs (a common internationally-known acronym for nonprofit organizations independent from government) are trusted in 12 of the 28 countries surveyed. In Canada more specifically, the level of trust is neutral at 55 points, a slight two-point increase from 2023.

However, a public opinion poll we conducted earlier this year offers a more nuanced perspective. 

According to the survey, seven in ten Canadians say they trust charities generally. 

This proportion is even higher among Quebec residents, who show the highest level of trust in the charitable and nonprofit sector (74%). Those from high-income households, a group that annually donates more to charities, also show a higher level of trust (also 74%). From a political party affiliation perspective, Bloc Québécois supporters are also more likely to show trust in our sector (80%). 

On the other hand, some groups showed lower levels of trust. The residents of the Prairie provinces trust charities less (62%) than the rest of the Canadian population. Among age groups, GenX individuals (born between 1966-1980) are least likely to trust charities (62%), as are Conservative Party supporters (also 62%).

Importance of the sector & effective operations

Generally speaking, the size and impact of the nonprofit sector is not well known among Canadians, leading to our sector being underestimated and undervalued. For example, in our latest poll, only 33% of respondents said they were aware that there are 170,000 nonprofit organizations, including 86,000 registered charities that provide services in communities across the country. Similarly, less than 1 in 4 respondents were aware that our sector is an economic force, accounting for 8.3% of the country’s GDP. With about the same level of awareness for the fact that charities and nonprofits employ approximately 2.4 million Canadians or more than 10% of all Canadian workers.

But what the majority of the population does know, is that millions of Canadians, including individuals in need, rely on the services of charities and nonprofits everyday (75%). The vast majority of all Canadians (81%) also believe that the services delivered by charities and nonprofits in Canada are essential to the well-being of the country and its citizens. This belief is strong across the board; regionally, by age and by income level.

Another interesting finding, a full three quarters of those surveyed say that the economic conditions have increased demand for charity services overall. And last but not least, six in ten Canadians agree that charities operate as efficiently as they can and do the most with the resources they have. Only a small proportion (10%) disagree.

Salaries & administration costs

It’s an unfortunate but well-known fact that salaries in the nonprofit sector are typically lower compared to those offered by companies and government institutions. Lack of core funding and the pressure to keep administrative costs low, among other factors, play a role in this reality. 

However, Canadians are supportive of pay equality for our sector’s workers. Our recent survey shows that most Canadians believe that those who work in the sector should be paid in accordance with their roles and responsibilities. The ratio is 4 times higher than those who disagree.

Almost half believe salaries for nonprofit workers should be on par with similar-sized organizations in other sectors – more than twice the proportion who disagree.

Canadians also believe that nonprofits and charities need to fund specific aspects of their operation and pay for fundraising activities (78%), technology (77%), recruitment of volunteers (73%), program staff salaries (70%), fundraising staff salaries (69%) and other promotional activities (70%).  And these results climb higher for those respondents who had indicated that they view the services from charities as essential or had higher trust in the sector.

While Canadians understand that organizations have to allocate budget to pay their staff, they are less supportive when it comes to funding CEO salaries (45%) or directors (55%), which signals that the case for leadership costs is not fully entrenched or understood among many Canadians.

And finally: overhead. Only one in three say they generally understand the actual overhead costs at charities they have supported – and 70% say they have no idea. Overhead doesn’t seem to be as important for Canadians as we assumed, but perhaps more of a concern for certain groups such as funders.

We recognize that this is based on one poll. But these findings suggest that there is an opportunity to dig deeper and see if there are messages and language that can contribute to disrupting the long-held and problematic narrative about the sector that is overly fixated on costs.

Special thanks to BMO for supporting this project.