Making a list -- of charities

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The Canadian Press archives Marvi Ricker says a lot of money flows at this time of year. (CNS)

For charities across the city and country, the ho ho ho season is the hope, hope, hope season for charitable giving.

Whether it's a food bank, soup kitchen, hospital, disease or international aid organization, the weeks running up to Christmas are seen as the most crucial time of the year for dollars to flow to numerous charitable organizations. Hence, the overflowing mailboxes.

The numbers don't lie.

CanadaHelps, the website the helps donors give money to any of the 85,000 registered Canadian charities, sees a massive bump in donations during the month of December, with almost half of the year's donations coming in during those few weeks.

They also see a jump in the size of donations. While people will donate an average of $150 during their transactions for the other 11 months of the year, that average jumps to almost $250 during December.

Other statistics show how generous Canadians are. A study released earlier this month by BMO Harris Private Banking, to mark National Philanthropy Day on Nov. 15, found almost 70 per cent of Canadians who gave a donation in the last year plan on giving again this year.

As well, the study found average Canadians opened their wallets to the tune of $487 to help charities -- and they plan to open them even wider next year, even with the recent ups and downs in the world economy.

Siloam Mission is one of many local organizations that depend heavily on the goodwill and generosity of the festive season.

"November and December is probably about a third of our giving year," Floyd Perras, executive director of Siloam Mission, said.

"If it doesn't happen then, we would be cutting programs and services by summer. The giving at this time carries us through spring and into summer.

"If something like (a tsunami) happened on Dec. 1, or now, it would dramatically affect us."

Perras said aside from money, people can donate to Siloam in other ways.

For example, Perras says Siloam is always looking for donations of coffee, creamer and sugar to warm up people coming in from the cold streets of the city.

Other urgent items needed -- besides food such as ground beef and canned fruit and vegetables -- are feminine-hygiene items, small and medium men's underwear and travel-sized toiletries.

As well, Perras said, people can go to the Christmas gift catalogue section of their website -- www.siloam.ca -- and choose various gifts, including sponsoring a meal for one person for $2.97, buying a pillow for the shelter for $25, providing a bed for one person for one night for $16.50, and buying a 60-quart soup pot for $70.

The Salvation Army is another organization that prays for generosity in the run-up to Christmas.

Jonathan Hamel, the army's marketing communications co-ordinator, said the money raised by its signature kettles in the next few weeks is significant.

"We have a goal of $385,000," Hamel said.

"The money raised stays rights here in Winnipeg to fund the homeless shelter and family assistance. The Christmas kettle is one of our major fundraising activities for the year. It goes to fund the programs of our homeless shelter for the whole year."

Hamel said they are grateful for the donations, because not only does the army have the only family shelter in the city, it is the largest shelter between Toronto and Calgary.

Owen Charters, executive director of CanadaHelps, said they have a different way of telling when it's beginning to look like Christmas.

"The phone starts ringing and the mailbox fills up," Charters said.

"This is the big time of year. November and December is a huge time of the year for giving."

Last year, CanadaHelps processed more than $47 million in donations.

Charters said there are several reasons for the increase in giving: The demands go up with social services because of the increasingly cold weather; the use of food banks goes up; and it's near the deadline for getting deductions for the tax year.

"It is a real flowing of money," he said.

"December is a frenzy... there are charities who focus on this time of year because of this."

But Charters said uncertain economic times can hurt that giving.

"Giving is tied to consumer confidence," he said. "It sometimes lags the retail sector.

"It is discretionary spending. If the funds are needed for food (or other necessities) then these will be priorities before you give... since 2008 this has continued and (giving) hasn't recovered the way people thought it would."

Charters said so far, 2011 has been "a fairly good year" for giving but "with Greece and Europe, this is a bad time of the year for this to happen."

Marvi Ricker, vice-president and managing director of BMO Harris Private Banking's philanthropic services, says the structure of the tax system causes a lot of money to flow at this time of the year.

"I had one client who sold his business earlier this year and he realizes there is an enormous capital gains tax because he started it from zero," she said.

"He thought he would create a private foundation and fortunately there is time to do it. By donating to a charity or by creating a foundation, he can reduce the amount of taxable income."

Ricker said people who work on commission or get bonuses tied to productivity don't know how much they have available to give until this time of year.

"Both these situations make the numbers go up," she said.

"It's the time of year you give to your family but you also think of people with less."

This year, CanadaHelps is hoping Canadians replace their want Christmas list with an online cause wish list.

Charters said the website allows users to generate a shareable list of causes they support, which can be sent to family and friends through email, Facebook and Twitter. The family and friends can then go back to CanadaHelps and donate.

As well, Charters said, people can put a CanadaHelps gift card between $5 and $10,000 under the Christmas tree, allowing the recipient to use it to donate the money back to their favourite charity. But Charters said don't wait until the last minute to make a donation.

"We had one person who went to our site at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31 and then hit send at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1. They were upset that it didn't make the charitable tax deadline, but that's what happens when you wait until the last minute.

"But because it is a busy time of the year, when everyone else is at home celebrating the holidays, a lot of charity folks are working in the office right to the end.

"That's how important it is."

kevin.rollason@freeress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2011 A33