At this time of year, with all the toy drives and food bank drives and charitable banquets and fundraisers, we’re apt to think of ourselves as pretty generous people. But now it’s time to crunch the numbers. The Fraser Institute measures just how generous we are in Canada and the USA each year, and here’s what they’ve found (with a few other missions stats I’ve gathered from other sources)…
First, generosity seems to be on the decline in both Canada and the USA. In Canada, since 1997 people in all provinces have been giving less and less every year.
In Canada, Manitoba has the title as the most generous province. That means that more Manitobans give, and they give a higher percentage of their incomes. Albertans give the largest donations, however.
But, Canada, here’s where it gets really bad. Americans are more than twice as generous as Canadians! They give more than double the percentage we do. About 25% of Canadians give, but almost 30% of Americans give. And the average donation from an American is three times the average donation from a Canadian! Sure, Americans make a lot more than Canadians. But not 3x more!
If Canadians gave the same percentage as Americans, that would free up another $8 billion Canadian for charity!
The lowest ranked state in the US for donation amount was Rhode Island. But those in Rhode Island gave an average of $1000 more per donation than in Canada’s highest ranked province, Alberta!
No province averages over 1% of their incomes given to charity.
Years ago I calculated what would happen if 1% of Canadian evangelicals went as missionaries, and the rest gave 1% of their incomes. I’ll tell you what would happen – we would be sending out 6 times more missionaries than we do now! And that’s not just evangelical missionaries, that’s all Protestant missionaries. And they would all be sufficiently supported. This would make Canada the great missionary sending nation of the world.
Before Americans get too comfortable, they’re far behind that 1% number too. In fact, when it comes to missions, the numbers are worse. They could be sending 17x the cross-cultural missionaries they do now!
Since 1988, every year there have been 680 less missionaries on the field each year from North America.
As I see how we’ve been blessed this Christmas season, I pray that God will teach my family and I how to make that joyful sacrifice – may we all learn how we can give to Jesus as we celebrate His birthday.
For more on the Generosity Index, check this article.
