In retrospect, Richard Bowler admits that it was an ambitious goal. Bowler, the pastor at Jasper Park Baptist Church, set out in March to raise $15,000 to support World Vision’s STOP Hunger campaign. Facing a March 31 deadline, Bowler set about asking local churches and businesses to take donations from the public, and tried to have the local schools arrange a 30-hour famine in order to raise the target amount. Despite his efforts, he fell well short.

Collections at the Baptist Church and the United Church brought in a few hundred dollars, but a collaborative effort that included school kids and local businesses never came about.

“I feel a little bit stymied,” Bowler said. “It was very short notice though.”

The World Vision campaign was in support of an effort to provide food aid to several African countries in dire need. Provided access to nearly $10 million in food by the United Nations, World Vision was trying to collect some $2 million from Canadians before the end of last month. On a national level, the campaign was successful. A total of $1.9 million in donations had been tallied by last Friday (April 7), with more to be added to that total in the weeks ahead.

“We’ll pull our final report on the campaign next Wednesday, so we’ll know how much we raised for sure,” said World Vision’s Angela Wagoner, from the charity’s head offices in Mississauga, Ontario.

Although donors came through for World Vision in this case, Wagoner was not surprised to hear of Bowler’s difficulties in raising large amounts in Jasper.

“It’s one of the things that is difficult for an organization like World Vision,” she said. “People don’t necessarily see the impact of their donations, because our projects are happening all over the world. They often prefer to donate to local charities so they can see their money at work.”

World Vision’s work involves populations in dire straits, facing grinding poverty and, in the case of the countries targeted in the STOP Hunger effort, emerging famine conditions. Images of starving children do pack an emotional punch, but with the landscape crowded with groups looking for financial support from businesses and individuals, Wagoner acknowledges that it is a difficult task to make that message a lasting one. 

“Our donors are very generous,” she said, trying to emphasize the positive. “It’s just that there aren’t all that many of them.”

She’s right. According to “The Generosity Index” an annual study of Canada’s capacity for charity by the Fraser Institute, only 24.9 per cent of Canadian taxpayers made a charitable contribution in 2005. By this measure, fewer Canadians donate their money than Americans do. The average amount donated varies widely from province to province, with Alberta on top of the table with a measurement of $1,468 per donor, per annum.

There’s a small pool to draw donations from, in other words, and there are plenty of options presented to the potential benefactor. In Alberta, massive budget surpluses have not translated into the wholesale restoration of government services that were cut during the cutbacks of the 1990s. As a result, many projects and ongoing activities rely on a combination of financiers to stay afloat. The government continues to play a role, but so too must the private sector, through sponsorship, direct financial support and gifts in kind.

Another aggravating factor in the donation equation is the small advertising budgets that most charitable organizations have to operate on. World Vision is one of Canada’s largest charities, with a recognizable presence thanks to print and online advertising, and televised infomercials in particular. But their spending on promotion is far from profligate. Wagoner works with direct mailing campaigns, where appeals are sent to an individual or business. These mailouts aren’t sent to just anyone, she said.

“They tend to go to a select group of people. Really, for most of the year we limit them to people who have donated to us in the past.”

A small number of Canadians, therefore, are being bombarded by requests for support from an increasing number of sources. This has provided the conditions for donor fatigue, where the neverending cycle of need begins to wear down on those inclined to provide from their own pockets. 2005 was a popular year for the phrase. Between the South Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, it was widely expected to be a difficult year for smaller charities. The Fraser Institute’s numbers seem to bear this out.

According to “The Generosity Index”, the percentage of the population that donates has dropped every year since 1997. This suggests that it is not just in years rife with expensive disasters that lead to a decline in donations. The other interesting discovery made by the think tank is in what the study authors term the “depth” of charitable giving. While donor fatigue and a combination of other factors caused some donors to cease the cheque writing, those who continued to give tended to give more. In all provinces, the average percentage of aggregate income devoted to charity increased since 1997.   

This tendency towards greater levels of generosity among determined donors comes as no surprise to veteran fundraisers. In “Donor Fatigue: From Diagnosis to Treatment”, an article published in November 2005, Mark Charendorff of the Jewish Funders Network argued that donor fatigue was not due to an exhaustion of giving, but rather an overwhelming number of good causes.

“Donors who are satisfied with their giving can feel exhilarated and often watch their giving increase at a dramatic rate,” he wrote. “The surest way to increase donors’ level of commitment (and giving) is to help them understand that they are making a difference in someone’s life.”   

For some groups, the task of informing their donors about progress is quite straightforward. Take the Out of School program provided by the Municipality of Jasper. After a recent announcement that about $10,000 was needed to keep the program running, Community and Family Services received support from the local business community. To see evidence of their money at work, those donors need only recognize that the program continues. For broader, less local projects, the task of keeping donors in the loop is somewhat more difficult. Those who supported World Vision’s STOP Hunger campaign will receive an update this June and again in the fall, informing them what has happened and what remains to be done. It costs money to provide that sort of information, Wagoner admitted, but added that with donors watching every dollar more carefully, it’s essential.

Keeping donors informed might be part of the effort to curb Canada’s donor decline, but Richard Bowler believes more can be done to eliminate overlaps on the local level. He wants to see the Jasper Ministerial Association combine forces on the charitable front more often.

“Most denominations have their own agencies that they channel relief through but maybe we need to step away from that at times,” he said. The need for continued support for causes like the STOP Hunger campaign is real, he added.

“It’s not something we read about every day or see on our TVs but it is a major concern.”