Philanthropy

Go Figure: We take the pulse of B.C.’s charitable sector

According to our audit, charitable giving has had its fair share of ups and downs in our province

By Michael McCullough /

There are approximately 85,000 registered charities in Canada:

  • 77 percent of them take in less than $500,000 per year 
  • 59 percent have no full-time staff

Notable recent donations in B.C.:

1. An anonymous donor gave $33.8 million to the VGH + UBC Hospital Foundation in 2022 to support multiple sclerosis research and care, the world’s largest known donation to fight the disease.

2. Investors Henry and Mary Rempel left a property portfolio assessed at $229.6 million to the Mennonite Central Committee B.C. following Henry’s passing in June 2023.

3. Eric Peterson and Christina Munck donated $92 million earlier this year to their own environmental and health charity, the Tula Foundation, with the last of the proceeds of the 2001 sale of their medical imaging company, Mitra. Their hope is to make the foundation self-sustaining.

57% of Canadian charities say they lack the resources to meet current demand.

Philanthropy is correlated with social connection: 84 percent of people who report having 7-10 close friends donate to charity, while 53 percent with 0 or 1 close friends do.

Sources: CanadaHelps, Ipsos, Statistics Canada, VGH + UBC Hospital Foundation, media sources, Philanthropy Roundtable

Michael McCullough

Michael McCullough

Michael is a financial journalist based in the Cowichan Valley. He's a former managing editor of Canadian Business and editorial director of Canada Wide Media, BCBusiness's publisher. In 2024, he co-authored Personal Finance for Canadians for Dummies, 7th Edition (Wiley, 2024).