Research, data sources, and methodology

Foundation Financial Data

• Each year, all registered Canadian charities are obliged to file a T3010 form to report key information to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
  • There are approximately n=86,000 such registered charitable organizations
    • ~75,000 are operating charities (usually allocating all of their money to the provision/delivery of charitable benefits).
    • ~11,000 are grant-making (public and private) foundations (which tend to accumulate and hold long-term endowments). These foundations typically grant to operating charities….
  • These ~11,000+ grant-making foundations are obliged to determine if the DQ applies.
    • Some foundations are small enough that they are not obliged to disburse a minimum DQ.
      • Their assets (not directly used to provide charitable services) do not exceed $25,000.
    • ~5,247 Foundations in 2024 had assets > $25,000 and are therefore obliged to provide DQ details.

Source of Data: All filed T3010 forms were shared with GIV3 from/by the Canada Revenue Agency.

• Data for 2024 is based on all filings as of January 31st, 2026, for data covering 2024
• Data for 2023, and prior years, is based on all filings as of June 30, 2024.
• Our analysis is based on public and private foundations, only, and excludes operating charities.

Definitions and Calculations for Foundations Assets, Granting and Ratios

• GIV3 estimated asset base: GIV3 estimated the ‘asset base’ for foundations using the highest value reported in Line 4140 and Line 5900 as reported in the T3010 filings.
  • Line 4140 reports the total value of all long-term investments held by the foundation.
  • Line 5900 reports the average value of property not used directly in charitable activities or administration. This is the key basis for calculating the DQ.
  • GIV3 used this “max value” from these two different lines to account for missing data and/or inconsistent data across for these two lines. – Just 30% of all filings reported values for both Lines 4140 and 5900. An additional 24% of the filings had data in one of the lines (only). In total, 61% of the foundation lacked an entry for “Long-Term Investments” and 52% lacked an entry for ‘property not used directly for charitable purposes’. For missing both Lines 4140 and 5900, the incidence was 44.5%. This latter group mostly comprises small foundations which are not obliged to determine their DQ.
• Charitable Purposes: GIV3 used the sum of Lines 5000 (Charitable Activities) + 5045 (Grants to Non-Qualified Recipients) + 5050 (Grants to Qualified Recipients).
• Disbursement ratios: Charitable purposes divided by ‘estimated asset base’. This is an analytical measure and is not identical to the statutory DQ calculation.

Ipsos Poll about what Canadians think about using charitable donations

• The Polling data was collected via an online quantitative survey, accessible by any internet enabled device.
• The sample comprised 1,000 Canadian adults, representative of the Canadian population (census data).
• The one question commissioned by GIV3 was included in the Ipsos Omnibus run in:
  • Early July, 2022, and
  • Late June, 2026

Question wording for both years:

See the results: What Canadians Think.

We welcome corrections. If a material error is identified, contact us through the GIV3 website and we will update it.