Sask. charities worried about loss of mail donations during holiday season
Canada Post strike has led to major delays in mail-in donations for charities.
Saskatchewan food banks are facing massive drops in revenue as the postal strike delays mail-in donations.
Canada Post workers have been on strike since Nov. 15.
December is the busiest fundraising month of the year for many charity organizations. Giving Tuesday, an annual fundraising event that numerous charities brand as a major donation day, is a particularly busy time. This year it was on Dec. 3.
John Bailey is the CEO of the Regina Food Bank, which relies heavily on mail-in donations for revenue.
"Direct mail for our food bank is about 20 to 25 per cent of our revenue in any given year," he said. "And a significant portion of that comes through in the last two months of the year."
This challenge comes as the Regina Food Bank has experienced an unprecedented increase in demand, Bailey said. The number of people accessing the food bank has increased by more than 230 per cent since 2019, he said. That demand has increased an addition 10 per cent since 2023.
Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, a registered Christian charity in Regina, is also worried about meeting its fundraising goals this year. The mission offers food, shelter and clothing to residents, and runs a soup kitchen that typically serves more than 300 people per night.
"Our direct mail campaign is the big funder for our meal program. And without mail coming in, it means we don't have the funds coming in to purchase the food that we need," said Kathy Ingram, the mission's director of finance and development.
"The last time there was a postal strike, we lost between $100,000 and $150,000 that we did not get back. And if you look at $150,000, that's 30,000 meals."
Fundraising has been very challenging this year across Canada, according to Nicole Danesi, the senior manager of public relations at CanadaHelps. It runs the country's largest online donation platform, and has a public database of more than 84,000 registered Canadian charities that donors can directly contribute to online.
"The Canada Post strike has really been a nightmare before Christmas for many different charities across the country," she said. "They have needed to really pivot and scramble to figure out ways that they can recuperate or pivot plans to make up donations that would otherwise come in the mail."
Kate Bahen, the managing director of Charity Intelligence, which tracks and rates charities in Canada, agreed that online fundraisers are a suitable alternative to mail donations.
"Online giving is so efficient because it reduces administrative costs," she said. "People will say, well, there's a three per cent or four per cent fee, right? Relative to the mail, it's massively cost efficient." she said.
Bailey and Ingram are both trying to compensate for the loss of mail-in donations with online fundraising.
"If you're out and about this holiday season, please feel free to drop by one of our locations and drop by, drop your donation off, and we'll gladly accept it there," said Bailey, adding that you can also donate on the organization's website.
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