Canadians believe businesses giving back is an important part of building stronger communities
November 29, 2024
Earlier this year we conducted a survey on behalf of Imagine Canada, exploring Canadians’ attitudes towards communities, businesses, and corporate social responsibility. Some key highlights from this research are below. To read the analysis, click here.
The following data is from an online survey with 1,500 adults in Canada, from September 6 to 11, 2024. The survey was conducted on behalf of Imagine Canada with the support of BMO.
As Canadians remain pessimistic about Canada’s future, they are left feeling as though the sense of community in Canada isn’t as strong as it could be. 52% rate the strength of their own community as excellent/good, 42% feel the same about the sense of community more broadly in Canada.
There is no one region of Canada that feels a stronger or weaker sense of community. Instead, a sense of community is strongest among older Canadians, then the youngest cohort (18 to 29), and only moderate among middle-aged Canadians.
Most Canadians weave their own definition of community with a diverse list of relationships, organizations and entities. Two-thirds plus say large businesses that operate in their community, charities/non-profits, small businesses, their neighbors, family and friends all collectively play a role in how they define community.
Younger Canadians are less likely to say businesses (large and small) are part of their definition of community. But altogether 44% of Canadians say businesses (big, small or both) are very important to their own community.
Not only do Canadians list a multitude of stakeholders in their definition of community, they are inclined to say all have a net positive impact to some extent on their community, including businesses large and small.
69% of Canadians say small businesses make their communities better. 4% say they make their communities worse.
41% of Canadians say small businesses make their communities better. 15% say they make their communities worse.
Canadians have even more favourable views towards businesses when they see them supporting and building resilient communities.
Over 80% of Canadians say they prefer to support businesses that give back to their communities, and a similar number like to see partnerships between businesses and nonprofits or charities.
UPSHOT
Canadians feel their communities can and should be stronger and more resilient. And to build back our communities Canadians want to see everyone involved, including businesses. Canadians value business involvement in communities, and are looking for a framework that ensures businesses have their best interests in mind when giving back.
To learn more about how Canadians want to see businesses give back, click here to visit the full release from Imagine Canada.
METHODOLOGY
The survey was conducted with 1,500 Canadian adults from September 6 to 11, 2024. A random sample of panelists were invited to complete the survey from a set partner panel based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are typically double opt-in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source.
The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.53%, 19 times out of 20.
The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
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