Cancer Doesn't Discriminate, and Neither Should I

Once again I am participating in the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. This is the third year in a row that various members of my family gather together to remember my Mother and others who lost the fight to Cancer, or who struggle on, or who are grateful survivors. We stay up all night long and walk or run on a track, and always share memories of my Mom. Her passing has left a big hole in our hearts and in our lives and this night gives us a chance to share the burden of losing the greatest cheerleader each of us were fortunate to have.

I raise donations through the online site for the Relay. This year the site allows you to upload your address book from your e-mail provider so you can send out e-mails directly to your friends and colleagues. I uploaded the almost 500 names in my address book and then had to figure out how to weed out duplicates or people who were purely ancillary (like the contact I have for Roy Thompson Hall if I need tickets or the customer service people at my telephone provider tagged “random bell telephone guy”).

As I was going through the names, I found myself thinking “should I even ask this person?: (1) I have lost close contact with them, or (2) they are a colleague but not necessarily a friend and I feel like I’m imposing, or (3) they are likely not going to donate since they haven’t done so in the past, or (4) many other reasons..

Then I remembered how cancer doesn’t discriminate. Cancer took my Mom away from children and grandchildren and friends who counted on her unconditional love and support. Cancer almost took my husband and we were so fortunate that the Insidious One was caught in time. Cancer visited a woman with small children who was terrified that she would never see them to their adulthood. Cancer is beating its deadly wings around a woman who is already living with a ticking time bomb in the form of a brain tumour. Cancer added its burden to a good friend of mine this month, almost at the same moment she found out that she is losing her job.

Cancer doesn’t discriminate and neither should I. So, I sent the e-mail out and within three days I had received so many donations that I had to revise my goal upward. And several of the first and larger donations came from people over whose name I had hesitated!

Of course, I’m just curious enough to look at the list of those who opened the e-mail and didn’t donate. It started me wondering how many people donate to charity.

Statistics Canada has a report on charitable donations. Although it only tracks those who use the donations as tax write-offs, it gives a picture of charitable giving.

Canadian taxfilers reported making charitable donations surpassing $8.6 billion in 2007, up 1.4% from 2006. At the same time, the number of donors fell 0.9% to just under 5.7 million.

• Nationally, 24% of all taxfilers claimed charitable donations, slightly lower than in previous years. Manitoba had the highest percentage who declared a donation, at 27%, followed by Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan, all at 26%.
• Among the donors in 2007, the median donation was $250, meaning that half of the donors gave more than $250 and half less. This was unchanged from 2006, unlike in prior years when the median donation had consistently increased.

So the total dollar amount of donations is going up slightly, while the number of donors is going down. Essentially, less people are giving, but those who do donate are giving more money.

Stats Can also indicates that donors are usually those who have higher income (not surprisingly) and who are better educated. I’m surprised that education would have anything to do with whether or not a person would donate. Perhaps it is more likely that the better educated people would take the steps to write off the donations against their income tax. Or, if their donations are larger because they can afford it (being in a higher income bracket) they are donating enough to get a tax receipt. (Only donations over $20 receive a tax receipt in most cases.)

All very interesting. But only academic when you consider that, tragically, the rate of cancer is rising. A report from the Canadian Cancer Society says that Cancer is on the rise. And, startlingly,

• Almost 40% of women and almost 45% of men will develop Cancer in their lifetime;
• 24% of women and 29% of men will die of Cancer – or almost one in every four Canadians will fall victim to the Beast;
• 30% of new Cancer cases, and 18% of Cancer deaths will occur in people between the ages of 20 and 50 years of age, in the most productive stage of their life; and
• Cancer is on the rise in young women between the ages of 20 and 39.
  

Now, those are scary numbers! I’m thinking to beat the odds at least one in every four of those I asked to donate should do so. Would that hold the Beast at Bay or at least Buy Us Time to find better cures? I’m also thinking that I want my two girls to get to 39 years of age quickly. Hurry up, little ones, get beyond that stat!

Perhaps I should have asked the Random Bell Telephone Guy to donate after all?