A faith-based charity will best help community

Potent statistical arguments show the societal good accomplished through a donation to a faith-based charity.

Look no further than the Halo Effect, a measurement in dollar terms of the socioeconomic imprint religious congregations have on their local community. According to the Cardus think tank, Canadian society, on average, receives $3.39 in benefits for every dollar spent by parishes, synagogues and gurdwaras. 

Also consider a November 2025 Statistics Canada survey measuring giving to, volunteering for and participating in non-profit endeavours. 

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The report indicated that Canadians who attend religious services weekly made up just 11.2 per cent of the 80,000-person survey sample. This modest percentage of Canadians accounts for 40 per cent of annual donation dollars. Canadians who visit a house of worship each week contribute on average $1,838 a year to charity compared with $511 from Canadians who stay away from spiritual ceremonies.

In other words, contributors are naturally predisposed to help causes that reflect their beliefs, ethics and identity. Charities advancing religion have access to a deeper pool of givers than their secular counterparts. The causal effect is that money simply goes further.

Deina Warren, the director of legal affairs for the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities (CCCC), endorsed the various numerical cases for giving to faith-based groups, but said one of the strongest arguments is the word charity itself.

“The root of the word is love, and that understanding of charity fundamentally alters the nature of how it is done,” said Warren.

Faith doesn't just motivate the work; it transforms the entire organization, from how the board governs to how money is handled. Things aren't just a matter of compliance, but a matter of integrity before God for these organizations. 

“Every aspect is faith-informed, changing the essence and character,” she said. "Their work multiplies the ways and the practical, tangible ways that people in our community encounter and come to see and know Christ.”

Warren supplied prison ministry as a case study of how faith-driven ministries are intrinsically equipped to offer help to an inmate that meaningfully transcends the exclusively practical supports — though important —that a public group brings to the table, such as mentorship and preparing for life after release.

An incarcerated person wracked with guilt, loneliness, hopelessness and broken relationships, said Warren, can have those needs addressed “more holistically and clearly through a Christian community where there is an understanding and a place for forgiveness and prayer and spiritual healing.”

Health-care contexts present another compelling and timely contrast, as it’s manifestly evident that Christian health-care practitioners are more inclined to accompany patients in navigating their existential questions and offering life-affirming comfort when sharing a difficult diagnosis. 

“Christian health care can also help understand who that person is and why they still have that worth and dignity that we were speaking about before and why their diagnosis doesn't have to define who they are,” said Warren. “There is still hope and community. They are still loved and valued.”

New Cardus studies “Bonds of Solidarity” and “Like Family: What Refugees and Their Sponsors Reveal About Subsidiarity and Solidarity” also make an illustrative case for the effectiveness of faith-based groups — especially the Catholic Church — with refugee sponsorships compared to refugees who receive government assistance. 

“The Catholic Church, other churches and groups of five Canadians can sponsor somebody, and we found that the employment outcomes for the privately sponsored are immediately, but also 10 years down the road, are better,” said Lisa Richmond, Cardus’ vice president of research.

For example, of the more than 25,000 Syrian refugees who arrived in Canada in 2016 in a massive humanitarian response to the unfolding Syrian Civil War, 53 per cent of the privately sponsored landed a job compared to just 10 per cent of the government-assisted refugees. Additionally, these private sponsors significantly outperformed government officials in helping these Syrian refugees learn how to find a place to live, rent, shop for food, buy clothes and furniture, fill out tax forms, find a doctor and secure childcare.

Both papers, authored by Renze Nauta, showcase subsidiarity of work. Subsidiarity, as defined in the study, is a Catholic principle that recognizes the need for a range of institutions to be at work in society to meet the needs of people. And the “closer to the human person that these institutions operate," the better, most importantly because “those who are closest to an issue generally have a greater sense of care for the people involved in it.”

One of four case studies in the report centred on Ignace — an alias to protect him and his family — who were involved in the Côte d’Ivoire political scene. A 2010 election caused them to flee to Ghana. He and his sister came to Canada in 2015 thanks to a program of the Archdiocese of Toronto in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

Ignace was specifically sponsored by St. Justin Martyr Parish in Unionville, Ont., and many congregants made donations up to $1,000 to support his resettlement to Canada. A team of seven, led by parishioner Rita Perta, actively mobilized to integrate Ignace into Canadian life. They secured him a job as a produce clerk at a grocery store within 10 days of his arrival to support himself. Other churchgoers helped him set up a bank account, secure an apartment and manage his finances. He began working for a manufacturing company within a few months and then completed college studies in software engineering and programming. He now works for a facility management company.

Nauta wrote in “Bonds of Solidarity” that a privately sponsored refugee “enters with the support of a community” that demonstrates it “is invested in the integration of that person or that family into their new home.” Comparatively, “such integration does not necessarily happen for refugees in the government-assisted group, since community is not typically a characteristic of government agencies.” He makes the case that “subsidiarity breeds solidarity. 

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Richmond, reacting to these findings, said, “by nature, religious charity can be more holistic in interacting with people, treating people and caring for people.”

Arthur Peters, the executive director of ShareLife, the annual charitable appeal of the Toronto archdiocese, has championed these values of subsidiarity, solidarity and holistic aid during his 21 years stewarding this celebrated institution that turned 50 this year. 

His believes Canadian Catholics should give to a faith-based charity in both their annual giving and especially their end-of-life estate planning as an expression of loving appreciation for the many gifts the faith has bestowed upon them.

“Their faith has been there through their lives,” said Peters. "They've been baptized. They've taken the sacraments. They've gotten married in the Church. They've raised their kids in the Church. They send their kids to Catholic schools. When it comes time to consider their end-of-life plans, why wouldn't they support a faith organization or a Church that's been there for them their whole life?”

And consider the ripple effects of a donation to a cause like ShareLife, for example. Contributing to a parish campaign helps an initiative that supports over 40 different social agencies. A donation helps heal victims of abuse, helps girls and women navigate unplanned pregnancies, feed hungry children around the world, uplift seniors who feel isolated, form the next generation of priests, among many more transformative outcomes. 

According to research from Carleton University, 37 to 42 per cent of all Canadian charities operate under the category “advancement of religion.” This means there are between 32,000 and 33,000 choices, and the lion's share are Catholic or Christian in background — a quite daunting selection proposition  

Warren has some advice to help a Christian as they work to identify a faith-based charity that best lives up to its ideals and accomplishes the most good. 

“Donors can look at how the charity describes itself,” said Warren. “How does faith influence its decisions? How do its religious beliefs change or impact the way it treats people and organizes its programs? How well is faith reflected in its leadership and organizational culture? Is it just a historical connection, or is it actively lived out?

“You could ask the inverse question. Sometimes I like to do that. If this charity were not Christian, would that impact how it operates?  It can be a helpful way to discern whether it aligns (with you).”

One caution Warren has is that some Christian groups that also work internationally sometimes are not afforded the privilege of being so overt in their work and public-facing communications. They are trying to help in difficult environments. 

For example, organizations that work to aid persecuted Christians in hotspots across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, where the workers on the ground are at risk of operational, legal and even physical danger. 

A key step in conducting due diligence in a donor assessing the best faith charitable giving option is analyzing the organization’s financial records. Warren recommended studying a charity’s expenses to see where the money is going and what the program priorities are.

“You may want to consider who else is this charity working with,” advised Warren. “Who else is receiving maybe some of the funds that go out into other programs from this charity? Is the financial reporting up to date? That's important. Are they keeping up with their T3010, which is the annual filing that charities have to do with the Canada Revenue Agency?”

Addressing the assumption that lower administrative costs are a top charity evaluation tool, Warren explained why this alone “isn't necessarily an indicator of effectiveness.

She compared two charities doing the same work — a Church running an after-school recreation and education program was the volunteered example — but one is operating in a large Canadian city, such as Toronto, and another is in a rural community overseas. 

“Naturally, the administrative or overhead costs of the one working in a rural international location are going to be higher,” said Warren. “But that doesn't mean that we can conclude they're less effective or are less responsible with their resources. It simply means that their admin costs are on a different scale because of where they're working and the nature of the work.”

As for measuring a charity’s performance, Warren, Richmond, Peters and thousands upon thousands of expert voices would tell you that it can’t be simply adjudged on how many meals a parish serves, how many children attain their educational dreams or how many palliative beds are developed through a fundraising drive. Many of the best outcomes from faith-driven charities are qualitative and unmeasurable. 

“How do you quantify something like restored hope or reconciliation or spiritual growth or a sense of belonging?” asked Warren. “It doesn't mean like numbers aren't important, but we just have to be wise about drawing conclusions just from numbers. It's a mix. It's what is the charity trying to accomplish? How do they do that?  How is their faith integrated in that? And are they responsible stewards of their resources?”

And if you ask Pope Leo XIV, the best way to make this important determination is to pray. He recently said “prayer is precisely that relationship through which we receive the very charity we are called to give.”

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When it comes right down to it, the reason why a Catholic and Christian should choose donating to a faith-based charity over a public alternative is that the former aspires to see the person they are serving as their brother or sister in Christ, worthy of dignity and love. 

Nothing more needs to be said. 

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)

A version of this article appeared in the November 08, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "A faith-based charity will best help community".