The original role of nonprofits was to provide essential social services, such as schooling and health care. Citizens still look to the sector to fill some of the gaps left behind by government. Governments in Canada have a long history of providing funding to the nonprofit sector, and now account for more than 50 percent of total revenues. Despite government spending restraint in the 1990s, government funding of charities appears to have risen perhaps because governments are contracting out more services to nonprofit organizations. More information is needed on which government services these are, and the extent to which the nonprofit sector provides services under contract to governments.
Governments also provide tax relief to individual and corporate donors.
Charities would likely suffer financially if income tax deductions for individuals and credits on charitable donations for corporations were to be altered or removed. Alternatively, donations might very well increase if the tax treatment were improved. Opening Our Hearts S and Our Wallets S to Nonprofits Canadians contribute both their time and money to nonprofits. According to Statistics Canada's 1987 Volunteer Activity Survey, more than five million people, or 27 percent of Canadians, volunteered in organized activities that year. At this time, researchers have only a partial picture of the nonprofit sector.