The Civic Core in Canada: Disproportionality in Charitable Giving, Volunteering, and Civic Participation

Three principal modes of civic involvement are volunteering, giving to charities, and participating in civic associations. The authors investigate how total effort is distributed in the Canadian population among these three behaviors. Their results show that in each area, there is a small group of individuals who is responsible for the majority of contributory effort. When activity in the three areas is considered all together, the authors find a remarkably high degree of concentration. Six percent of Canadian adults account for 35% to 42% of all civic involvement. This group of individuals represents the “civic core” in Canada. The implications of the existence of a small but dedicated civic core for the voluntary domain and for patterns of citizen engagement are discussed.