Charitable Donations in Canada Up by $1.1 Billion

* Canadians gave $4.6 billion to religious charities in 2007, which represented 46 per cent of the total amount of money donated nationally.
* Health organizations received $1.5 billion, or 15 per cent of total donations.

Religious charities also benefited from the highest percentage of volunteer hours (18 per cent), followed by sports and recreation (17 per cent), social services (16 per cent) and education and research groups (11 per cent).