Salvation Army says mail-in donations down almost 40 per cent in Kitchener-Waterloo

The Salvation Army has seen a big drop in donations this holiday season.

According to the charity, there’s been an almost 40 per cent decrease in mail and walk-in donations in Kitchener and Waterloo. Nationwide, it’s closer to 50 per cent. That translates to a $9.3 million decline from 2023.

“Our goal for this year, for our Christmas campaign, is $210,000,” said Kelly Fifield, executive director of the Salvation Army Kitchener. “We’ve brought in $92,000 to date. However, we know that the last few weeks before Christmas is when we see quite a bit of the donations come in for that campaign.”

While they’re getting more online donations, job action at Canada Post has really hurt their holiday campaign.

The charity mails out donation reminders every year, but this time, the strike got in the way.

“We know that our local mailer campaign didn't even get out just because of the timing of the strike,” Fifield explained.

Now they’re doing their best to pivot.

“We know that those [donations from the mailers] aren’t coming,” Fifield said. “We’re trying to do our best to urge people to drop it in a kettle, or go online to sakw.ca to make a donation, or they can bring it right to our office at 75 Tillsley Drive.”

The lack of national donations has also had an impact locally. About 40 per cent of their annual budget comes from the Canada-wide campaign.

“We don't bring enough in locally to actually fund the programs at the capacity that we run,” Fifield said “Without those national funds coming in from our headquarters, we'll have to strongly look at what does that mean to our local programing here?”

The Salvation Army’s programs are for families in need, whether that’s support, food or clothing.

According to a spokesperson for the national campaign, about two-thirds of their donations are mailed directly to the organization.

No local statistics are available, but Fifield confirmed that large portion of their donations are also mailed in.

The Salvation Army’s fundraising campaign runs until the end of December.