They won the Second World War, withstood the tumult of the sixties and seventies, and made Canada what it is today. Closer to home, they’re the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who loved and raised you.

They’ve given so much. So what the heck do you give them?

That’s a dilemma many Canadians will be facing come Christmas as they search for the perfect gift for the people on their list. Finding meaningful presents for seniors can often prove the season’s most daunting task – a fact World Vision, the humanitarian organization, stumbled upon last year when it commissioned a poll on gift-giving views and practices. Sixty-five per cent of Canadians over the age of 55 insisted there wasn’t anything they wanted, much less needed, that Christmas.

“This doesn’t appear to be simply a case of well-meaning seniors saying, ‘Oh, you really don’t need to get me a gift,’” says Sean Simpson, a manager with Ipsos Canada, which conducted the poll. “This is a demographic that’s had 55-plus years to accumulate possessions. They may very well not want a lot at this time.”

In addition, Simpson notes, seniors as a whole “are far less consumerist and fad-driven than those their junior. Many seniors don’t have a burning desire to have the latest gadget or fashionable accessory. That ups the ante in terms of finding them an appropriate gift.”

But World Vision believes it has a solution to the problem that will make both parties happy – and then some.

There is a recent but increasingly popular phenomenon of buying charitable gifts in another person’s name. It’s a trend World Vision has capitalized on to help the poorest of the poor – publishing an annual gift catalogue that lets Canadians buy everything from chickens to antibiotics to school supplies for impoverished children and their families. Last year alone, Canadians purchased nearly $18-million worth of goods often in the name of others and services from the gift catalogue and benefiting people in 45 different developing countries.

Research by Ipsos consistently shows that when it comes to such charitable giving, seniors are the most enthusiastic givers and recipients. In 2008, 44 per cent of Canadian adults over the age of 55 reported giving a charitable gift, more than double the 19 per cent who said the same in the under-34 set. What’s more, 81 per cent of Canadians ages 55 and up agreed they’d rather receive a gift that would help someone else instead of a traditional gift like a pair of socks or a sweater.

Those findings don’t surprise Simpson. “Many seniors grew up in the Depression or World War II, so they know what it’s like to be less well off or to live in hardship,” he says. “And they’ve come to a point in life where they’re thinking about their legacy, about leaving the world better off than when they entered it.” By showing Canadians how charitable giving is done, seniors may also be leaving the rest of the country with a timeless lesson: it really is better to give than receive.

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Karen Flores
905-565-6200 ext. 3497
karen_flores@worldvision.ca