The Quebec Foundation for the Blind has paid telemarketing and direct-mail companies $1 million for $1.5 million worth of fundraising over the past two years. (CBC) Outside fundraising companies are cashing in on Quebecers' generosity, with some keeping more than half of the donations they collect on behalf of charities in the province, a CBC investigation has found.

Canada Revenue Agency figures reveal 83 Quebec charities used external fundraisers, such as telemarketers and direct-mail distributors, to drum up donations in 2008.

In 28 of those cases, the external fundraisers kept more than half of the money they raised. The companies collected $8.5 million for those 28 charities in 2008. However, the charities received only $1.3 million of that amount.

Across the country, according to the CBC investigation, more than $750 million donated to charity was spent on external fundraising companies between 2004 and 2008.

Charities in difficult spot

In Montreal, the Quebec Foundation for the Blind has paid telemarketing and direct-mail companies $1 million for $1.5 million worth of outsourced fundraising campaigns over the past two years.

"It doesn't make sense, but we have no choice," said François Beauregard, the foundation's president.

'We provide an efficient service.'—Howard Golberg, president of Pinnacle-Direct

The organization provides housing and recreational activities for people with visual impairments. Demand for services is constant, and the foundation needs to maintain donations as an essential financing stream for its services.

"If it would be possible for us to raise money differently, without disrupting the flow of the services and the expectations we have created with the people we help, I would be glad to do it, but I can't," Beauregard said.

Telemarketing companies are capitalizing on a need in the non-profit sector, said Howard Golberg, president of Pinnacle-Direct, a direct-mail company based in Montreal.

"We provide an efficient service," he told CBC News.

Donations slip in recession

Canadians donated $8.19 billion to charities in 2008 — a 5.3 per cent drop from the previous year — as the recession led people to contribute a little less to good causes.

The number of people whose tax returns reported charitable giving went up by 1.7 per cent in 2008 to almost 5.8 million.

Statistics Canada reported that 24 per cent of those who filed tax returns last year claimed charitable donations.

Manitoba was the province with the highest rate of donors — 27 per cent. Ontario, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island each had a 26 per cent donor rate. Quebec's donor rate was 22 per cent. Nunavut's was by far the lowest at 10 per cent.

The median donation — half of donors gave more and half less — was $250 nationally. In Quebec, the median donation in 2008 was $130.

Quebecers donated about $775 million to charities in 2008, according to the most recent figures available from Statistics Canada.

People concerned about the destination of their donations can check the Canada Revenue Agency's website or consult the individual annual report for the charity in question.