The gap between the rich and the poor continues to rise at an extraordinary pace. Just 56,000 ultra-wealthy individuals—the world’s richest 0.001%—now control more wealth than the poorest 4 billion people on Earth combined, according to UBS’s 2026 Global Wealth Report.
For Bill Holland, the former CEO of Canadian financial services giant CI Financial, that growing concentration of wealth comes with a responsibility to give back. The self-made multimillionaire has donated more than $100 million of his own fortune and personally raised another $50 million for charitable causes. But he argued that many of his wealthy peers in Canada haven’t embraced the same ethos.
“If you are rich in the U.S., you give money away, but I could name you 100 very rich Canadians who give no money away,” he told the Financial Post, adding that philanthropy is a societal necessity—but Canadians are generally “terrible” at it.
His criticism is sweeping, but the numbers suggest Americans do give considerably more than Canadians.
Americans donated a record $617 billion to charity last year—and they’ve historically donated more than twice the rate of Canadians
In 2021, Americans gave 1.22% of their aggregate income to charity, compared with just 0.55% for Canadians, according to data compiled by the Fraser Institute. Had Canadians donated the same share of their income as Americans, Canadian charities would have received an additional $14.4 billion that year, for a potential total of $26.2 billion.
In comparison, U.S. charitable giving was $484.85 billion in 2021—and reached a record $617.2 billion last year, according to separate research from the Giving USA Foundation.
The disparity is notable because the typical Canadian is actually wealthier than the typical American.
UBS estimates median wealth per adult at about $148,000 in Canada, compared with $69,000 in the United States. Average wealth, however, tells a different story.
Because America has a much larger concentration of billionaires and other ultra-wealthy individuals, average wealth rises to about $696,000 per adult, versus $400,000 in Canada. Neither country, however, ranks as the world’s most generous.
As wealth concentration grows, billionaires like Melinda French Gates are pushing for more philanthropy
The U.S. placed fifth and Canada eighth in the latest World Giving Index, which measures generosity through donating money, volunteering time, and helping strangers.
Indonesia has topped the ranking for six consecutive years despite being in a region with one of the world’s lower average wealth levels.
Still, as wealth becomes increasingly concentrated in fewer hands around the world, many philanthropists argue that those benefiting most have an even greater responsibility to give back.
Melinda French Gates was asked earlier this year by Fortune what her advice is for any newly minted millionaire or billionaire in the wake of recent tech IPOs—and she didn’t hesitate in prioritizing philanthropy.
“Commit now to giving at least half of it away,” she said. “No matter what it turns out to be, no matter how large, how small it turns out to be. If you even have the ability to invest in these IPOs, believe me, you have the ability to give half away.”
French Gates, whose fortune is estimated at roughly $30 billion, was among the original signers of the Giving Pledge, the initiative encouraging billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth during their lifetimes or through their estates.
More than 250 people have since joined the pledge, including hedge fund billionaire John Arnold and his wife, Laura. The couple has donated more than $2.3 billion to causes including criminal justice reform and education, and this week announced another multimillion-dollar commitment to research on the societal effects of sports betting.
While some billionaires, including Peter Thiel, have criticized the Giving Pledge and others, such as Elon Musk, have argued that giving money away effectively is more difficult than it sounds, Arnold has taken the opposite view.
“The multitude of billion-dollar fortunes, whether in the 1s, 10s, or 100s, have the potential to be put to enormous benefit,” Arnold wrote on X. “I won’t offer unsolicited advice as to what I think someone should do with their money. I’d only suggest that figuring out what to do with it in a productive fashion can be as important as trying to make more.”
Holland echoed this sentiment to the Financial Post, arguing that the value of philanthropy extends well beyond writing a check.
“Philanthropy gives you a purpose,” he said. “Sure, you can give a ton of money away and not have to think about it and be happy as a lark, but if you get involved, and you think about the issues—the use and the need—there is no better way to spend your time.”
