Victoria once again named Canada’s most generous community by GoFundMe

Victoria has once again been named the most generous community in the country, according to GoFundMe’s annual list released Tuesday morning.

For the third straight year, Victoria topped the platform’s national rankings, measured by unique donors per capita.

GoFundMe recorded more than 18,500 donors from Victoria in 2025. With a population of about 92,000, that works out to more than one-in-five residents giving to a campaign this year.

The platform says the results stand out in a year shaped by economic pressure, climate-related disasters, and global instability.

GoFundMe released the full top 20 giving cities, which includes several other BC communities, with Nanaimo joining Victoria as the second Vancouver Island city on the list.

The 2025 Top 20 Most Generous Communities in Canada are:

1. Victoria, BC
2. North Vancouver, BC
3. Vancouver, BC
4. St. John’s, NL
5. New Westminster, BC
6. Kamloops, BC
7. Fredericton, NB
8. Thunder Bay, ON
9. Port Coquitlam, BC
10. Kelowna, BC
11. Peterborough, ON
12. Nanaimo, BC
13. Guelph, ON
14. Moncton, NB
15. Oakville, ON
16. Milton, ON
17. Calgary, AB
18. Brampton, ON
19. Burlington, ON
20. Barrie, ON

GoFundMe says this year saw an average of four donations per minute across Canada, supporting everything from neighbourhood projects to major medical and emergency fundraisers.

Tim Cadogan, CEO of GoFundMe, said the communities on the list represent “the very best of us,” noting that donors often step in for neighbours, strangers, and local causes in need.

Several Victoria-connected campaigns were highlighted by the platform, including a fundraiser for Beacon Hill Children’s Farm, launched in 2020 to help care for its goats, alpacas, donkeys, pigs and other animals during off-season months when visitor donations slow down.

The campaign has raised more than $180,000 and helps the farm remain free to visit each spring.

Another campaign higlighted was a fundraiser supporting Derek, a Victoria-area man living with ALS.

What began as a half-marathon run by friend and colleague Adam Trimm grew into a GoFundMe campaign that has raised more than $100,000 this year alone, helping with home accessibility, daily care and ongoing support through the ALS Society of BC.

For the first time, GoFundMe also released rankings for the communities that raised the most for education, medical needs and emergencies which Toronto led all three categories.