The PGD Canada database
Who should use this subscription service?
PGD Canada services the Canadian non-profit and fundraising communities. PGD Canada allows staff members, development officers, and research staff save time spent on researching and allow more time for analysis and strategy building activities. The database is an easy-to-use research tool that can be used by any computer literate staff member. Any non-profit organization that needs to raise money from individuals will find PGD Canada extremely useful. Individual donors contribute the highest percentage of charitable donations in Canada!
How do I subscribe to PGD Canada?
To setup an account and get started, you will need to do the following:
- To subscribe by mail or fax, download the Subscription Order Form, and mail or fax form along with payment.
- To subscribe online, please click on the Subscribe Now button found throughout the web site, and you will be directed onto a secure socket layer web site where you will continue to complete the process.
- Once payment has been authorized, you will receive an email confirming your subscription and access to PGD Canada.
Do I have to give you a real email address?
Yes. If you do not submit a real email address, your registration/verification email will not be delivered and you will not be able to log into your account. If you choose to receive email messages regarding product updates and news from PGD Canada, the messages will be sent through our secure web site and your privacy will remain secure. I never got the verification email. What do I do?
Check your spam folders to see if the email was mistakenly identified as spam. If you still are unable to locate our email, contact us and someone from our customer support team will help to correct the situation.
What kind of computer equipment and system requirements do I need for PGD Canada?
No software is required to access PGD Canada. To access the database, you will need the following:
- A Windows or Macintosh computer
- Internet Access
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher (recommended)
- In order to access the database, your browser must be able to accept cookies and your JavaScript must be enabled.
- If you have a firewall, either at PC level or at network level, you may need to give our sites permission to pass through as trusted sites. It is the responsibility of the purchaser to ensure that permissions are enabled.
- In order to print from the database, one of the following Microsoft Windows packages are required: Microsoft® Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT® 4.0 with Service Pack 6, Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2, Windows XP Professional or Home Edition, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
- Some documents on the PGD Canada web site are in Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF). To download a free version of Adobe Reader for Windows or Mac, click here.
How do I Login?
Click on the Member Login Button located globally on every page. Enter your email address and password in the pop-up window.
What if I forget my password?
If you forget your password or become locked out of the system due to multiple failed login attempts, click on the Forgot your password? in the pop-up window to have your password sent to the email address you used at the time of registration. How much is a yearly subscription to PGD Canada?
A yearly subscription to PGD Canada is $499.99 CAD Do you offer a free trial account?
Yes. Our 1-day free trial account provides the user with unlimited data searching with partial access to the data. Only one trial account is offered annually per user. Where do you find the data?
The information is collected from annual reports, donor reports, community reports, newsletters and press releases. This is all in the public domain by virtue of being published and is accessible on the world wide web. No private information or anonymous gifts are included in PGD Canada.
How many records are in your database?
PGD Canada began archiving information in 2003, and most recently has been adding historical data to the PGD Canada database. As of 2008, there are more than 400,000 individual gifts in the database from as far back as 1994.
What kind of information is included for each gift?
Each record contains the following fields of data: - Donor Name and/or Private Foundation Name
- Gift Year
- Gift Range
- Gift Type
- Organization Name
- Sector
- City
- Province
- Geographic Region
- Source web site
- Source
At times, a Gift Detail Icon will appear. Scroll over the icon to view the details of the gift.
At times, a Business Contact Information Icon will appear. Scroll over the icon to view donors’ business title, mailing address, phone number, email and link to donor web profile.
How often is the PGD Canada database updated?
The database is updated weekly.
What are PGD Canada’s search features?
With PGD Canada you are able to search by an individual’s name, private foundation name, organization name, sector, geographic region, and gift amount or gift year. You are also able to combine one or more search fields or use the exact match feature. The end user is also able to sort the Detailed Gift Report by multiple fields. A special feature of PGD Canada is that it allows the user to view ALL giving to a particular charity, for any particular year.
Will the PGD Canada database help our organization discover new prospects? How can I create a list of new donor prospects?
Yes. By searching by organization, sector or geographic region, the PGD Canada database allows users to create a list prospects that may be interested in supporting their organization. For instance, by combining two search fields in the Advanced Search such as sector (Health-Hospitals) and gift range (1,000,000 – 10,000,000) will give the user results of all gifts to hospitals in the one million to ten million dollar range. Our Gift Detail and Business Contact Icons may provide further insight on these prospects that will assist in analysis and strategy. Remember: do not add comas when entering the gift range.
Is the city, province and/or region for where the donor resides listed?
No, the location or region is where the non-profit organization is located. No addresses or private information is given in annual reports. PGD Canada abides by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
Are addresses and phone numbers provided in the PGD Canada database?
Addresses and phone numbers are not included. No personal information is included in PGD Canada. Only business contact information is included and is collected from publicly available internet sites.
Why do some of the records show “Amount Unspecified” as the gift range?
Some of the donor listings included in PGD Canada do not indicate a specific dollar range amount because this is how the information was printed in the charity’s publication. PGD Canada lists information suitably and does not modify information listed in publications. Why do some “Cumulative Gift” records show the same giving amount every year?
Some organizations list donors annually by cumulative giving amounts. You will notice that the gift year may change, but the giving amount/range may be the same year-after-year for multiple years of donor listings from a particular organization. PGD Canada believes it is important to show the Cumulative Giving annual up-date so that the end user will also see and be able to calculate the annual increase in some of the donor gifts. Why are Private Foundations included in the database? I thought the database listed giving from individual donors?
Private Foundations are included in the database because they do represent gifts from individual donors. Private Foundations, often referred to as family foundations, are classified as charities where 50 per cent or more of the initial money comes from an individual or family. Therefore, PGD Canada’s research team believed that gifts made by private foundations warranted being included in the database. The Private Foundation designation is based on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA’s) Charities Directorate classification listing. Why are some of the Source links no longer available?
Unless the data is collected in print form, PGD Canada collects the data from publicly available web locations and adds the location source to the PGD Canada database. The source link is no longer available when the location source has been removed or updated. PGD Canada works diligently to update and check source links on a quarterly basis and will reload new source links. However, PGD Canada is unable to do anything if the location source has been removed. Why are not all donor or annual reports included in PGD Canada? Can I request that a donor report be added to PGD Canada?
The staff at PGD Canada diligently collects the gift information from various non-profit organizations across Canada. If a donor report of a specific organization is not listed in the database, it may be because they do not publish one. Not all non-profits publish annual reports or donor lists. Depending on the size of the organization or due to financial constraints, many organizations choose not to publish reports. I searched for an organization by its exact name, but it did not appear. What did I do wrong?
If you have search questions or require help, please visit our Online Search Help or Contact Us and a customer support team member will respond to your inquiry.
Can the entire database be downloaded and printed?
No, the entire database cannot be downloaded. A great feature of PGD Canada is that it is electronic and constantly growing. PGD Canada is pleased to be the only database in Canada that archives giving by charity. This special feature allows the user to view ALL historical giving to a particular charity for any particular year. We have several people in our office that need access to PGD Canada. Can we share our password with other people in our office?
Yes. PGD Canada does not require organizations to purchase multiple seats. PGD Canada would like to remain affordable for all non-profit organizations, and assist all charities in achieving their fundraising goals. What is PGD Canada’s Privacy Policy?
The security of your personal information is important to us. PGD Canada will only use the personal information that you submit in the context of registration for our services. PGD Canada will not sell, rent, license or otherwise share your personally identifiable contact information with any other entity. Click here to view PGD Canada’s privacy policy in its entirety.
I have more questions about PGD Canada, who do I contact?
For more information on PGD Canada, or PGD Canada’s other products and services, please contact us at info@pgdcanda.com or 1.888.695.0212 | 
