Data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada shows Blumenort is still the most generous community in the southeast.

For 2016, the median charitable donation, claimed per tax filer in Blumenort was $3,150, followed by Kleefeld $2,070, Steinbach $2,030, Landmark $1,690, Grunthal $1,580, New Bothwell $1,460, Niverville $1,270, La Broquerie $590, Ste. Anne $590, St. Pierre $440, Lorette $360 and St. Malo $350. The provincial median was $430, while the national median was $300, meaning half of those claiming a donation tax credit made donations of more than $300, while the other half donated less than $300.

Francois Page with Statistics Canada says for median donations, Steinbach ranked number one in the country amongst 152 centres with a population above 10,000. Winkler ranked second on this list. Steinbach and Winkler also ranked first and second when considering the percentage of tax filers who made donations in 2016.

But the numbers aren't all positive. According to Page, total donations by Canadian tax filers fell to $8.9 billion in 2016, down 2.7 per cent from 2015. The largest decreases were in Alberta (-10.7 per cent), Prince Edward Island (-5.3 per cent), Nunavut (-4.4 per cent) and Saskatchewan (-4.1 per cent). Yukon (+4.5 per cent) had the largest increase in donations in 2015, while Manitoba dropped by 3.6 per cent.

Page adds for Manitoba, the number of donors declaring charitable donations was down a bit. Even in Steinbach, the amount donated and the percentage of tax filers making a donation were both down from 2015.

When it comes to most generous provinces, Page says for at least 12 years running, Manitoba has been the province with the highest proportion of tax filers declaring charitable donations. At 23.8 per cent, that is higher than the Canadian average of 20.5 per cent.

Among Census metropolitan areas, donors in Abbotsford-Mission, British Columbia had the highest median charitable donation of $760. This was the 15th consecutive year leading the country.