Philanthropy is Personal; Fundraising is Social
There are two types of charitable giving: personal and social. Gifts that are part of the estate plan are typically a form of personal giving. By contrast, most traditional charity fundraising uses a social giving model. Both are equally important, but it is helpful to make the conceptual distinction when helping clients to include philanthropy in their estate plans.
Folly? What No Large Charity or University Fundraiser Wants to Read
Years ago, I read a copy of Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons, Seymour Schulich’s freewheeling and eccentric “mentoring book.” Schulich is one of Canada’s great philanthropists, a man who has given away more than $200 million to charity, and has university faculties named for him across the country. He has a gloriously mischievous approach to life and philanthropy. Even though he has chosen to support traditional causes (universities and education), he has done so in an iconoclastic fashion.
Big Charities, Big Marketers
Looking back at 2013, I’ve been reminded daily of the economic weight of philanthropy. The reminders are the large-format ads that run in The Globe and Mail. Being a reader of print edition I’ve noticed that the biggest advertisers on many days are “institutional” charities — especially publicly-funded universities and hospital foundations. Some days the majority of the full-page ads are from these charities. They are celebrating gifts, donors, and faculty — or simply bragging and promoting the cause.