The Decline of Churches
Organized religion has been the bedrock of the Canadian charitable sector. When charities were first required to register federally in 1967, over 60% of organizations were religious and most were churches. As of January 2022, Christian charities represent just 29.7% of Canada’s 86,080 registered charities. The implications for society, giving, and estate planning are significant.
Charities Lawyers Don’t Recommend
I recently spoke to an estate lawyer who told me she would never recommend certain charities to clients. Why? Because of the way these charities treated estate trustees. Some charities are unduly litigious, grind on fees, and are obstreperous about releases.
Seven Faces of Philanthropy
The Seven Faces of Philanthropy: A New Approach to Cultivating Major Donors is an iconic American fundraising book published in 1994. In it authors Russ Allen Prince and Karen Maru File neatly categorize charitable profiles. While written for a fundraising audience, the book is a helpful reminder that charitable motivations are diverse. There is not a single way that donors approach philanthropy.
Philanthropic Ghosts
Some donors want their wishes understood and spirit felt long after they are gone. This impulse is part of a long tradition that has found expression in restricted gifts, charitable trusts and private foundations. It’s Halloween. Let’s review three approaches to philanthropic haunting.
The Sting of a Lost Inheritance
The rock star Sting recently announced that his six children will not receive his US$300 million estate. Although he was a bit vague about the ultimate destination he intimated it would be charity. We’ve seen versions of this story before. In the tradition of Warren Buffett — “I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing” – Sting is challenging notions of entitlement and deploying his wealth for public good.