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.
Nobel Peace Prize’s Breach of Trust?
Norwegian lawyer Fredrik Heffermehl thinks the Nobel Foundation has blatantly ignored the intentions of Alfred Nobel for his namesake Peace Prize. Nobel’s will stipulated that the prize be awarded to the ”most worthy champions of peace”. Specifically it should go to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Charitable Gifts with Benefits
The common law of charity defines a gift as property that is “freely given without consideration”. That is, a transfer without any expectation of getting something back. It’s an ideal for giving, which often gets tattered and torn in the real world. It has always been so.
Approving Donor Recognition
Charities like to name things after donors. Simply, big gifts mean more prominent “naming opportunities”. Ontario’s Minister of Health recently issued a directive to hospitals stipulating that they can’t rename existing hospitals in recognition of donations. Is “naming” a risk for major donors? What are the estate planning implications?
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.
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.
New Ways to Help Ukraine
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has prompted many Canadians to ask, “how can I help?”. This war is different from previous international disasters and so is the response to it by ordinary caring citizens. New ways to help are shattering traditional charity norms.
Too Many Charities?
Does Canada have too many registered charities chasing too few dollars? This is a complaint that is often heard. There is simply too much competition and not enough entities with scale that are effective. Or so goes the narrative.
How to Build a Legacy
Creating a legacy is hardly a new goal, and each era of history is defined by a ruling philosophy or religion. Green’s guiding philosophy is secular and individualist. She is interested in living life with personal meaning, before it is too late.
A Statue in the Wrong Square
Bartolomeo Colleoni (1400-1475) was Lombardy-born general who served the Republic of Venice and Duchy of Milan in the 15th century wars on the Italian peninsula. A skilled mercenary, Colleoni was reputedly an evenhanded overlord who improved agricultural methods and was active in charity. Nonetheless, it was his will that secured his place in history.
Interview: How to make charitable giving part of your wealth plan (2021)
Interview for Scotiabank Perspectives. (December 2021)
Are Cause Funds a Great Charitable Equalizer?
These are the opening lines of a video that is part of the November launch of CanadaHelps.org new “Cause Funds” platform Unite for Change. https://uniteforchange.com/en/ There is urgency and emotion in the words and images. Judging from the faces, the audience for this new way of giving is young. The vision behind this new platform is just as bold: to address a crisis in Canadian charitable giving.
The Changes in Ordinary and Exceptional Donations
The majority of Canadians make annual donations to charity. These donations are done online, at the office, to places of worship, in response to a telemarketer, mail or social media appeal, or through a special event. This kind of “ordinary” giving is widespread, and so it creates a feeling of comfortable familiarity.
Chan and Zuckerburg’s Post-Charity Initiatives
Pretty much anything related to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan garners headlines. The announcement that they would be giving away 99 percent of their fortune – currently worth $45 billion in Facebook shares – prompted visions of a massive private foundation in the manner of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Instead the couple said they were putting the fund into a Limited Liability Company (LLC) to be called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that would make grants, engage in political advocacy and invest in social enterprises. Welcome to a hybrid, post-charity world.
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.
A Tech Response to Crisis
There has been a lot of handwringing about the coming charity apocalypse. Canadian charities are facing the most challenging operating environment in at least 80 years. But in any crisis there is opportunity and help. The greatest opportunity for fundraising charities lies, not surprisingly, in online technology.
What’s Happened to Voluntarism?
“It is a very sad day for me when notable figures cannot donate time and energy to charitable causes they believe deserve support.”
This indignant observation came from a letter to The Globe and Mail on July 18, 2020 in response to WE Charity scandal that engulfed the Federal Government.
Charity Armageddon
Chicken Little thought the sky was falling. From the beginning of the pandemic last winter, the doomsayers predicted that the charitable sector would be hit especially hard. We’d see mass closures and bankruptcies. But when and how? Is COVID-19 an acorn or a harbinger of charity armageddon?
Are Canadian’s Actually Becoming More Generous?
The words “generous” and “generosity” come up a lot in the world of charity. But there is little discussion about what influences generosity in Canada. Is it growing or shrinking? And is nature of generosity changing? It is a slippery and fascinating subject.
Interview: 1 on 1 with Malcolm Burrows
(Interview by Nicole Nakoneshny originally appears on KCI Philanthropy)