Philanthropy/Charitable Giving

Total 168 Posts

The Charity Capacity Gap

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Canada’s 85,896 registered charities have wide-ranging capacity, but these variations are often underappreciated.  Estate donors – and their professional advisors – often focus on cause and tax status, but ignore organizational health indicators like history, funding, staffing, and governance.  What should estate donors look for in a charity? Although all registered charities can issue donation tax receipts, not all charities can handle significant estate donations or receive more complex assets. ….

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Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

Foundation v. Charitable Organization

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[caption id="attachment_13341" align="aligncenter" width="766"] We Charity founders Craig and Marc Kielburger (Photo: Getty)[/caption] The WE Charity scandal has been fascinating to charity watchers.  On July 22, it was revealed that the Canadian Government contracted with the WE Charity Foundation for the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG) program, not the WE Charity as previously reported. Parallel public foundations often co-exist with operating charities (charitable organizations), but the two-charity structure was confusing,….

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Estate Donations, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

Unrestricted Giving – In Life and Estates

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An “ah ha” of COVID-19 is the importance of unrestricted giving to charity.  Donors, foundations and charities are realizing that excess conditions may hinders responses to urgent social needs.  Will this insight last beyond the pandemic? And does it apply to estate donations? Trust-Based Philanthropy First a bit of context.  In the charity world, particularly among granting foundations, there is a growing movement called “trust-based philanthropy”.  The tenets of this….

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Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving

Should Foundations Give More?

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Charitable foundations are grappling with their response to COVID-19.  A Canadian initiative, Give5.ca, is advocating for increased granting through a time limited pledge in 2020.  Simply, the ask is for foundations to pledge to grant at least of five percent of their assets to registered charities in 2020.  That’s it. There are no restrictions related to cause or type of charity. Give5 is a movement initiated by a broad coalition….

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Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

The Plague and Charitable Bequests

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[caption id="attachment_12694" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Tabernacle by Orcagna, 1359, Orsanmichelle, Florence[/caption] In 1348 the plague hit Florence – and Europe – hard. Half the population died in this densely populated city of 80,000. One result of this mass die-off was 350,000 florins of bequests to one organization, Orsanmichele, a grain market with a miracle producing Madonna shrine.  How much is 350,000 florins?  It was equal to the annual budget of the….

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Estate Donations, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

Charitable Remainder Trusts in Canada

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The Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) is a gift planning structure that rarely works in Canada.  An import from the U.S. – where it is an integral part of the gift and estate tax regime – the CRT in Canada has fewer tax and planning benefits.  It’s a foreign plant that doesn’t thrive in the Canadian soil. CRTs in the U.S. Introduced in 1969, U.S. CRTs are a defined structure in….

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Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Trusts
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