donors

Thank you to Nadine Riopel, Bob McInnis, Derek Brechtholdt and the others who tweeted out the draft of this brief, and most especially provided valuable feedback.

This brief was developed in response to a call from the House of Commons Finance Committee as they undergo a review process of Canada's charitable sector and the tax laws that govern the sector.  Recommendations range from the creation of a government appointed Ambassador of Philanthropy, creating clearer legislation around "reasonable profit" and social enterprise, and addressing the inconsistencies in the T3010 tax filing that do not address the critical information that donors need in order to make informed charitable decisions.

In the fall, I posted a brief for the House of Commons Finance Committee on social enterprise and social finance policy development.  The final version, along with others that were submitted can be found here.

The Finance Committee is expanding their work and is now looking at charitable tax incentives.  The crowdsourcing of the last brief proved to be quite successful so I would like to try it again.

Attached is a draft of the submission for the Finance Committee. I will be sending in the final version on January 14th. Please share your thoughts and comments on this blog post. If you would like your name added to the reference list of this paper please let me know so that I can ensure that appropirate credit is made.

Dexterity Consulting is just going through its annual strategic planning review and stakeholder engagement.  As a reader of this blog your ideas, suggestions, input is welcome so that we can provide even better service to our clients.

Earlier this month the charitable sector has once again been under scrutiny... First with the CBC Marketplace Report - Canadian Cancer Society Spends more on Fundraising than on Research then the CTV report on charity CEO compensation.  What these two stories have in common is perceived lack of trasparency around how money is being raised, spent, and social issues addressed.

I recently tweeted some research that we had done by UnCommon Innovation on the state the financial services sector.  The focus on the study was on how advisors are talking with their clients about charitable giving.  What came out loud and clear is that advisors are looking for tools and resources to have deeper, more meaningful conversations with their clients about philanthropy.  These tools and resources can come from a number of places, the most knowledgeable place would be the charitable sector itself.

Apple has recently decided to prohibit the use of apps by non-profit organizations that would allow iPhone users the ability to make donations.  As a philanthropic advisor, and the CEO of Canada’s first (and only) donor-centered charitable search engine, I find this problematic for two reasons:

1. I feel that is not Apple’s place to be the Gate Keeper of whom and how people can donate to charities. 
    
2. The charitable marketplace is the second largest contributor to Canada’s economy, and as a service provider to both charities and donors, it is important to note that the charitable sector does not respond to market pressures in the same way as other sectors.  Large smart phone manufacturers and corporations, such as Apple, need to recognize the changes that are occurring in the charitable sector marketplace, most especially the way that people are directing their charitable dollars.
   Read more »

Apple has recently decided to prohibit the use of apps by non-profit organizations that would allow iPhone users the ability to make donations.  As a philanthropic advisor, and the CEO of Canada’s first (and only) donor-centered charitable search engine, I find this problematic for two reasons:

1. I feel that is not Apple’s place to be the Gate Keeper of whom and how people can donate to charities. 
    
2. The charitable marketplace is the second largest contributor to Canada’s economy, and as a service provider to both charities and donors, it is important to note that the charitable sector does not respond to market pressures in the same way as other sectors.  Large smart phone manufacturers and corporations, such as Apple, need to recognize the changes that are occurring in the charitable sector marketplace, most especially the way that people are directing their charitable dollars. 

If Apple wants to make significant social change, while attracting and retaining their current iPhone users, then they need to let donors choose how to donate rather than limit their donation methods.

What we advocate for is open access to information on the charitable sector.  This can be achieved by working with charities and other 3^rd party evaluators to ensure that iPhone users have up-to-date information   reflecting what the users/donors want, not only what the charities want to share.    Place2Give.com is that solution.  We are the conduit to smart philanthropy.   It is through systems like ours, that Apple and other smart phone operating systems can ensure their users have access to information about Canada’s charitable sector. 

The following is in response to the Globe & Mail piece on how to make an informed decision on charities in Canada. Read more »

Last week I was having coffee with two amazing and insightful people at my favourite local coffee shop - @CaffeRosso in Ramsay. @MicheleFGartner and Bob McInnis, Executive Director of @brownbaggingit, and I were talking about donor motivations and charity trends around fundraising and identifying other revenue streams.  At some point during the conversation Michele identified that "Feel-Good Philanthropy" can have a negative downstream effect on overall grant-making because it does not look at a foundations overall social strategy. Read more »

This morning the first blog post I read was Seth Godin's post entitled, Fear of Philanthropy.  In it he poses two questions:

1. How much is enough when it comes to philanthropy?
2. At what point do you decide when to walk away from an issue?