A little while ago, I came across this article by Ron Lieber on bringing his children into the family’s decisions on annual charitable giving. Basically, they decided last year that they would choose, as a family, those charities that they would give to over the...
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Charitable giving
The Canadian Donor’s Guide
Tonight, I will be attending the Spirit Catcher Awards Gala, celebrating the presentation of this year’s inductees to the Order of the Spirit Catcher, Barrie’s highest honour. The Spirit Catcher Awards are presented each year to two people who have demonstrated their...
Giving and taking back
I came across this story the other day about a gift left to charity that ended up in the wrong place. Basically, the donation was accidentally sent to the wrong animal shelter; both had the same name, but were in identically named cities in different states. In this...
Feeling good about giving to charity
Many of you probably remember watching the show Friends. In the fifth season, there was an episode where Phoebe was trying to do a good deed that she didn’t feel good about. In the end, she tried to give money during a telethon to PBS, which she hated. The donation...
Advice for advisors
I missed blogging last week for what I think was a very good reason: I am on the planing committee for a golf tournament for the Barrie Women and Children's Shelter. This was the third annual tournament, but we still needed to be planning since September of last year,...
Putting your money where your mouth is
I read this article a while ago about Joseph Flom, a lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meaghar & Flom LLP in New York who grew up very humbly, and built his firm into a global company with 24 offices around the world (including one in Toronto). When he died in...
Teaching our youth to give
Here's a great idea: teach children and teens how to give intelligently, and they will continue to be philanthropic throughout their lives. Javier Espinoza wrote this article in the Wall Street Journal last year about programs in the UK and US that are doing just...