Endowment is one of the most misunderstood terms in our charitable sector. Given the fact that “endowment” lacks a formal legal definition, this should hardly come as a surprise. There are many who still hold on to the traditional definition of an endowment – that...
Let’s stop comparing ourselves to Americans when it comes to charitable giving. It is true that on a per capita basis, Americans are more far generous than we are but the truth is that they are miles ahead of every nationality when it comes to...
In the past, I have attempted to dispel some of the basic tenets of corporate philanthropy – namely, that the notion of “corporate philanthropy” is a misguided one because all corporate giving must be driven by building shareholder value and that the values associated with...
There are many myths and erroneous assumptions about how corporations manage their community investments. The first myth (and probably the most important one to dispel) is the notion of corporate philanthropy – that corporations are entities that share human goals and ideals and are thus...
It’s time to have a frank discussion about charities and their administrative and fundraising costs. Over the past decade, the increasing focus on a charity’s cost of doing business – and yes, charities are in the business of societal betterment – has forced the entire...
Over the last few years, both donors and fundraisers have had the opportunity to consider the notion of endowments and how they might fit into an overall donor development model. Over this time, I have discussed endowments with many people in the charitable sector. What I...
The endowment is a bit of lost soul. It’s a term with no true legal meaning but a whole bunch of different interpretations. It’s a word embraced by some fundraising organizations yet frowned upon by others. Endowments are like perennial flowers – we don’t necessarily...
The Disbursement Quota is a hot topic in the charitable world. There are strong advocates for changing the existing rules, most notably raising the 3.5% minimum spending threshold on long-term assets. So given this renewed attention on the DQ, I thought it might be fun...
Over the decade, the influx of commercial donor-advised funds (i.e. DAFs operating under the brand of a financial institution) into the charitable marketplace has raised the eyebrow of many Canadian fundraising professionals. Will these DAFs take money away from my cause? While the institutional donor-advised...
In many sophisticated fundraising organizations, there is still a sharp dichotomy between major and planned gifts. As a fundraising professional, I cannot, for the life of me, understand this how this approach truly benefits the donor. Despite the growing professionalism of the non-profit sector, there...