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The World Around Us
Generosity in Knows No Borders
AROUND THE WORLD, a record 4.3 billion people helped someone they didn’t know, volunteered time or donated money to a good cause in the preceding month according to the Charities Aid Foundation’s World Giving Index 2024.
The world’s most generous country is Indonesia for the seventh year in a row, where 90 percent of Indonesians donated money to charity and 65 percent volunteered their time. Kenya is the second most generous country, rising from third last year. Singapore has risen 19 places to third, increasing its overall index score from 49 percent to 61 percent year on year. The positive results for Singapore follow recent Government initiatives to bolster philanthropy and volunteering.
The CAF World Giving Index is one of the biggest surveys on giving ever produced, interviewing millions of people around the world since 2009. This year’s Index includes data from 142 countries with people asked three questions: have they helped a stranger, given money or volunteered for a good cause during the past month.
The CAF World Giving Index 2024 also finds:
The top 10 countries include only two of the world’s largest economies (Indonesia and the United States), while one of the poorest countries in the world – The Gambia – is ranked in the fourth place.
Morocco saw the world’s largest year-on-year increase in donating money, with interviews taking place in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that hit the centre of the country in September 2023. Just two per cent of people donated money to charity in 2022, but this rose to 18 percent last year, and volunteering rates doubled from 8 percent to 16 percent.
Greece is the biggest riser this year, having consistently increased its ranking since 2013. It has a particularly high score for helping a stranger – significantly above the European average and particularly high among young people.
Neil Heslop OBE, Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, said:
“The generosity of people around the world is evident in CAF’s latest World Giving Index, with the global index score at its joint highest level, only previously matched during the pandemic. The research demonstrates how people from all continents and cultures remain ready to help those in need, during a year of continued economic and humanitarian challenges.
“Governments can learn from one another to grow giving and community engagement. In turn, this will help to build resilient civil society organisations and contribute towards a vibrant, generous society in every country.”
The Charities Aid Foundation, which marks its centenary this year, connects donors to charitable causes around the world. CAF distributes over £1 billion to charities every year.
September/October 2024 | Vol. 5 | No. 27
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CIBC Foundation and Sugar Ray Leonard teamed up in 2024. Sugar Ray said: “I had a great time participating in @cibc Miracle Day to raise funds for children’s charities globally. Giving back is a shared passion that I have with this foundation. Kudos to the generosity of CIBC’s team members, clients, and charity partners to come together and create an ambitious world without limits for future generations.” Photo courtesy CIBC.
HungerCount 2024 Report: Visits to Food Banks +90 percent since 2019, Immediate Action is Needed to Drive Change. As poverty in Canada spirals out of control, Food Banks Canada is reporting that Canada’s food bank visits have reached a grim milestone, with over two million visits in March 2024. That’s a staggering one million monthly visits more than recorded in March 2019, which means food bank visits have almost doubled (+90 percent) in five years.
And, according to the newlyreleased Food Banks Canada HungerCount 2024 report, close to 30 percent of Canadian food banks report running out of food as they buckle under the unrelenting “one-two punch of housing and food inflation.”
“This unthinkable rate of growth is not something food banks, nor people in Canada, can sustain. The damage is done, and people need immediate supports to help them recover. Everyone must come to the table to solve this problem. We cannot do it alone and need help to drive change,” urges Kirstin Beardsley, Chief Executive Officer, Food Banks Canada.
The devastating report — the only research study encompassing the country’s 5,500 food banks and community organizations — highlights the pervasive impact of rapid inflation and inadequate social supports on poverty, food insecurity and hunger in Canada.
HungerCount 2024 Findings
Number of visits in March 2024: 2,059,636. Percentage change from 2023: 6 percent. Percentage change from 2019: 90 percent.
People in every region of the country are experiencing economic hardship:
Food bank use soared over 2 million visits in March 2024, shattering Canada’s 2023 historic peak — and representing a 90 percent increase compared to March 2019. The one-two punch of housing and food inflation is hitting those with low incomes hardest.
❯ One-third of food bank clients are children –representing nearly 700,000 monthly visits in 2024.
❯ Nearly 1-in-5 food bank clients (18 percent) are employed, compared to roughly 1-in-10 (12 percent) in 2019.
North need better supports and we encourage all Canadians to help us call on governments to repair the social safety net that lies in tatters after decades of neglect. Every action gets us one step closer to a future in Canada where no one goes hungry. Help us drive change,” urges Beardsley.
❯ Nearly 70 percent of food bank clients live in market rent housing.
❯ Grossly inadequate Provincial social assistance remains the most common source of income for food bank clients.
❯ Thirty-two percent of food bank clients are newcomers to Canada – who have been in the country for 10 years or less.
To create a Canada where no one is left behind, and no one goes hungry, Canada must adopt a dual approach to address the root causes of food bank use by addressing low incomes and poverty and the skyrocketing costs of living. Learn more and join the drive for change.
Help Food Banks Canada Drive Change: A Dual Path Toward a Better Road Ahead
“Food Banks Canada believes that a dual-path approach is the way forward. We need governments to rapidly introduce income policies that will provide much-needed relief for the millions of people struggling right now. Lowincome workers, single adults, renters and communities in the
HungerCount 2024 is the only national research study of food banks and other food programs in Canada – and was initiated by Food Banks Canada in 1989. The information provided by the report provides invaluable insight into the root causes of food insecurity and poverty issues in Canada. Food Banks Canada is the leader in addressing food insecurity in Canada. Our mission is to provide national leadership to relieve hunger today and prevent hunger tomorrow in collaboration with the food bank network from coast to coast to coast. For over 40 years, food banks have been dedicated to helping Canadians living with food insecurity.
Meanwhile in Quebec. Food Banks of Quebec (FBQ) has reported a worrying trend, as the 2024 HungerCount reveals a significant increase in the number of requests met by the network’s member organizations. In just three years, the monthly number of requests for food assistance has jumped by over a million. And the network, which responds to 2.9 million requests for food assistance every month in 2024, sees no signs of a slowdown that would bode well for the future.
The 2024 HungerCount reveals that the various indicators measured are still in the red: The number of monthly food assistance requests responded to by member organizations of
Food Banks of Quebec (FBQ) has gone up. The number of people helped each month by the network is growing. Once again this year, most organizations within the network ran out of food. Food bank users continue to come from all walks of life. They include single people, working professionals, seniors, parents and children.
“For the first time, food security concerns have been recognized in the government’s poverty reduction plan, said Martin Munger, Executive Director of Food Banks in Quebec. “However, we must do more to reduce the immense pressure caused by the growing demand for food assistance. We must commit to and undertake structural actions that address the root causes of poverty and social inequality. We have recognized the current state of emergency, and now we must act to help the most vulnerable and reverse the trend we are facing.”
The $30 million granted by the government in the last budget made a significant difference for Food Banks of Quebec (FBQ), enabling the charity to purchase more food and meet the considerable demand. However, the reality is clear: although inflation has stabilized, the pressure from the cost of living remains very real, and the most vulnerable continue to bear the brunt of its effects.
While the Food Banks of Quebec network helps to fill gaps in the social safety net by supporting those facing food insecurity, it will simply be impossible to make a lasting impact without implementing strong public policies to combat poverty. The government’s action plan to combat poverty and social exclusion, unveiled last summer, is a step in the right
direction, but more must be done to see concrete results for the most vulnerable.
“Our network is doing everything it can to meet the demand, including initiatives with several partners to increase the volume of food we distribute and recurring fundraising campaigns, but that’s not enough, added Munger. “We’ll continue to do all we can to support those in need, but we can’t solve the problem at the source on our own.”
Groovy Vibes and Electric Dreams: the iconic bus is back and Campfire Circle will benefit. The wait is over, Canada! The iconic VW Bus is back, and in celebration of the highly anticipated arrival of Canada’s favourite microbus, Volkswagen is hosting a once-in-a-lifetime virtual auction to give Canadians the chance to be among the first to own this legendary, nowelectrified vehicle. The all-new ID. Buzz is turning heads as it rounds out the unforgettable Volkswagen Bus fleet with an electric model. Its retro-inspired shape, nostalgia-inducing modern design, cutting-edge technology, and EV drivetrain piqued national interest when revealed late last year.
passionate VW-enthusiasts and adventure seekers alike who valued freedom, adventure, the spirit of exploration and of course, a quirky design.
“Volkswagen isn’t just about cars, it’s about the unforgettable experiences and memories to be had behind the wheel,” says Edgar Estrada, President of Volkswagen Canada. “Whether it’s a cross-country road trip, the nostalgic charm of a perfectly restored classic Bus, or participation in one of the many fan-driven festivals, meetups and dedicated online forums, these stories are woven into the fabric of our brand. With the ID. Buzz coming to Canadian roads, we’re excited to write the next chapter with our VW community — with an all-electric twist.”
To celebrate the launch of this new era in the beloved VW bus lineage, Volkswagen is excited to be auctioning off one of the very first ID. Buzz, in support of Campfire Circle, a Canadian charity that brings joy and the spirit of camp to kids with cancer or series illness and their families.
This highly anticipated auction kicked off at an immersive, camp-inspired event in October in Toronto and was available online, nationwide to VW bus fanatics eager to get behind
This newly launched vehicle is unlike any other and isn’t simply a means of transportation. The ID. Buzz embodies the values of its predecessors, embraced by
Canada partners for the launch of a truly unforgettable vehicle,” says Campfire Circle’s Chief Executive Officer, Alex Robertson. “We’re constantly overwhelmed by Volkswagen’s commitment to our organization, and we look forward to kicking off this oncein-a-lifetime opportunity for one lucky person to get behind the wheel of an iconic EV while lending a helping hand to the kids and families we support.”
Founded in 1952, Volkswagen Canada is headquartered in Ajax, Ontario.
MAPEI Canada, a leader in chemical products for the building industry, proudly hosted its first-ever Buildto-Give Day in support of Cycling Canada’s HopOn youth cycling program. This collaborative effort marks a significant milestone in MAPEI’s commitment to local community engagement and youth development through sports. The HopOn national grassroots program aims to make cycling accessible to everyone across Canada. HopOn is overseen by Cycling Canada and delivered locally by Provincial and Territorial Cycling Associations.
MAPEI Canada proudly hosted its first-ever Build-to-Give Day in support of Cycling Canada’s HopOn youth cycling program. This collaborative effort marks a significant milestone in MAPEI’s commitment to local community engagement and youth development through sports.
the wheel of this legendary ride while benefiting children and their families affected by cancer.
“We’re thrilled and delighted to be joining our Volkswagen
MAPEI Canada proudly hosted its first-ever Build-to-Give Day in support of Cycling Canada’s HopOn youth cycling program. This collaborative effort marks a significant milestone in MAPEI’s commitment to local community engagement and youth development through sports.
The Build-to-Give Day took place last September at the MAPEI Canada head office and plant in Laval, Québec, where volunteers from MAPEI Canada, Cycling Canada, and the Fédération québecoise des sports cyclistes (FQSC) lined up to assemble bicycles purchased through the MyFirstBicycle charity. Once assembled, the bicycles were then transported to Parc Bon-Pasteur in Laval, Québec, where they were distributed to low-income families. A free bicycle lesson was provided on-site by certified HopOn instructors, supported by the leadership team from the Espoirs Laval cycling club. The selected low-income families with children signed up for the Build-to-Give initiative through local nonprofits Relais Famille, la Maison de la Famille de St-François, and la Maison des enfants le Dauphin.
“As an official partner of Cycling Canada, we’re thrilled to extend our support beyond financial contributions and actively participate in building and giving bicycles as an opportunity to train the next generation of cyclists across the country,” said Mick Kopis, Marketing Director, MAPEI Canada. “This initiative aligns perfectly with a quote from our late former CEO, Giorgio Squinzi, ‘never stop pedaling’.”
Josh Peacock, Marketing Director of Cycling Canada, also expressed enthusiasm for the initiative: “MAPEI’s commitment
to cycling in Canada has been outstanding, and this Build-toGive Day takes our collaboration to a new level. This hands-on approach will truly have a lasting impact on our HopOn program and the young cyclists we serve.”
To keep the momentum going, MAPEI Canada and Cycling Canada will be selling limited edition cycling jerseys with 100% of proceeds fueling the HopOn program to get even more children on bicycles. To purchase a jersey, visit shop. cyclingcanada.ca
The Build-to-Give Day is just one way that thousands of youth participants are part the HopOn program every year. The end goal is to engage 300,000 children with the HopOn program by 2030. To learn how you can support youth cycling initiatives, please visit hoponcanada.ca
TELUS Friendly Future Foundation has launched its first national sweepstakes to raise funds to support socially minded, postsecondary students in need of financial aid. TELUS Friendly Future Foundation has launched the inaugural Friendly Future Sweepstakes, providing all Canadians 18 years and older a chance to win a one-of-a-kind family trip for four to Oahu, Hawaii, as well as other prizes including Visa and WestJet gift cards. Tickets can be purchased online until November 30, with one hundred per cent of proceeds going directly to
providing bursaries to deserving, socially-minded post-secondary students.
Recent studies revealed the financial challenges many Canadian students and parents are currently facing when it comes to post-secondary education, with 65 per cent of students defining themselves as financially unstable and nearly half currently unable to adequately cover basic needs such as food and housing. Launched last year, the TELUS Student Bursary has already supported nearly 1000 students across the country who are experiencing financial need and are committed to making a difference in their communities.
Building on the momentum and desire to support even more youth in need across Canada, Canadians can also support the cause through the Friendly Future Auction. Running for the fourth year, the auction has more than 200 items up for bid, including weekend getaways, tickets to sporting events and signed memorabilia. Canadians can bid online until November 13, with all proceeds supporting the TELUS Student Bursary program. Since 2021, the Friendly Future Auction has raised more than $350,000 in support of young people reaching their full potential.
“At TELUS Friendly Future Foundation we see firsthand the awe-inspiring commitment and determination of our youth today, despite them facing incredible financial and social hardships. Their stories fuel our unwavering commitment to continue empowering and motivating young people to pursue their dreams of creating a better world,” said Nimmi Kanji, Executive Director, TELUS Friendly Future Foundation.
“With your participation in the Friendly Future Sweepstakes and the Friendly Future Auction, you are directly contributing to the TELUS Student Bursary program and helping youth across Canada achieve their dreams of attending post-secondary.”
Since launching in 2023, TELUS Friendly Future Foundation provided bursaries to nearly 1000 students, across nine provinces and 93 different schools. Notably this year alone, 76 percent of the TELUS Student Bursaries were awarded to equity-deserving groups and 50 percent are the first in their family to pursue post-secondary education in Canada. The next application window will open to eligible students in Spring 2025. For more information on the Friendly Future Sweepstakes, including how to purchase tickets, visit the sweepstakes website. To learn more about the Friendly Future Auction, including placing a bid, visit friendlyfutureauction.com
PetSmart Charities of Canada Celebrates 400,000 Pet Adoptions. PetSmart Charities of Canada®, the leading funder of animal welfare in the country, today announced its 400 thousandth pet adoption as part of its 25th anniversary celebration. The milestone adoption came at PetSmart Charities of Canada National Adoption Week in October, when potential pet parents were invited to meet adoptable pets from animal welfare organizations at local PetSmart stores across Canada.
Nicole and her adopted kitten Rosie, the 400,000th pet adopted through PetSmart Charities of Canada. The charity invites potential adopters to visit a PetSmart store during National Adoption Week each October.
More than 100 local shelter and rescue partners bring a host of adoptable pets into nearly every PetSmart store across Canada.
Nicole Lauff, a dedicated PetSmart associate, visited a PetSmart store in Cambridge, Ontario in hopes of finding an adoptable cat to add to her family. After growing up with a cat, Nicole was eager to welcome a new feline friend into her home as a fur-sibling to her dog, Bella. As soon as she laid eyes on Rosie at the PetSmart Charities of Canada Adoption Centre, she knew it was meant to be.
“It honestly feels so amazing to know that I changed this cat’s life, and also made room for another loving pet in my life,” Nicole shared. Rosie’s cuddly and loving personality not only paired the two together instantaneously that day, but she also became the 400 thousandth pet adopted through PetSmart Charities of Canada. Now Nicole and Rosie join a special pack of milestone pet adoption families that represent the impact of thriving partnerships between
PetSmart, PetSmart Charities of Canada, and local shelters and rescue organizations.
“It’s so special to be able to celebrate that thousands of families have opened their hearts to 400,000 pets in need of homes as we continue to celebrate PetSmart Charities of Canada’s 25th anniversary year,” said Heidi Marston, director of pet placement at PetSmart Charities of Canada. “We’re grateful for our local shelter and rescue partners that give compassionate care to adoptable pets as they wait for people to love. We know Rosie, and all the other pets adopted this National Adoption Week, will bring so much joy to their new families.”
For 25 years, PetSmart Charities of Canada has facilitated instore adoptions in partnership with local animal welfare organizations. The in-store adoption program was launched following a promise made by PetSmart founders to refrain from selling dogs and cats in stores. Instead, local shelter and rescue partners bring adoptable pets into Adoption Centres in PetSmart stores to meet potential pet parents. The program has successfully helped thousands of pet parents make connections with pets that make perfect additions to their families.
The 400 thousandth adoption milestone honours all those who have opened their hearts and homes to pets in need.
As local animal shelters across Canada are currently experiencing unprecedented overcrowding due to prolonged stays in shelters, adopting from a PetSmart Charities of Canada adoption partner during National Adoption Week can not only enrich a family, but also save lives and support local animal welfare organizations.
According to a recent
nationwide survey1, one-third (34 percent) of Canadians have considered adopting a pet from a local charity or pet shelter this past year. October National Adoption Week is the perfect time for potential pet parents to explore the best pets for them.
Haleon (Canada), a global leader in consumer health, donated of more than 280,000 bottles of Children’s Advil to two Canadian-based, non-profit organizations. This donation supports Haleon’s purpose and is helping to ensure no child is left with untreated fever or pain.
“Haleon Canada is always searching for new ways to deliver better everyday health with humanity,” said Sarey Wulf, Head of Corporate Affairs, Haleon Canada. “With cold and flu season around the corner, we found an opportunity to allocate a portion of our Children’s Advil as a donation, helping the people and the places that need it most.”
Haleon’s donation of Children’s Advil, totaling almost $2 million CAD, will be distributed both domestically and internationally through its partnerships with Health Partners International Canada (HPIC) and GlobalMedic. This collaboration aims to ensure that children in need have access to essential health care, highlighting Haleon’s commitment to supporting local and global health initiatives. The donations will help address health disparities and improve the well-being of children in various communities.
“We are incredibly grateful to Haleon for their generous donation of Children’s Advil,” said Rahul Singh, Executive Director, GlobalMedic. “This partnership will enhance our ability to
provide essential healthcare support to children in need close to home and abroad.”
“Together, we are making a tangible difference in the lives of many families,” said Lois Brown, HPIC’s President. “Having this donation of Children’s Advil will ensure that children, no matter where they are, have access to the medication they need to stay healthy and thrive.”
Haleon continues to strive to make healthcare more inclusive, achievable and sustainable. Despite improvements in medicine, data and technology, this remains elusive for too many people. Together with community partners, Haleon continues to pioneer new ways of bringing better everyday health to under-served sections of society. Haleon is a global leader in consumer health, with a purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity. Haleon’s product portfolio spans five major categories — Oral Health, Pain Relief, Respiratory Health, Digestive Health and Other, and Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements (VMS). Its long-standing brands — such as Advil, Sensodyne, Voltaren, NeoCitran, Polident, and Centrum — are built on trusted science, innovation, and deep human understanding.
GlobalMedic is a registered Canadian charity whose mandate is to provide people affected by poverty, disaster and/ or conflict with humanitarian aid — both on a domestic and global scale. Headquartered in Toronto and established by Rahul Singh, GlobalMedic’s guiding principle is getting the Right Aid to the Right People at the Right Time propelling their mission to deliver maximum aid impact with remarkable operational efficiency.
BY TONY MAIORINO
sASix Factors That Could Affect Charitable Giving
the end of the year approaches, often so does a renewed focus on being charitable. Even in times of a challenging economy, charitable values and giving during the winter holiday season seem to hold steady for many people. In fact, an Ipsos poll late last year found that more Canadians would rather cut back on holiday giftgiving among family and friends than they would on charitable donations.
For some, it’s the spirit of the season that boosts charitable motivations; for others, it’s factored in as part of year-end tax planning. Either way—or whether a combination of both— there can be many benefits to incorporating charitable giving as part of one’s overall wealth planning.
We know that for many Canadians, giving often tends to be reactive or more ad hoc in nature. By understanding one’s charitable objectives or tax planning needs, our RBC Family Office Services team helps people recognize that a structured, holistic approach can help them create a greater impact than they expected, in a way that’s tax efficient and aligned with their wealth planning.
For those in the philanthropic sectors, it’s important to be aware of underlying circumstances that could impact donors’ decision-making. With economic and tax considerations in mind, here are six factors that might affect charitable giving in 2024.
1. The giving season
The holiday season can be a very popular time for philanthropy. According to the 2023 CanadaHelps Giving Report, December is the largest month of giving, accounting for 30 percent of all annual donations.
Not surprisingly, many causes and organizations run campaigns or seasonal giving opportunities at the end of the year, making it even more of a challenge to stand out. For those in philanthropy, it may be effective to promote a structured approach to giving or different giving options available. Doing so may appeal to or strengthen relationships with donors who could benefit from a charitable giving strategy or who are interested in including it in their overall wealth planning. Against this year’s backdrop of ongoing economic uncertainty, it may also help donors who are more focused on how giving fits with their annual budget.
2. Donation tax credits
On the tax planning side, many donors are aware that donations
to qualified recipients need to be made by Dec. 31 of the tax year to receive a donation tax credit. The donation tax credit can be claimed on their tax return and helps individuals reduce their income taxes in the year they make the claim.
In general, there’s no limit to the amount a person can donate in a year, so if someone has or anticipates a large tax bill, the donation tax credits can be very advantageous to help lower their tax liability. For tax purposes, Canadians can generally claim a charitable donation of up to 75 percent of their net income in a taxation year (100 percent for Quebec).
With that in mind, some donors may be looking at their tax situation towards year-end, even more so this year given some of the proposed tax measures from the 2024 Federal Budget. A donation might make sense, not only because of their charitable intentions but also as part of their tax planning.
3. Further potential tax benefits
Still in the realm of tax planning, there are situations where the potential tax benefit of charitable giving is amplified.
For those who’ve had a liquidation event like the sale of a business or of real estate, for example, making a charitable donation and claiming a donation tax credit may have a significant impact to help offset their taxes payable. The same goes for those who’ve sold assets with large capital gains in the year. With the proposed changes to the capital gains inclusion rate (more on that below), this may be more impactful for some in 2024.
Sometimes, a donation can also help rebalance an investment portfolio. For example, it may work well in some scenarios to donate securities in-kind to a registered charity or other qualified recipient to avoid having to include any capital gain accrued on the donated security as taxable income. Recognizing that may be an effective option for some donors from a tax perspective, accepting in-kind donations of securities can be a solid strategic plan for those in the charitable sector.
4. Various options for giving
With many options for giving beyond a direct donation of cash, donor awareness of approaches — whether during their lifetime or as part of wealth transfer and estate planning, or both — is another important factor. Just as some charitable organizations can accept in-kind donations of securities, they might also solicit other non-cash gifts like capital property,
BY KATHLEEN A. PROVOST, CFRE, MAdEd
AsCreating Elation: LEADERSHIP KATHLEEN PROVOST
Be part of something new
a professional fundraiser I always wonder how I can keep “things exciting”. Is it possible, after having fundraised for so many years in the charitable sector, to still engage donors in new ways, motivate staff members, and find creative ways to reach philanthropic goals? Well, I say yes!
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending some workshops in Ottawa, hosted by Private Foundations Canada (PFC). I remember when PFC was created 25 years ago; however, it was at this 25th PFC annual conference that I realized how invigorating our sector can be. PFC’s membership includes private and public foundations, charities, non-profits, and corporate giving programs. They were coming together to discuss innovative ways to have a bigger impact in our communities — the communities we serve and the communities who may be left behind. Whether these members were in their first or 25th year, conference speakers and attendees all took part in these fundamental workshops that will shape today’s philanthropy. Some topics included discussions on non-qualified donees, participatory grantmaking, youth-led organizations and much more.
This very well mirrors what Canadian freelance writer, Sherlyn Assam highlighted in her September article entitled: What are the fundamentals of philanthropy today? She states that the 400-plus PFC conference attendees were willing to further discuss key sectorial subjects such as: governance, grantmaking, investing, government relations, and many more topics essential to the philanthropic sector.
I believe that as a sector, if we are willing and able to come together, question the status quo and explore new boundaries, it is healthy and promising. Complaisance is the biggest obstruction to innovation and over the years, these kinds of gathering have been keeping our sector invigorated. I applaud such opportunities to come together, as will be happening in Toronto, in November, thanks to the collaboration of Foundation Magazine and The Hilborn Group, including the Civil Sector Press and Charity eNews.
Factors to consider
To keep “things exciting”, in my opinion, there are a few key factors to consider. First, we must not lose sight of the most important person: the Fundraiser. For any successful innovation or creativity to occur and to revitalize any of our philanthropic efforts, we must start by taking care of ourselves, the Fundraiser. Secondly, we must then work with the next key
person in our fundraising efforts: the Donor. And last, but not least, we have the opportunity to listen and learn from new members of our community at different times. “Louder” voices are rising and helping to shape and inform how innovative we can be and how much we need to adapt to respond to the new needs of our communities.
The first person - The Fundraiser
Last month, in Hilborn Charity eNews, Ed Sluga, CFRE authored “Managing Stress in Fundraising ”, in which he states that increasing demands to raise more funds paired to the decreasing supports and resources available have resulted in a heavy burden that fundraisers are carrying on their own. To address this burden, Sluga suggested a partnership between PGgrowth and Talk, Listen, Connect (TLC) to pilot community support circles. These pilot groups are tailor-made for workers in the fundraising sector to provide professional support in an effort to decrease the levels of stress workers from this sector are experiencing. To date, this pilot is showing remarkable initial results.
According to PGgrowth, community circles are showing some hope, optimism and solace by connecting professionals experiencing similar stressful situations to come together and to share their challenges. This clearly illustrates how much work is needed in the fundraising sector to support the wellbeing of our professionals. To prevent the loss of creativity, it is essential to care for “the Fundraiser” by finding ways to eliminate the stress we experience in our day-to-day work.
The second person - The Donor
In my article “ The Segments Within Our Sector – The Next Genus Of Donors ” (March 2024), I cautioned us to pay attention to the various “ways philanthropists work”. Generational eccentricities can complicate how we do fundraise; however, it may also provide further opportunities to innovate and explore together how to have the intended impact we aspire to have in our work, in our communities, in our sector. Identifying and understanding how Gen X or Gen Z prefers to donate gives us an opportunity to re-brand an event or develop a different online fundraising campaign.
In their second edition of “Generational Giving Report”, Bloomerang revealed crucial insights into giving behaviors and donor involvement. Dennis Fois, CEO of Bloomerang claims
BY MARY CAHALANE
WTHE HAND’S ON FUNDRAISER MARY CAHALANE
Why You Need a Great Year-End Ask
e’re heading into the year-end flurry of fundraising. What’s your ask?
Tis the season, and fundraisers everywhere are preparing. What’s your year-end ask?
It’s also the season for multiple “giving days”… like GivingTuesday or December 31st.
I hope you’re already polishing up the last details of your year-end campaign. But before you mail anything or hit send, I want to remind you of a few things.
Why do you need that gift? Really…
Before you ask for a gift, you need to know why you’re asking. And some “reasons” aren’t really reasons.
❯ “Because we need money” is not enough.
❯ “GivingTuesday” is not an answer.
❯ “Christmas” is not an answer in itself.
❯ December 31st and taxes are not, either.
I know. Sometimes, figuring out a simple, clear, case for support is hard. And because you’re much better informed about the work than most donors, your insider’s eyes can become dulled to the outside perspective.
So push yourself back a step or two. See it with your donor’s eyes. And think.
Ask yourself some questions — the ones your donors will be asking:
What is the problem that a gift will solve? And how does my $25, $100, or $1000 solve it?
What happens if I give? What changes? And what happens if I don’t give?
What’s the hurry? Why is my gift needed right now?
Who does my gift help, specifically? Can you give me an example or two?
The more specific your request, and the more tangible the outcome of a gift, the more persuasive you’ll be.
Remember why we give
We give to feel good. And solving a pressing problem feels good. Is there some bandwagon effect to giving days like GivingTuesday? Some digital peer pressure? Sure. But I think those of us in the sector feel it more than your average donor.
And even if they’re reminded to give because of the publicity surrounding a particular day, they’ll still want to know why they’re giving. What great thing will their generosity achieve?
Donors give when they see a clear need. One that they can fill. “Meet our budget goals” isn’t very inspiring, is it?
That’s why clear asks like “$35 could feed a family for a week” are so powerful. It’s simple. It’s easy to understand. (We all need to eat.) And feeding a whole family for that sounds like a bargain. So… it feels great.
Tricky mission? Hard to quantify?
I get it. I spent most of my years in the sector at an arts organization or something like one. Tangible? Urgent? Those can be tricky. I don’t know that anyone has died because the show couldn’t go on.
So if your mission feels less urgent compared to homelessness, or hunger, or disease… it is.
But… that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. Or to be more specific… it matters to your people. The ones who love your theater, or your museum, or your park. They’ve already told you that by giving.
Ask yourself: why does your organization need money, now? To keep the doors open? Or to afford programming for young people? To underwrite an exciting new artist’s performance?
Be specific. Use the budget to find your answers. And please go beyond “to close a budget gap this year” unless that budget gap means the doors will shut. (And “fire sales” like that are not a technique you can use often before donors give up on you.)
Set aside the time to create a strong year-end ask… it will pay off.
Give yourself a day or two to work it through, even though the to-do list for year-end is getting more pressing every day. This is important.
Because once you know exactly what you’re asking for, the ask becomes clearer — both for you and for your donors.
THE ACCIDENTAL PHILANTHROPIST® MARK HALPERN
Charity with Benefits
How the Intersection of Tax, Life Insurance and Charity Helped a Family Achieve Its Philanthropic Goals
BY MARK HALPERN, CFP, TEP, MFA-P
After 33 of professional practice, I am convinced that most business is extremely personal because people prefer to do business with those who have relationships with them.
When looking to make a big-ticket purchase they often choose the retail outlet where they know and trust the manager even if it costs a little bit more. When considering a substantial charitable donation, they usually seek an organization where they have a personal connection — either to someone who works there or to someone who benefited from the charity’s services. And if they don’t have an existing relationship to turn to, they’ll often ask around for a personal referral.
On the surface, it may look like technology has changed how we go about our daily lives so much that prioritizing relationships doesn’t apply anymore. Without question, the internet has made many interactions for business and pleasure a lot less personal. And it’s true that people sometimes buy expensive things online, clicking through to checkout without talking to a knowledgeable salesperson. They also donate online, typing in their credit card number without much thought and certainly without any strategic planning that could maximize the benefits for themselves and for the charity. (Using cash, checks and credit cards is the least cost-effective and tax-efficient way to be generous. Contact us for to receive our white paper).
Nevertheless, both businesses and not-for-profits that emphasize relationships over transactions, and put strategic planning ahead of snap decisions, still have a tremendous opportunity to stand out and attract clients and donors. A solid first step in relationship-building is to demonstrate how you can help someone save money — and that can be just as impactful whether you’re selling a product or sharing a tax-minimizing donation strategy.
We meet with so many successful entrepreneurs and affluent families who are more than happy to share their wealth when asked to donate through a one-time gift — say, on behalf of a friend who is running a half-marathon to support cancer research. But when we ask them questions about their estate plan, we discover that they often don’t have an up-to-date will, powers of attorney, a shareholders’ agreement or an estate directory. You’d expect the high-net-worth to have this type of strategic planning in order — but they usually don’t.
Planning more important than ever
Since Budget 2024 increased the capital gains inclusion rate, tax planning through philanthropy has become even more valuable. Since June 25, 2024, individuals are taxed on twothirds of capital gains above $250,000 that they realize during a year (they continue to be taxed on one-half of capital gains below that threshold). Meanwhile, corporations are now taxed on two-thirds of all capital gains they realize during the year.
Even before this change, but especially after it, successful entrepreneurs and affluent families must decide whether they want the government to be one of their largest beneficiaries — or whether they would prefer to implement strategies that maximize their legacy to loved ones while also supporting their favourite philanthropic causes. Would they prefer to be remembered for giving $5 million to Ottawa or $10 million to charity? It is possible to convert taxes into charity, but you need a plan to do it.
Proper planning is customized to each family’s needs, but here’s a simple example of how it can work.
A Recent Case
A charitable family owned a holding company with an investment portfolio that included $2 million of appreciated stock, initially costing $1 million. They wanted to make a charitable contribution while prioritizing their family’s financial wellbeing.
The Give and Get Strategy
Selling the securities would trigger a $1 million capital gain, resulting in $360,000 owed in taxes. Within 24 hours, we established a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) with a community foundation at no cost to the family. They donated the entire $2 million in appreciated securities to the DAF, completely mitigating the $360,000 capital gains tax.
The shares were sold at the market rate, generating a charitable receipt for $2 million. This receipt could offset up to 75 percent of their net taxable income, saving them $1 million in taxes which they could use now or over five years, which would also allow the triggering of any other capital gains tax from other assets.
CONTINUED ON page 18
BY GEORGE IRISH
“AI
Ican’t write like a human”
INSIDE AI GEORGE IRISH Can We Teach AI to Be a Good Fundraising Writer?
hear that often, especially from fundraising colleagues who work in the content production cycle (crafting donor comms, writing appeals). Sometimes it’s used to justify their hesitation to start exploring AI’s potential.
I can’t say that the statement is wrong — because AI doesn’t write like a human — but I believe AI can play a transformative role in improving our fundraising processes.
We’re generally aware now that ChatGPT and other AI chatbots (like Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini) can be valuable assistants for many daily work tasks such as summarizing meeting notes, transcribing conversations, and compiling documents.
But can AI also write high-quality ‘flagship’ content for fundraising appeals?
The answer may be ‘Yes’ – with a few important cautions.
If you make a simple request to ChatGPT today to write a fundraising appeal for your charity or nonprofit, you’ll be disappointed with the results.
Here’s an example of an AI-written appeal generated from a simple prompt:
Stand
with Us in the Fight for Human Rights
Dear [First Name],
Today, more than ever, people around the world are facing unimaginable injustice. From imprisoned activists and silenced voices to entire communities torn apart by violence and discrimination, human rights are under attack.
At Amnesty International, we fight every day to defend those whose voices are suppressed, ensuring no one is left behind in the struggle for freedom and dignity. But we can’t do it alone. We need supporters like you to continue this vital work.
[appeal continues …]
It’s not very impressive – generic and unconvincing.
AI chatbots like ChatGPT have significant limitations when it comes to writing effective donation appeals:
❯ Lack of fundraising expertise: While AI chatbots have
broad general knowledge, they lack the specific, experiencebased expertise needed for effective fundraising writing.
❯ Task-based approach: AI tends to approach writing as a series of steps to complete, and assembles texts piece by piece, which means it struggles with crafting larger narratives and consistent emotional tone.
❯ Randomness as a substitute for creativity: AI chatbots have built-in randomness that can sometimes produce novel combinations of words and ideas, but this doesn’t often translate to meaningful creativity in a fundraising context.
As well, there’s the underlying factor that AIs don’t think at all like humans.
How humans and AI think differently about fundraising
ChatGPT may appear to be thinking in words and sentences but it’s actually doing calculations with numbers. When you type something, your words are converted into numbers. The AI analyzes them to find patterns that predict what numbers should come next. These predicted numbers are then converted back into the words that you see as the response.
AI chatbots can’t truly understand fundraising concepts, but they can learn to recognize and replicate the patterns of successful fundraising writing.
How to make AI write like a fundraiser
So, how can we improve an AI’s fundraising writing skills?
One possible approach is called ‘fine-tuning’. This involves training the AI model on sample sets of both good and bad fundraising content. The model studies the samples and learns to emulate the good patterns while avoiding the bad ones.
For fundraising writing, this means the AI learns to identify effective patterns in language, such as emotional tone, storytelling techniques, and persuasive language, which it
can then apply to generate compelling fundraising messages.
Fine tuning works, but it is complicated, expensive, and sometimes unpredictable. Consider the example of an AI trained to identify pictures of dogs vs. wolves. The model appeared to perform well, but researchers discovered it had learned the wrong thing — it was actually distinguishing between wilderness backgrounds (for wolves) and domestic settings (for dogs), rather than identifying the animals themselves.
This highlights a key challenge: if we use sample-based training for AI, how do we ensure it’s learning the right lessons about what makes fundraising effective?
This is an active area of AI research that could lead to the development of a fundraising-specific version of ChatGPT.
An alternate approach is to provide the AI with a boost of fundraising expertise through ‘prompt tuning’.
Prompt tuning means giving the AI a detailed set of instructions and resources that increase its specific expertise and guide it to create improved outputs.
If you’ve used ChatGPT you’ve likely already done some prompt tuning, as in when you ask it a follow up request like: “Try again, but this time focus more on …”
This is where human fundraising expertise and insight come into play. Writing an effective fundraising appeal is complex and human writers rely on their own personal mix of fundraising best practices, individual experience, language mastery, and understanding of audience, messaging, and campaign priorities.
The prompt-tuning approach is to codify this fundraising know-how into a comprehensive instruction set that’s passed to the AI model, including:
❯ a summary of fundraising best practices
❯ a writing guide for effective fundraising storytelling and asks
❯ formatting instructions for your appeal (length, structure, reading level)
❯ Audience insights, messaging, and learnings from past campaigns
All of this rolled together into a ‘megaprompt’ and submitted to ChatGPT can give you surprisingly good results.
Here’s an improved example of an AI-generated fundraising appeal using prompt tuning:
Subject: Navalny’s Legacy: Join the Journey of Resilience in Russia
Dear [Name],
The world has tragically lost a beacon of hope and courage: Alexei Navalny.
Despite poisoning attempts, imprisonments, and constant threats, Navalny never wavered in his fight for a free and democratic Russia. His resilience inspired millions, and showed that one person’s determination can spark a movement. Even in his final days in a remote Arctic penal colony, his spirit remained unbroken.
But Navalny’s journey didn’t end with his tragic death. It continues through the countless Russians who, despite great personal risk, are carrying on his legacy.
Will you stand with those continuing this journey of resilience? Your support can help ensure Navalny’s vision for a free Russia lives on.
[appeal continues …]
This appeal has much-improved storytelling, empathy, and emotional connection, as well as specific campaign relevance.
You can test out this out for yourself using a web app that I’ve developed to demonstrate the potential of an AIpowered appeal writer.
GoodWriter does the heavy-lifting of prompt-tuning and already has an instruction set of best practices and style guides built in, ready for use. All you need to do is fill out a few form fields to outline the content of your appeal, and the app will return a complete, prompttuned appeal text, ready to be reviewed.
A number of fundraising CRM platforms are also exploring AI-powered appeal writers:
These are still early models, but they already show real promise in their ability to craft compelling fundraising appeals.
AI’s role in fundraising will continue to grow as the technology evolves and we gain more experience in effectively combining the strengths of human and AI fundraisers.
It’s important to ensure that AI is always run under human oversight. AI-generated content is only a tool for augmenting human creativity and is not a replacement for skilled fundraisers. The human connection between fundraisers and donors will remain at the heart of effective fundraising.
GEORGE IRISH is a veteran of strategy, coaching and consulting for AI-powered charity fundraising. He works with Amnesty International Canada and Greenpeace among other organizations.uo He writes this column exclusively for each issue of Foundation Magazine.
THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE
JULIE QUENNEVILLE
How Philanthropy is Building UHN’s New Surgical Tower
BY JULIE QUENNEVILLE
AtUniversity Health Network (UHN), we’re shaping the future of healthcare through a bold vision: a state-of-the-art surgical tower that will redefine patient-centered care and surgical innovation. This ambitious $1.1B capital project — the largest in UHN’s history — will be a pivotal addition to UHN, a beacon of hope for patients and their families, a symbol of excellence in Canadian health care, and a testament to the power of philanthropy.
As Canada’s #1 hospital, UHN has long pioneered advancements in research and patient care, and has built its reputation on handling the most complex medical and surgical cases in the country. In addition to much-needed infrastructure upgrades, there is a critical need to create a space that matches the excellence of our surgical teams — one that can support their bold ideas.
The surgical tower will be home to 20 state-of-the-art operating rooms equipped with the latest robotics equipment, artificial intelligence support, and real-time imaging technology. With 82 private patient rooms, it will completely transform the experience of patients and their families, while helping UHN increase surgical capacity — critical to reducing wait times for patients who need our specialized care.
The tower will also serve as a training hub for future surgical leaders, and will help bring UHN’s excellence to remote areas via teleconferencing and telesimulation from right inside the operating room.
Building this tower is a massive undertaking that combines UHN’s vision, a generous investment of $800M from the Ontario government and a major gifts campaign to raise the final $300M. Time is of the essence: while the tower will be completed 2028, we know that major capital campaigns are more challenging to close as projects near completion. That’s why we’ve assembled an influential team of volunteers to help accelerate our efforts. Our Tower Campaign Cabinet, comprising more than 30 business leaders and philanthropists, are both personally contributing to our goal as well as leveraging their networks to introduce us to new prospects.
With the support of this powerhouse group, we already have huge momentum behind this campaign, and I am confident
that together — united in a shared vision to reimagine health care — we will meet our goal on schedule, and create a new and enhanced space where lives are saved and the future of health care is redefined.
JULIE QUENNEVILLE is the CEO of UHN Foundation. Quenneville’s acknowledged dedication to health care has earned her numerous accolades, including being named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women; one of Concordia University’s Top 50 under 50; and receiving the Medal of the Quebec National Assembly. She serves as Chair of the Banff Forum and is a member of the Executive Committee of the 2024 President’s Cup, a global team golf competition which will be played in Montreal. Her vast knowledge of philanthropy, modern business strategy, and government relations has made her a sought-after speaker on multiple platforms. Quenneville is a change agent, a passionate advocate for innovative research, and a firm believer that advancing medicine is a global responsibility. She writes this column exclusively for each issue of Foundation Magazine.
Six Factors That Could Affect Charitable Giving
CONTINUED FROM page 10
art and other collectibles, for example. As part of developing a charitable giving strategy, certain donors might choose to establish a private foundation or donoradvised fund. Or, some may opt to make a charitable bequest in their Will. This is where planning conversations and engagement become crucial, so people understand what options best align with their charitable goals and their overall financial picture.
5. Proposed increases to the capital gains inclusion rate
The 2024 Federal Budget’s proposed increase to the capital gains inclusion rate has the potential to create a significant tax impact for some Canadians.
As a quick overview, it’s proposed that the capital gains inclusion rate for individuals will increase from 50 percent to 66.67 percent for any capital gains (beyond the $250,000 threshold) realized on or after June 25, 2024. The $250,000 threshold means that the inclusion rate would be 50 percent on the portion up to $250,000 and 66.67 percent on any portion above $250,000.
For corporations, the capital gains inclusion rate would be 66.67 percent for all capital gains realized, as there’s no threshold like there is for individuals.
While not yet passed into law [as of the date of publishing], the proposed changes have made it increasingly important this year for individuals to revisit their year-end tax planning, and charitable donations may offer a heightened tax planning opportunity.
6. Proposed revision of alternative minimum tax (AMT)
Alternative minimum tax (AMT) is an important consideration for those making a donation to reduce their taxes payable. AMT is a tax that aims to ensure every Canadian pays a minimum amount of tax and that prevents some high-
income earners from paying little or no tax as a result of certain tax incentives.
Notably, in the 2023 Federal Budget, the government proposed that 30 percent of the capital gains realized on the donation of a security in-kind be included in income and the donation tax credit would be halved for the purposes of calculating AMT liability. Those proposed changes left many re-evaluating their charitable giving plans, given the measurable potential impact on the tax treatment of charitable donations.
Fast-forward to the 2024 Federal Budget, which proposed amendments to the AMT calculation. This year’s Budget proposed that 80 percent of the donation tax credit would be allowed for the purposes of calculating AMT instead of 50 percent. This would lessen the impact of AMT on charitable giving, however, it’s still important for individuals to work with a qualified tax advisor to determine if AMT would apply or not.
While charitable giving often gets heightened attention at year-end, we know that a structured plan for giving — at any time of year — can help donors create a more meaningful impact for the causes and organizations they care about, in a way that complements their wealth and legacy planning.
TONY MAIORINO is head of the Family Office Services team with RBC Wealth Management Canada. This team of over 230 professionals provides legal, tax and financial planning expertise to help advisor teams within the Wealth Management Canada segment deliver integrated wealth management and planning to high-net-worth clients and their families. Tony has over 30 years of experience advising high-net-worth clients in Canada, and often contributes to publications on various topics within wealth planning. For more information, visit: https://www.rbcwm.com/en-ca/videos/ourapproach. This column exclusively for Foundation Magazine
Creating Elation
CONTINUED FROM page 11
“Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) data is crucial for nonprofits to understand
and engage with their donor and to align with generational preferences.” So, having data on our donors’ preferences on digital wallets, or fundraising events not only provide essential information to tailor our actions, but fundraisers, can use key data to inspire the next iteration of initiatives with our donors in mind.
The phenomenon of “wealth transfer”, which fundraisers are currently experiencing is inevitably having an impact in our sector. As Eyre Purkin Bien, CFRE presented in her recent Hilborn article on “Family Philanthropy”, philanthropy discussions need to be tuned into multi-generational fundraising because at times we work with more than one generation. The pressures of these new demands may then provide room to innovate in some areas as we try to align our mission with each donor. Perkin Bien is also correct when she claims the next generation of philanthropists are willing to get ahead of root causes — more so than their parents and grandparents. Thus, providing us with a multitude of opportunities to explore news ways, new ideas, new methods of philanthropy. Trends and priorities can be re-defined as we learn to work together and to cocreate fundraising initiatives.
The third person - The Community I must conclude by mentioning the community in which we “practice our philanthropy”. By community, I mean a group of people, a body of persons with common interests in a particular area. They also shape and influence the way we can be creative or innovative. And more recently, there is further attention being brought to light about the communities “left behind”. At times, these communities are underserved, or its members “do not fit” in our current models. Those communities are now influencing our philanthropy and helping us to “think outside the box”. To adapt and respond to these “new” needs, is very much a way to embrace change, learn and listen how to create and march on new trajectories that will reenergize the entire sector- its fundraisers, donors, the donees, and other social agents.
My Final Thought
I agree with Perkin Bien who said, “getting into the mind-set of relationships and understanding how people work together to make decisions is very interesting.” For a fundraiser, this symbiotic relationship and understanding is essential to help inform how imaginative and inspired we can be.
I refer to this experience as “active listening”. If we listen very carefully, we can always remain inspired and enthused. As Fundraisers, we must first take care of ourselves; then actively listen to the opportunity provided for us to remain inspired and ecstatic, and to keep things exciting!
KATHLEEN A. PROVOST is currently the Vice President, Philanthropy and Communications at United for Literacy (previously Frontier College), a national organization with 125 years of community partnerships in Canada, offering free tutoring and mentoring to adult, youth, and children who need literacy and numeracy support. Kathleen has over 30 years of experience in the charitable sector. She has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2007 and a long-time member and volunteer for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). Kathleen holds a Masters degree in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University as well as a Baccalaureate
Arts in Political Science and a certificate in Public Relations from McGill University. She writes this column exclusively for each issue of Foundation Magazine.
Charity With Benefits
CONTINUED FROM page 13
Additionally, the $1 million gain from the donation created a Capital Dividend Account (CDA) credit, enabling the family to withdraw that amount tax-free from their company, saving a further $470,000 of tax.
We then utilized $1 million of the DAF to purchase a ONE PAY My Par Gift™ policy from Canada Life, designed for charitable giving, ensuring a large legacy gift and access to cash value and dividends during their lifetime. The policy, valued at $3.4 million at life expectancy, allowed them to leverage their legacy even further for their children and grandchildren.
Wrapping It All Up
How did we make the family entirely “whole” after their donation to charity?
The charitable donation was effectively replaced with a $2 million joint last-todie policy owned by their corporation, with premiums paid by the corporation over 10 years, totaling $400,000. The policy’s death benefit would be paid taxfree to the corporation, flowing out of the CDA.
❯ $2 million goes to the children
❯ $3.4 million of death benefit on the policy owed by the DAF (this in addition to the $1m that we kept there)
❯ $1.8 million in tax savings
A lot of our work is about moving the financial furniture around to achieve a family’s objectives. The result is that families — who often have no idea this type of planning is possible — get to be remembered for all the right reasons. They leave their money to loved ones. They finance important work done by charities. And they do all of this while making sure the government isn’t their biggest beneficiary.
O ering professional prospect research, training, and fundraising strategy. Editor and contributor to “Prospect Research in Canada”, Canada’s first book on prospect research.
Strategic Philanthropy like this is very different from an approach that focuses on transactions. We build strong relationships with clients by helping them design an optimized legacy. Often, our planning includes philanthropy as a way to turn transform success into significance while saving tax. To achieve this, we draw on all the available tools and arrange them in the best possible configuration. It’s business, but it’s also very personal — and it serves the best interests of our clients and their charitable causes.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for a no-obligation conversation. Introduce us to your situation and allow us to share estate planning, tax minimization and philanthropy strategies to help you achieve your unique objectives.
MARK HALPERN is a well-known CFP, TEP, MFA-P (Certified Financial Planner, Trust & Estate Practitioner, Master Financial Advisor – Philanthropy). He writes this column exclusively for each issue of Foundation Magazine.
Get Money Moving
BY NICHOLAS PALAHNUK
Nick Palahnuk, Founder of PhilanthPro, talks with experts about strategic philanthropy as part of a series with Foundation Magazine
PhilanthPro is an innovative software that helps advisors bring the power of financial planning to philanthropy so that charitable account holders can be more intentional about their giving.
In Conversation:
Akruti Desai, Gates Foundation
Akruti Desai is a Senior Program Officer on the Philanthropic Partnerships team at the Gates Foundation. She draws on two decades of experience working in asset management, impact investing and philanthropy.
Nick: At PhilanthPro, one of our core beliefs is that people want to contribute to a better future through philanthropy — whatever form that may take in their lives. To do so, people often need support and systems that facilitate thoughtful giving. Gates Foundation has a highly strategic approach to building systems to support philanthropy, and so I’m particularly excited to hear from you, Akruti, in this edition of Get Money Moving!
As a member of the Philanthropic Partnerships team at the Gates Foundation, how do you unlock the power of philanthropy?
Akruti: Our team works to inspire and enable more informed and intentional generosity by all. Our partners are those people and organizations that focus on increasing funding flows. By producing data, advancing policy, and serving as critical intermediaries, they are building the infrastructure that supports generous philanthropic giving.
Nick: I love that you focus on generosity. How does the Foundation help move people from generosity to action?
Akruti: Some of our work focuses on the Giving Pledge community, a network of philanthropists who promise to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes during their life or in their will. (Operationally, the Giving Pledge
is a separate but affiliated initiative hosted at the Gates Foundation.) To create the conditions for action, we curate a series of regular learning opportunities and connect Pledgers with people, tools, and services that we think can help them along in their giving journey.
We also invest in data, because the entire sector benefits when donors and sector practitioners have the right knowledge and fact base to build their philanthropic strategies.
We funded the Women and Girls Index developed by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Even those of us who have been in the sector for a while were surprised to learn that less than 2 percent of charitable dollars in the US go to organizations focused on women and girls. More recently, we supported the Ms. Foundation’s Pocket Change report series on the funding flows of charitable dollars to women and girls of color and the impact of chronic philanthropic underinvestment in organizations led by women and nonbinary leaders of color.
Recognizing that small donations comprise the bulk of individual giving in the US, we support campaigns like GivingTuesday, and organizations that work to scale everyday giving and giving circles, like Philanthropy Together. These are a few examples of how we try to propel generosity into action, and to remove knowledge gaps and other obstacles.
Nick: We met at the Women Moving Millions Summit in New York, where you were meeting with partners to support philanthropy. What are some of the ways you’re your team creates opportunities for philanthropists to connect and collaborate?
Akruti: We support donor networks that create and strengthen communities within the philanthropic space, such as the Donors of Color Network, Women Donors Network and Maverick Collective. We also support collaborative funds, which are critical intermediary organizations that pool capital and leverage it for exponential impact. Often these collaboratives are trying to improve the systems that underpin the philanthropic field. Their collaborative structure optimizes collective expertise, relationships, and money to improve society beyond what any single donor could do alone.
“The much written about Great Wealth Transfer is already here and we need to ensure that philanthropic professionals are fully equipped…”
We are excited to see collaborative funds growing and thriving, and we support this ecosystem through research in partnership with The Bridgespan Group, convenings, and seed funding where appropriate. Audacious Project, Lever for Change, HIVE Fund, and California Black Freedom Fund are some of our collaborative fund grantees.
The Foundation is also an active partner to philanthropists whose interests align with ours. We facilitate partnerships, co-fund, and make connections to accelerate progress on urgent issues. We even created Gates Philanthropy Partners, a separate public 501c3 to respond to the many unsolicited gifts from donors who want to give alongside the foundation to our grantee partners.
Nick: We’ve talked a lot about donors, but what about philanthropic advisors? When you think about positive systemic change in philanthropy, what can be done to leverage this influential group?
Akruti: We know that philanthropic advisors play a key role in the charitable giving of high net wealth donors, but the market is extremely fragmented. Many advisors are independent consultants, working without the benefit of community and peer learning.
We’ve seen the tremendous benefit of supporting collaboration among donors, and similarly, I believe that supporting collaboration between philanthropic advisors, and financial advisors who are philanthropyminded, is a highly leveraged play.
One of our partners is P150, a collaborative of global philanthropy advisors. They leverage their collective expertise on all the salient aspects of giving such as values, vehicles, governance, grantmaking, and more. Their original goal was to bring together 150 philanthropy advisors to test the concept of an advisor network but they were pleasantly surprised to find demand evolving quickly early on.
The much written about Great Wealth Transfer is already here and we need to ensure that philanthropic professionals are fully equipped to support donors and are recognized as experts. New programs are meeting the increasing demand for credentialing in the space, such as the Impact Philanthropy Advisor certification offered by Daylight Advisors, and the pilot curriculum offered by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.
I’ve been focusing on our US strategy, but we employ the same approach out of our country offices in China, India, and the continent of Africa.
Nick: We share your belief in the transformative power of partnerships and community! We partner with the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy program at the American Financial Services College, and we just launched a new partnership with GiveTeam, as featured in Investment News.
Akruti, the Foundation has an impressive set of diversified strategies to support philanthropy. In all of this, what is the north star?
Akruti: Our team knows that giving isn’t easy, and donors face many obstacles even when generosity is their goal. Our north star is to address those obstacles and facilitate truly generous giving that saves and transforms lives.
NICHOLAS PALAHNUK is Founder of PhilanthPro and can be reached at nicholas.palahnuk@philanthpro.com
ISTOCK/ JACOB WACKERHAUSEN
Seven PostAward Grant Management Best Practices for Nonprofits
BY NATALIE ANDERSON
If your nonprofit organization utilizes grant funding, you know managing grants takes a lot of work. The grant management lifecycle has two parts — pre-award and post-award. Pre-award encompasses all the work that goes into earning a new grant.
First, you need to research different opportunities to find grants matching your organization’s mission and qualifications. Next, your team writes a proposal, develops a budget, fills out proposal documents required by the grantor, and submits the proposal package. Finally, if your organization is selected to receive funding, you must negotiate the reward and understand its terms and restrictions.
Each dollar of grant funding is hard-earned, so it is critical to institute impeccable fund management and ensure compliance with each grant. Doing so will help to build trust and credibility with the funder, increasing the odds you will win a renewal of the grant.
In this article, we will examine seven post-award grant management best practices to help you establish good relationships with grantors. You will want to have great processes and a strong financial management system in order to track expenditures, manage timelines, monitor sub-contracts, reconcile expenses, and report outcomes back to the grantor.
1
Build positive relationships with donors
Developing a good working relationship with your grantors greatly enhances your organization’s ability to earn grant renewals and increase the value of your grants with extensions.
These relationships are built on trust, accountability, and transparency, as well as a shared interest in your organization’s mission. The first few grants are the hardest to win. After you have an established track record, you are likely to get additional grants.
Make it easy for grantors to say yes by putting solid grant management processes in place. A nonprofit financial management system with good grant tracking, expense tracking, and reporting functionality can help you demonstrate strong fiscal discipline.
Manage restricted funds carefully
2
Most large grants are awarded with restricted funds, meaning your organization has specific obligations and instructions about how it can use the grant money. Failure to comply with the obligations is a missed opportunity to establish trust and earn a grant renewal.
To comply with grant restrictions, you will need to carefully track each grant and the status of funds, then record when
conditions have been met for restrictions to be released. Some nonprofits try to track restricted funds with a spreadsheet, but organizations with significant grant funding need nonprofit accounting and grant management software to achieve the best level of accuracy and transparency.
Monitor revenue, spending, and the budget
3
Some grants provide the money up front, but the majority of grants pay out over time as the organization submits expenditures for reimbursement. It is very important to stay on top of expenses and cash flow in these situations. Become very familiar with the terms of your grant because you will need to know the expenditures you are making will qualify for reimbursement.
To manage grants effectively, you need real-time visibility into spending, cash flow, and budget-to-actual variance. That is the only way to accurately predict financial performance. Failing to track your budget and spending could result in a cash flow crunch if you overspend without a grant award to cover the full costs.
Capture your costs
6
Track KPIs
Grantors want to know their funding is being spent wisely, in accordance with the grant conditions. They also want to know the money is having a demonstrable impact and helping you achieve your mission.
Being able to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and share them with your grantors is a great way to highlight the effectiveness of your team and programs. KPIs can monitor financial performance as well as outcomes.
Outcome metrics measure the impact of your program’s investment and provide an important level of accountability. Outcome metrics help you demonstrate that activities funded by your grantor yield the expected impact. Here are a few examples of outcome metrics:
It can be difficult to pull together the information to track critical KPIs without good nonprofit accounting software. But with the right automation, seeing real-time KPIs can be as easy as pulling up a dashboard.
Earn a clean audit opinion
7
In order to bill your grantors accurately, your organization needs a solid process for capturing both direct and indirect costs. You will need to capture expenses within your accounting system, mark them as reimbursable costs and associate the accounting entries for these expenses with the specific grants they should be billed under. By making this process as automated as possible, you can avoid reporting and billing errors and reduce the chance you will miss a charge or overstate an amount. Reduce the length of the billing cycle, so you can improve cash flow.
4 5
Automate grantor reporting
Most grantors require regular reporting, demonstrating accountability and transparency in the work your organization is doing. Reporting is a chance to further develop the important relationships between grantors and your organization. Try not to see reporting as a hoop to jump through. Instead, view it as an opportunity to establish a dialog and show funders how to support your mission.
When you have good financial automation, reporting does not need to be a chore. In fact, you should be able to easily customize reports to show grantors exactly the information they request. Go beyond basic reporting requirements using automation to dig deeper into results while saving time. Include data visualizations, such as charts and graphs. Include outcomes and share stories of mission impact. Share any learnings that emerged during this phase of the grant and what new plans you are making as a result.
An audit is a requirement for many grantors. Even those who do not require an audit are happy to see one conducted. A clean audit opinion is peace of mind for grantors and other funders. It adds the credibility of third-party financial expertise to your organization’s ethics, financial management, and good stewardship.
If your organization has implemented good accounting automation, it will be easier to work with an auditor. With a strong financial management system serving as a single source of truth, you will be able to easily provide reports and locate the information requested by the auditor. You can provide the auditor with access to your accounting system. Having an easyto-search system and complete, accurate reporting will save the auditor time and may lower the cost of your audit.
Further your mission by improving grant management
When you put these seven post-award grant management best practices to work in your organization, you will gain additional control, transparency, and insight into your grant seeking. By automating the grant management process, you will increase collaboration between the grants team, staff, and auditors. Combining best practices with nonprofit accounting and grant management automation can help your organization administer grants more effectively while complying with all requirements and restrictions.
NATALIE ANDERSON is a Senior Nonprofit Industry Marketing Manager for Sage Intacct. Natalie has 10 years of experience in software marketing and is passionate about helping nonprofits leverage software to achieve mission success.
Succession Planning: A Strategic Treasure Hunt
BY CYNTHIA J. ARMOUR, CFRE
Succession planning is a critical yet often overlooked component of organizational sustainability. Over the past 30+ years, I have observed firsthand how staff and boards grapple with leadership transitions, often precipitated by a chief executive’s or board chair’s departure. This challenge is especially evident in under-resourced organizations, where stability is already precarious, and turnover can perpetuate disruption.
One example of this situation can be seen in a Washington, D.C. agency, where my sister is the current board president. The outgoing chair is an efficient and effective corporate banker, and she is a therapist. What she thinks she lacks in business acumen, she makes up for with her curiosity and ability to listen, making people feel heard and valued. It takes a variety of strengths to run a board, and it’s crucial to recruit diverse skill sets.
This young agency survived the pandemic but like so many, financial and human resources are stretched. Three different Executive Directors in the past three years have contributed to the uncertainty and destabilized its growth. When I asked her about the organization’ succession plan, she quietly responded “denial?” Then she and I both laughed and quoted our brother whose motto has evolved from “denial, that’s in Egypt, isn’t it?” to “denial works until it doesn’t work!”
In my previous article titled “Successful Succession,” I explored the high costs of avoiding planning for chief executive departures.
SUCCESSION PLANNING
It’s important to recognize, however, that planning for board transitions is equally vital, as board chairs and chief executives work in partnership (https://boardsource.org/board-chairchief-executive-partnership) to guide strategy and lead respective implementation teams. Rather than treat these roles in isolation, an integrated, organization-wide approach to succession planning is crucial.
This issue isn’t new, but COVID has amplified the challenges of neglecting leadership continuity, particularly in small and medium-sized charities. Many wellmeaning, but untrained or under-equipped boards and Executive Directors are caught in a reactive cycle, focused on dayto-day operations at the expense of long-term strategic planning. As a result, limited energy is often misdirected, and opportunities for growth and stability are missed. Momentum is lost spinning tires because they lack the right traction to get out of their rut.
Last spring I attended Third Sector Company’s inaugural Succession Planning BootCamp for consultants. I’ve participated in several of their online programs since the pandemic began and always find their courses, clinics, study groups and forums informative, practical, and thought-provoking. This one was equally inspiring.
U.S.) had a written succession plan or policy to guide executive transitions. Just 13 percent had a board succession policy, and 32 percent of executives hadn’t had a performance review in more than two years.
Meanwhile, Nonprofit HR reports that 80 percent of nonprofits don’t have a formal retention strategy, and 45 percent of employees plan to seek new or different employment by 2025, with pay being a
What Is Succession Planning?
Succession planning is a process that identifies critical staff and board roles within your organization and develops action plans to ensure an equitable pipeline of high-performing individuals is ready to fill them. By prioritizing talent development and leadership continuity, nonprofits can ensure that the right people are in the right roles at the right time, to safeguard organizational stability both now and in the future.
Although this process is essential, it is not easy to implement. However, by setting clear and measurable goals with a commitment to take incremental steps, organizations can better position themselves for long-term success. There are several types of succession planning, including:
In this article, I’ll explore some key research on succession planning, highlight common barriers, introduce fresh ideas, and offer practical solutions to help you rethink your approach. I will also link to my “Trusted Resources”. I’ll provide the traction, but your team will need to use the tools to move this priority forward!
Research Findings
I apologize to fellow Canadians for relying on U.S. statistics, but there’s more research available south of the border, and the issues are similar.
A 2006 national study by CompassPoint and the Meyer Foundation found that 60-75 percent of U.S. nonprofit Executive Directors planned to leave their positions by 2011, and 10-15 percent of nonprofits hired a new executive each year.
More recently, BoardSource’s Leading with Intent 2021 report revealed that only 29 percent of nonprofits surveyed (primarily
❯ Crisis or Emergency Planning: For sudden, unexpected departures of key leaders.
❯ Transition Planning: When there is advance notice of a leadership change, providing time to build internal capacity.
❯ Strategic Leadership Planning: An ongoing process that evaluates both current and future leadership needs and competencies required.
At the BootCamp, Third Sector Company emphasized that the process should be viewed not just as a series of steps but as part of an organizational culture. Succession planning should focus on leadership continuity, while transition planning addresses specific roles, and career planning helps individuals build their skills and strengthen their commitment to the organization.
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JACOBLUND
Barriers to Succession Planning
Succession planning is a fraught topic. In a recent conversation with charity sector veteran Sheree Allison, author of The Nonprofit Book of Wisdom, she compared it to “ having a conversation about death; succession pushes a panic button”.
Succession planning implies organizational change, and resistance is common, despite the risks of avoidance. Fearbased reactions override logic. When emotions and egos are threatened, rational thinking gets disrupted, like a radio station that’s tuned to the wrong frequency. The result is noisy, distracting static, making it difficult to hear thoughtful dialogue. People who should be part of important conversations often defensively “tune out.”
At the Maytree Foundation’s November 2023 “Five Good Ideas” event nonprofit expert Joan Garry referred to CEO succession as “triggering” and suggested reframing it as “organizational readiness” to reduce anxiety. Her five ideas were: 1) don’t wait, 2) plan for a two- or three-year intentional process, 3) don’t call it succession planning, 4) invest in board leadership and 5) hold your outgoing ED accountable.
Additional barriers include the time-intensive nature of succession planning, board members’ inexperience, and the challenge of balancing short- and long-term priorities. Executive Directors may fear raising the topic due to concerns about being seen as replaceable, while staff departures may occur if internal candidates are not considered. Furthermore, culture is the glue that holds the organization together and can therefore be difficult to change if it’s traditionally been unsupportive. Finally, the absence of one or more individuals championing this priority can further impede progress.
For many, succession planning is just one more task on an already overwhelming to-do list. Unfortunately, necessity becomes the mother of invention, and desperation is the catalyst. The Eisenhower Principle, inspired by a quote from Dr. J. Roscoe Miller, president of Northwestern University, sums it up: “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” This perspective highlights that important actions are aligned with long-term goals and measurable outcomes. Conversely, urgent tasks tend to disrupt strategic objectives and focus on immediate, often external demands that derail strategy.
Treasuring Team Talents
Nurturing the talents of staff and volunteers requires deliberate attention, assessment, policies, procedures, investment, and action. When an organization’s culture and values reflect a commitment to building individual and team capacity, it can shift the narrative around succession planning and reduce resistance.
However, professional development is often one of the first areas to be cut from the budget. Worse still, many organizations never invest in training and support for staff, board members, or volunteers, which results in a lack of capacity to address challenges. Many struggling organizations unintentionally
sabotage their leadership teams and make the organization a difficult place to work. When talent recruitment and retention become chronic issues, the reasons are often selfinflicted. Leaders avoid performance appraisals — whether for staff, board members, or the organization itself — on the pretense that they’re unpleasant. Yet, a lack of communication about measurable goals, recognition of accomplishments, or support in addressing roadblocks can be far more damaging. If organizations tracked the direct and indirect costs of turnover, perhaps they’d reprioritize professional development.
The broader issue of the “nonprofit starvation cycle,” where overhead costs are underfunded by grants, also exacerbates these challenges, though it is not the only factor. Organizations operating on a project-to-project basis may lack the long-term perspective needed to break this cycle. Without future-oriented planning and evaluation, it becomes difficult to anticipate the talents, skills, motivations, aptitudes and teamwork required to achieve strategic objectives. Regularly revisiting the strategic plan, identifying organizational priorities, and assessing the necessary staff and volunteer competencies are crucial steps. While accountability at this level may be initially uncomfortable, it gets easier with practice, funders and donors appreciate it and it is essential for attracting and retaining effective leadership.
Who’s Responsible for Succession Planning?
“Select the chief executive”, “support and evaluate” chief executive performance are two of the most significant responsibilities outlined in BoardSource’s Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards. When done with intention, these tasks establish a constructive interdependent partnership based on trust, candor, respect and honest communication, one of BoardSource’s Twelve Principles of Governance That Power Exceptional Boards.
Succession planning is a key risk management strategy that ensures organizational sustainability. It requires collaboration between the chief executive and the board. However, particularly in smaller organizations where the Executive Director is already managing multiple responsibilities, it is often preferable for the board to take the lead in championing this process. Doing so strengthens the board’s governance mindset (a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities and the ways in which individual trustee leadership can enhance the positive, value-added impact of the governance process, as described by Davis Campbell and Michael Fullan at Governance101.com).
Prioritizing succession planning as part of governance engages the board more fully in essential matters. If the board is sufficiently large, the task may be delegated to a Governance Committee, which oversees board management and has frequently replaced Nominating or Executive Committees. Given the current challenges of leadership recruitment, boards can elevate the importance of succession planning by adopting a governance-focused approach, which can also make the board more attractive to leadership candidates.
The governance committee’s basic purpose is to help the board
— and ultimately the organization — reach its full potential. This simple statement encompasses a complex set of responsibilities that influence a board’s capacity for effective governance. Sometimes called the conscience of the board, this committee adds value by institutionalizing best practices in three areas: strategic recruitment, effective board engagement, and intentional revitalization. Every board should have a governance committee. (BoardSource)
In the event of a chief executive’s planned or sudden departure, the board is fully responsible for managing the transition. However, boards are often unprepared for the complexities of an executive search, let alone have consensus on the appropriate leadership skills and style needed or even how the search process will happen. For a taste of all that should be involved, see Bridgespan’s Nonprofit Hiring Toolkit. Suffice it to say recruiting a new chief executive is one of the board’s greatest responsibilities and it requires specific expertise that is incredibly time consuming! Considering all the necessary steps and proficiency required, proceeding without external assistance can be more costly than delegating all or part of such a rigorous search process. It is commonly believed that a rushed or desperate hire will result in an “interim leader”, whether intended or not. Unfortunately, that was the case with the organization my sister chairs.
Changing What Doesn’t Work
Given the growing field of mindfulness, there is an opportunity for nonprofit leaders to apply similar intentionality to succession planning. By fostering a culture of capacity-building and continuity, organizations can normalize the conversation, reduce stress, and generate meaningful progress.
Covid accelerated trends that were already evident. That 2006 report indicated that 60-75 percent of nonprofit Executive Directors planned to leave their positions by 2011. For decades, leadership roles have been held by predominantly white baby boomers who have served with dedication but rarely had time to cultivate future leaders. They often set unrealistic standards for others to follow, particularly as many families today rely on dual incomes with demands on childcare and different priorities; few have the luxury of, or interest in, investing long hours in an often-thankless career. Retirees are increasingly involved in caregiving for grandchildren, elderly parents or both with an additional impact on volunteering.
Effective recruitment has always relied on clarity and communication. Yet, vague invitations are still common. Organizations cannot lament the lack of volunteers if they have not clearly defined the roles, expectations, and available opportunities. Providing well-defined, flexible options for participation increases the likelihood of engagement where individuals can find a role that suits them.
Organizations must also consider innovative approaches. While shared leadership is not a new concept, many organizations still struggle to recruit a single CEO or board president. Many arts organizations have successfully implemented co-leadership models with an Artistic Director and a General Manager working
together for years. Similarly, co-presidents of the board may be easier to find than a single volunteer leader.
Engaging in Strategic Conversations
What steps is your organization taking to engage staff, board members, volunteers, and the broader community in strategic conversations? Is your organization clear and transparent about its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies? Do individuals feel welcomed, heard and valued? The more people are engaged and have a sense of belonging, the more invested they become in the outcomes and implementation of your organization’s strategic goals.
In 2021, the University of Toronto’s Rotman School published research titled Not-for-Profit Board Diversity & Inclusion: Is it Essentially Window-Dressing?
This report identified six key themes: 1) Board diversity is unlikely to be effective without a parallel commitment to inclusion; 2) Successful inclusion depends on the determined leadership of the board chair; 3) Board candidates need clear guidance on how they can contribute to the organization; 4) Onboarding for new board members needs to be re-imagined; 5) Lived experience adds valuable perspectives to board discussions; and 6) Sound diversity and inclusion principles align with broader governance best practices.
In 2022, a follow-up report titled From Window-Dressing to Real Change: Success Stories from Boards on a Journey of Diversity & Inclusion was published. These reports provide guidance for boards to become more deliberate in recruiting for demographic diversity and fostering genuine inclusion.
The Role of an Interim Executive
Rushed or desperate leadership recruitment — especially for a chief executive — can lead to costly mistakes. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.
One effective option to consider during a CEO transition is the objective and insightful role that a skilled Interim Executive can provide. This is a growing profession, more developed in the U.S. than Canada, yet frequently overlooked across North America. Boards facing leadership transitions usually need assistance, though they often hesitate to make the necessary investment.
What many don’t realize is the extraordinary value and relief a trained Interim Executive can bring to your team. Well beyond previous E.D. experience, these professionals offer specialized expertise. Thanks to programs like the Third Sector Company’s Interim Executive Academy and other formal educational initiatives, there is a growing network of graduates skilled in change and transition management.
Interim Executives bring specialized tools to offer unbiased insights for a defined period. They understand the urgency to find a new leader while being sensitive to the immediate and often anxious needs of the board and staff. This role isn’t for the faint of heart. Like emergency room physicians who excel at triage, these experts follow methodical protocols during
leadership transitions that are purposeful, transformational, and profound. Many religious institutions, such as churches and synagogues, recognized the value of interim priests, ministers, and rabbis long ago.
Interim Executives are sometimes mistaken for placeholders or confused with an “acting” role, which is often filled internally. However, these are accomplished professionals with a track record in transitional leadership. They are dedicated to guiding the board and staff through the period between a chief executive’s departure and the appointment of a new leader. Unlike individuals seeking permanent positions, Interim Executives focus on supporting the organization’s board, volunteers, and staff to ensure that the incoming leader is wellpositioned for success.
In my professional opinion (and I can say this without bias, as I am not seeking this role despite my training), this option is a worthwhile consideration, often lower than retaining a consultant who doesn’t necessarily specialize in transitions — or worse, making an unsuitable full-time hire. When carefully selected, an Interim Executive can become a valuable asset to both the board and staff, while also assisting in the selection of the next chief executive.
Next Steps
There is no time like the present! Reframe and normalize succession planning as talent development, leadership continuity and organizational sustainability. The benefits of taking proactive steps will be substantial. Board and ED teams will become more engaged, strategy will be communicated more effectively, and everyone will gain a clearer understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities, allowing them to contribute to objectives without unnecessary interference. Organizations that are both effective (doing the right tasks and achieving goals) and efficient (optimizing processes) are more likely to attract the leadership talent they need but the only way to know is to monitor results. Change is possible, and one client in Toronto demonstrated this by aligning their CEO and board toward complementary, but separate goals. Within three years, they went from having no board nominees to having a “qualified” waiting list—because they had become a team that
leaders were eager to join.
Another example of structured leadership development is found in Rotary Clubs which nurture their talent systematically. Their process is clear and well-defined. In Year One a VicePresident progresses to President Elect in their second year, then serves as President in the third year, and Immediate Past President in the fourth year. Each role has a clear job description, with training and mentoring provided.
Finding Candidates
Being a professional fundraiser and later an executive search consultant taught me how to cultivate relationships. I needed to be goal-oriented, well organized, ask and listen intently to learn about individuals’ interests and values — and not take rejection personally!
Building a strong talent pipeline begins with people. Understanding individual’s hopes and dreams is a necessary part of engaging their help; this can be as simple as asking a direct aspirational question on an application, noting it in their file and checking in annually. Next, it’s necessary to clearly identify the tasks that require support and then the matchmaking begins. Start with the organization’s existing network or database provides a solid foundation for recruitment efforts. By making requests specific and simple, individuals are more likely to step forward and contribute.
“Prospect research” for volunteer recruitment is the same as in fundraising; securing one donation usually requires 3-5 individuals and multiple interactions. Focus on people whose values and interests align with the organization’s mission and ask whether anyone in your network has a connection. If so, assess whether that person has the time and skills to contribute effectively to organizational goals. Most importantly, ask your contact for an introduction and talk to them! Even if there is no direct link, this is part of your treasure hunt. Demonstrate you’ve done your homework, tell them why you’ve selected them and then ask them directly if they can help. If you’ve identified that their interests align, don’t be discouraged if the initial response is no. You are cultivating a relationship.
Being specific in requests and making it easy for individuals to commit increases the likelihood of success. The Influential
Fundraiser by Bernard Ross and Clare Segal outlines various ways to respond to different “no” answers, helping to manage the challenges of rejection during outreach. Although this example is fundraising-related, use it to help you develop responses and strategies to get a yes from a prospective board member or committee volunteer.
ACTION!
Succession Planning can seem overwhelming, but the following steps will help streamline the process. Avoid reinventing the wheel — leverage resources that are readily available. If your organization is part of a federated or multi-level charity (e.g. United Way) or a member of a capacity-building network like Imagine Canada, BoardSource, National Council of Nonprofits or any other, make sure you capitalize on member benefits and provided resources. Even without a membership, information is readily available. I respect and have vetted the links and names I’ve included in this article and consider them my “trusted resources”. Templates are an excellent starting point, and they can be tailored to fit your organization.
Board members, these steps are not listed in any strict order, but rather organized for logical progression. You may already have some measures in place, but policies ‘disappeared’ in board minutes and important decisions and documents weren’t centralized. Much of what is outlined below should be covered in annual board orientations and reorientations for new and existing members alike.
With this task list in hand, consider widening your support network by recruiting volunteers outside the board. With proper supervision this may include college students enrolled in a complimentary program; their contribution might be part of a necessary practicum or fulfil an assignment requirement. Expanding your circle of helpers with a very specific task list will broaden your pipeline and create opportunities for meaningful engagement.
Review these suggestions together as a board and delegate responsibilities evenly amongst the team. The purpose of recruiting new members with a job description is to communicate expectations clearly including service between
meetings, by everyone. Idle board and committee members waste time and energy. At the start of every monthly meeting one cracker-jack board chair asks each person “what have you done for this organization since we last met?” Tackle these tasks in the order that works for your team. These links are intended to help but if leaders need support be sure it’s provided. Start with smaller wins to build momentum and celebrate accomplishments together; you’ll find they’re contagiously motivating.
❯ Adopt a Succession Planning policy https:// garthsonleadership.ca/ceo-ed-succession-templates/ and demonstrate a commitment to its implementation. The culture your leadership team creates reflects your dedication to this process. (Remember Peter Drucker’s quote: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”)
❯ Review your organization’s existing Succession Plan. If one doesn’t exist, you’re not alone. Some useful tools include Community Foundations of Canada Fact Sheet: Executive Director/CEO Succession Planning ( https://communityfoundations.ca/wp-content/ uploads/2022/01/Fact-Sheet_-Executive-Director_CEOSuccession-Planning.pdf ) or have a look at the “Nonprofit Executive Succession Planning Toolkit ” from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City ( https://www.kansascityfed. org/documents/82/nonprofit-resources-NONPROFITTOOLKIT.pdf ) – to get started.
❯ Identify champions within your volunteer team who recognize the importance of leadership continuity, talent development and are willing to lead these efforts. Consider whether the Governance Committee should proceed or if a sub-committee, including non-board volunteers can take the lead and report back to the board for approval.
❯ Ensure board terms and limits ( https://boardsource. org/resources/term-limits/ ) are clearly defined in your bylaws and adhere to them. If not, update them before your next AGM. (Most boards opt for 2- or 3-year terms, totaling six years with staggered terms.)
❯ Demonstrate a Governance Mindset. Inviting board applications that help screen suitable candidates is a good start. Here’s a sample from the Nonprofit Leadership Lab ( https://members.nonprofitleadershiplab.com/ wp-content/uploads/2021/03/NLL-Sample_Board_ App_3_3_11am_2021.pdf )
❯ Provide clear job descriptions ( https://boardsource. org/resources/board-member-job-description/ ) for potential board members, outlining expectations. Don’t be disappointed by unengaged volunteers if you sugarcoated the requirements.
❯ Use a board skills inventory (matrix) to assess current expertise and identify gaps, helping you target future members strategically. The skills required will depend on your organization’s needs.
❯ Offer an annual orientation for new recruits and a
reorientation for the team. Seasoned board members can serve as mentors( https://boardsource.org/resources/ mentor-to-board-development/ ) provided they are strong role models.
❯ Dedicate 20-30 minutes during board meetings to advance governance priorities and strengthen your knowledge. Don’t add this training to your agenda — find what time-wasting content you can replace. If you’re not already using a Consent Agenda, try this ( https:// boardsource.org/resources/consent-agendas/ ).
❯ Encourage board members to research a governance topic that interests them. Invite them to present a brief introduction (based on best practices, starting with some links provided below) then ask yourselves “ how does this presentation align with our organization and what small steps would make us stronger? ”
❯ Use the following tools as a “springboard for discussion”. Keep in mind that geographic locations — country, province or state — have varying regulations so research local requirements.
❯ BoardSource’s YouTube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCMRJi52tZdBwCktvpmztWIQ/videos) offers helpful resources at no cost.
❯ The Chartered Professional Accountants Canada have an extensive series of publications all starting with the phrase “ 20 Questions Not-for-Profit (NFP) Boards Should Ask About ”…CEO Succession…Human Resources…Overseeing Management of Risk… Directors Duties…Recruiting, Developing, Assessing and Renewing your Most Effective Board…Mergers and more. These “booklets” ask and answer the questions so there’s expert advice readily available and yet, for the sake of discussion, just spend 15-30 minutes on 3-5 questions (without the answers) to imagine how your team would respond. The value is in the dialogue that unfolds; document the conclusion the team generates. (Search notfor-profit resources at this link https://www. cpacanada.ca/pd-and-resources#sortCriteria= percent40cpapublisheddate percent20descending&fcpatopic=Not-for-Profit percent20Governance)
❯ Evaluate the status of your organization’s Strategic and Operational Plans. If these are not regularly monitored, identify what updates are needed and how this impacts team priorities. The purpose of evaluation is to track results, change tactics if necessary and ultimately, make informed decisions. The board speaks with one voice and is responsible for oversight, not operations. The simplest way I’ve seen to monitor progress on a Strategic Plan is a report card that gives your organization a grade A+ down to D- on your top priorities. This assessment can happen as often as quarterly or
just annually but don’t postpone beyond that. Another option is to measure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) visually. This article from Nonprofit Quarterly provides some good guidance ( https://nonprofitquarterly.org/ financial-management-models-of-a-great-nonprofitdashboard/ ). Here’s another resource from Imagine Canada about fundraising KPIs ( https://imaginecanada. ca/sites/default/files/2021-05/Stop percent20Driving percent20in percent20the percent20Dark percent20percent20Nonprofit percent20Fundraising percent20KPIs percent20101_Guide percent20(EN).pdf )
❯ Create and maintain a governance task list to document board roles and responsibilities that require support. Make a checklist for each item and ask members which ones most interest them, are they willing to chair that committee or task force and what training would help them succeed.
❯ Set annual governance-improvement goals and conduct a board review or evaluation 12 months later. Measurement and feedback help maintain accountability. Here’s a sample - https:// nonprofitdocuments.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/ uploads/Board-self-assessment-questionnaire-SLSsample-03-22-21.pdf and there are lots available. The objective is to identify where improvements are necessary and make those priorities part of next year’s governance task list.
❯ Conduct an annual performance appraisal with the chief executive. Here are some helpful links - https:// www.saskculture.ca/programs/organizational-support/ organizational-resources/good-governance/reviewingthe-executive-director-performance, https://www. saskculture.ca/content/documents/Reviewing_ED_ performance-chart_.pdf, and https://joangarry.com/ video/simple-executive-director-performance-review/
Implementing any of these steps will strengthen your organization and ultimately benefit those you serve. Recruitment will be less onerous if you’re goal-driven, with clearly defined, manageable tasks and supportive instruction. Invite participation, post task lists/help needed announcements on your website and be prepared to respond promptly when people offer! Ask for specific, defined help. Retention will intensify when you demonstrate an organization that’s committed to learning and growth. Welcome diversity, provide opportunities to expand knowledge. Reduce people’s fear of change by sparking their inner-visionary and create a desired future together. It’s hard, yet smart work. That is the traction necessary to get out of the rut.
CYNTHIA ARMOUR, CFRE, has spent the past 34 years consulting with nonprofit boards and chief executives. She specializes in fundraising, governance and transitional leadership. With a passion for lifelong learning, she encourages clients to be curious and provides stepping stones to keep you afloat. Please direct inquiries to cja@elderstone.ca or call her at 705-799-0636.
Planning for Giving Tuesday
BASED ON AN INSIGHTS AND RESEARCH REPORT BY QGIV AND BLOOMERANG
Giving Tuesday is one of the biggest days of the year in the fundraising world, but it hasn’t always been that way. Giving Tuesday is a relatively new “holiday” that’s been on fundraisers’ radar for only 10 years. The first Giving Tuesday launched on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving in 2012, founded by New York’s 92nd Street Y in partnership with the United Nations Foundation. The idea behind the event was to create a respite from the consumer frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday by creating a day that focused on charitable giving.
Since then, Giving Tuesday has grown by leaps and bounds. While it’s hard to pin down the amount processed in 2012, Giving Tuesday 2013 officially processed $28 million. By the
end of Giving Tuesday 2020, donors had given $808 million online to participating charities — an increase of 58 percent.
As Giving Tuesday grows more popular with donors and nonprofits alike, it’s tempting to pull together a quick campaign, launch it, and wait for the money to roll in. But it’s not that easy. Successful Giving Tuesday campaigns require planning, effort, and lots of attention. Giving Tuesday success shouldn’t only be measured in dollars raised. Nonprofits need a plan to keep and nurture relationships with the new donors they acquire and, more importantly, show their existing donors how important they are.
This Giving Tuesday guide is full of ideas about how to achieve those goals and some tips you can use to do so.
Promotional Schedule When Sending Emails
❯ Target your emails to make them more effective. Segment your email sends to address a few different groups of people: brand-new donors, loyal donors who have stayed engaged with you, highly-engaged volunteers and board members, and donors that supported you during your last Giving Tuesday campaign.
❯ Build excitement gradually. Sending daily emails is not the best way to get peoples’ attention. Instead, start two weeks out from the event and work from there.
❯ More frequent emails are acceptable on Giving Tuesday itself. It’s fine to send email updates—make sure each one has a point and something to offer your audience.
❯ Take time to craft your emails. Your donors will receive lots of Giving Tuesday emails. Spending time to perfect your subject lines, include great pictures, and tell powerful stories are all great ways to make your appeals stand out from the crowd.
When Creating Social Posts
❯ Be intentional about when you post Giving Tuesday reminders. People follow you on social media because they care about your mission, not because they’re eager to see your fundraising appeals. Make sure your Giving Tuesday posts enhance your regular posting instead of overtaking it.
❯ On the day of the event, focus on publicly thanking your donors (as long as they’re okay with recognition, of course). Instead of posting endless appeals, spotlight the people who gave and invite others to do the same. It makes your donors feel good, it inspires others to get involved, and it makes planning posts way easier on your social media manager.
❯ Back up your appeals with stories, videos, and great images. Your donors are being inundated with Giving Tuesday appeals on their own channels. Add elements to your posts that will make them stand out.
Understanding How to Find (and Keep) New Donors
One of the biggest complaints about Giving Tuesday is that nonprofits put a ton of time, money, and effort into recruiting new donors… but they don’t do so in a way that’s sustainable. Yes, the media blitz around Giving Tuesday can result in an influx of new supporters. But an influx of new donors isn’t very valuable if you can’t keep them.
The best way to recruit new donors and keep them coming back is to understand their journey from “random person on the Internet” to “first-time donor” to (hopefully) “loyal donor.” If you take time to optimize and enhance that journey, your Giving Tuesday campaign can be much more sustainable in the long run.
Here’s how to create a donor journey that will keep your Giving Tuesday donors engaged long after the media frenzy dies down:
❯ Connect potential donors to your mission. Emphasize your mission, not the day. Connecting donors to your mission, not to a giving event, sets the foundation for a future relationship.
❯ Show Everyone You Love Your Donors. Show donors you value the people who make the gift, not just the gift itself.
❯ Tell a Consistent Story. Create consistency and strengthen your appeal by sticking to one story.
❯ Make a Great Ask. Be specific. Choose a concrete amount to ask for (but do give donors the option of giving different amounts).
❯ Explain the impact. Don’t just tell donors they’ll make a difference. Tell them how.
❯ Optimize the Donation Process
❯ Make it easy to donate. Donors won’t give if they don’t know how to get to your form.
❯ Reduce decision-making. The more decisions donors have to make during the giving process, the less likely they are to give.
❯ Make Donors Feel Great about Giving. Thank them publicly. Only do this if the donor approves. This helps show future donors you care about your supporters.
❯ Build a great confirmation page. Add details like images, impact statements, and thank-you messaging to make donors feel amazing.
❯ Send a fantastic receipt. Make the most of your automated receipts by using them to give donors the warm-fuzzies.
Fundraising Methods
What fundraising methods should you use this Giving Tuesday? No two organizations raise money exactly the same way, but we have some ideas. Here are some of our favorite Giving Tuesday fundraising strategies, plus ideas about how to use them.
Build an online donation form. You probably already have an online donation form. But do you have an online donation form especially for Giving Tuesday? Consider creating a Giving Tuesday form that includes images, impact statements, and details from the story you plan to use in your appeals.
Having that theme on your donation form will reinforce donors’ decision to give, and it can also make it easier for you to attribute Giving Tuesday donations to the right campaign. Link to this donation form in your Giving Tuesday emails, social posts, and other appeals.
Qgiv tip: Did you know Qgiv forms include recurring upgrade prompts? You can add a small nudge directly on your form or enable a recurring upgrade modal that appears when someone submits a one-time donation. Want to know more?
Include recurring donation options. If donors really connect with the story you share in your Giving Tuesday campaign, they may want to offer ongoing support instead of a one-time gift. Recurring donors are a treasure; dollar for dollar, they usually donate more over time than their one-time counterparts, and they’re also much easier to retain. Be sure you offer the option to make a donation a recurring gift.
Qgiv tip: Did you know Qgiv’s donation forms include recurring upgrade prompts? You can add a small nudge directly on your form or enable a recurring upgrade modal that appears when someone submits a one-time donation.
Set up a text-to-donate keyword. Offering a way to donate via text is great for donors who learn about your campaign when they’re out and about. Set up a text-to-donate keyword that connects to your Giving Tuesday campaign. Then, include that keyword on emails, social posts, signs, brochures, or any other Giving Tuesday materials. We suggest using a keyword that’s unique to your Giving Tuesday campaign; that will make attributing donations to the right campaign much easier.
Qgiv tip: if you’re using Qgiv’s Mobile Suite, you don’t have to pay extra for a Giving Tuesday-specific keyword. Just navigate to the SMS/Text Messaging section of your dashboard and set up your keyword there.
Use social media to promote your campaign. Social media is a great tool to get the word out about your Giving Tuesday campaign. Use the hashtag #GivingTuesday in your posts to increase your posts’ organic reach and don’t forget to ask your supporters and volunteers to share your posts. You can use social media to provide periodic updates on your fundraising total, to thank your donors, highlight your mission and impact, as well as ask for donations. In your posts that ask for donations, include a direct link to your donation form so it’s easy for your followers to give to your campaign.
Qgiv tip: To encourage donors to share that they’ve given to your campaign, enable social sharing options on your donation form. Within Qgiv you can even add a prefilled message to your social sharing settings so when supporters share your donation form, they’re also sharing an image and brief message you’ve crafted.
24-hour event, try running a longer campaign that culminates on Giving Tuesday.
Qgiv tip: If you’re short on time, try cloning a peer-to-peer event you’ve used in the past and update images, text, and color schemes. Ask your staff, board members, and volunteers if they’d be willing to set up a fundraising page and share it with their networks. Another Qgiv tip: use Qgiv’s Facebook integration to make your fundraisers’ social posts even more powerful. The integration lets your fundraisers’ progress thermometers and Facebook’s fundraising tools work together, which will make your bookkeeping and reporting more effective after the fact.
Try crowdfunding a project. Using Giving Tuesday as a way to find like-minded donors is a good strategy. Using Giving Tuesday as an opportunity to find like-minded donors by funding a specific project, program, or goal is an even better one. Humans are hard-wired to reach goals, and setting a fundraising goal with a tangible impact will make your campaign more appealing. Asking donors to give money on Giving Tuesday is okay. Asking donors to help raise $5,000 is better. Asking donors to help raise $5,000 toward building a new playground is even better.
Send thoughtful outbound messages. Used sparingly, outbound text messages to past supporters (who have opted into receiving them) can be really effective fundraising tools. Send outbound messages to your lists directing them to a place they can learn more about your campaign. Text messages can quickly move from fun and informational to intrusive and annoying, so only send one or two.
Qgiv tip: if you’re using our Mobile Suite, you already have this tool. Click “Send Text Messages” under the SMS/Text area of your dashboard, then create your message or template. After that, simply choose the lists who should receive the message. You can schedule a send time or send it right away.
Explore peer-to-peer fundraising. In a peer-to-peer fundraiser, you recruit people to raise money on your behalf. This takes planning but, if you’ve got a base of highly-engaged supporters already, can be a powerful fundraising method on Giving Tuesday. Set up a Giving Tuesday-specific campaign, ask your supporters to create fundraising pages explaining why people should donate to your cause, and have them spread the word using their own stories, images, and insights. Most peer-to-peer campaigns last for weeks or months; if you don’t want to run a
Qgiv tip: if you want to try a crowdfundingstyle fundraiser this Giving Tuesday, go explore the “Goals” section of your control panel. You can easily set a goal and add a thermometer widget to your donation form. Donors love tracking your progress and seeing their donation reflected in the overall total.
Your fundraising progress is also a great piece of information to include in follow-up communications.
Run the Giving Tuesday Campaign of a Lifetime Giving Tuesday is a valuable way to connect with new donors and lay the foundations for donor relationships that last for years. Being intentional about building a great donor experience and creating a good donor retention plan will help you turn a one-day giving event into a powerful way to connect with new donors. Promoting your campaign through email and social media, putting together an outstanding donation form, sincerely thanking your donors, and showing your supporters the impact they’ll make with their gift sets the stage for future communications — and future donations.
You’ll spend valuable time, energy, and effort putting together your Giving Tuesday campaign. We hope these examples, templates, and ideas will help you build a fantastic campaign that helps you raise more money this Giving Tuesday and long into the future.
QGIV JOINED BLOOMERANG in 2024 to help create the sector’s first giving platform. Together they have more than 15 years’ experience supporting nonprofits with innovative technology and serve more than 23,000 small and medium-sized nonprofits in the US and Canada.
Food Security Now: Empowering Communities to Fight with Localized Data
BY ANTHONY MUSIWA
Imagine waking up every day unsure if you can afford your next meal. This is the reality for one in four people in Canada.
Food insecurity is when people worry about eating, compromise on the quantity and quality of their groceries, and/ or go without food due to financial constraints (Li et al., 2023). A precarious job market and an outdated social safety net make it hard to meet basic needs such as getting enough food. This crisis is escalating in Canada.
In 2023, 8.7 million people across the country experienced food insecurity—a 26 percent increase from 2022. This number doesn’t include people in the Territories, on reserves, in institutions, or in very remote areas. We know these groups have much higher food insecurity rates.
From our work with 350+ community food organizations across Canada, we’re constantly hearing stories about the stress many are facing daily. As our partners navigate these challenges with limited resources, CFCC provides core funding and grants to support their programs and food access initiatives. This financial support enables local organizations to continue their essential work. However, rising costs make it increasingly difficult to keep up. While we strive to provide stability and explore new opportunities, the need for a sustainable solution is more pressing than ever.
For instance, in 2023, The Depot Community Food Centre in Montreal distributed 20,000 emergency food baskets—double the amount in 2022. Despite raising their budget by $500,000, the organization had to turn away clients for the first time since 1986. And they had to do the same in 2024.
One organization in Guelph, Hope House, is seeing client numbers it has never seen before. For the first time in its history, the organization is considering a wait list for clients.
But ultimately, one fact is clear: food insecurity in Canada is a problem of poverty. Indigenous and racialized communities face deep social inequalities and systemic discrimination which further compound their experience of food insecurity. Whenever people say they can’t afford food, we know they are already experiencing problems meeting other basic needs. Food
is the first thing people cut from their budgets to prioritize paying their rent or mortgage or buying medications.
Canada must do better.
Digging deeper, by the riding
This pervasive crisis is why Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) created Food Security Now.
The easily-searchable data highlights the poverty, food insecurity, and housing unaffordability in each federal riding
WWF-Canada launches ‘Mission Restoration’ to Put Nature on a Path to Recovery
STAFF
The Canadian arm of the World Wildlife Fund is putting an initiative to work which will bring restoration practitioners together to work toward restoring 30 percent of degraded ecosystems. WWF-Canada launched “Mission Restoration” at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Conference of the Parties (COP16)— a collaborative initiative toward helping to reach Canada’s restoration goals under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
Mission Restoration aims to bring together organizations that are committed to restoring essential ecosystems, providing valuable insights into how restoration actions are adding up throughout Canada, inspiring others to join the effort to bring nature back and helping to raise awareness of the benefits to nature, communities and climate that restoration brings.
“WWF-Canada has been working hard toward our goal to Regenerate Canada by 2030, including restoring 1 million hectares of lost habitat,” explained Megan Leslie, WWF-Canada president and CEO. “Mission Restoration is an exciting new venture that will not only help us to reach this goal, but also contribute to our national and international targets. We look forward to working with others who are doing the same.”
To ensure everyone is working effectively together, WWFCanada is inviting large land and rightsholders in Canada, including Indigenous communities, non-profit organizations, governments at all levels and businesses that are investing in broad-scale ecosystem restoration, to join in. Together, Leslie assured their partners, they will build awareness of the important role of restoration in fighting biodiversity loss and climate change; track the progress; share knowledge and best practices; inspire investments for restoration from governments, businesses and donors; and increase the momentum of efforts to meet their international commitments.
Restoration, the process of supporting the recovery of ecosystems that have been converted or degraded because of human activities, can include a wide range of actions such as rebuilding salmon spawning channels, reforesting to firedamaged landscapes or repairing the banks of flood-ravaged rivers. Target 2 of the GBF states that “by 2030 at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration, in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity.”
Since 2020, WWF-Canada — in partnership with groups such as the Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society, Katzie First Nation, ALUS, and the Nottawasaga Valley
Conservation Authority—has more than 80,000 hectares restored or in progress. The goal is to restore one million hectares by 2030, but to reach this number and to help put Canada on a path towards achieving its GBF commitments, they are looking to build a coalition of organizations engaged in this work.
Currently, organizations, government agencies, and lands and rightsholders who are conducting restoration efforts are acting largely on their own, without an understanding of how their work contributes to collective results and therefore national commitments. Mission Restoration invites them to join forces to help build awareness and enhance the recognition of restoration of areas that are five hectares or larger and are already underway.
“Canada has committed to restoration through various international agreements, including the GBF, Global Freshwater Challenge and the Bonn Challenge,” says Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. “Achieving restoration at this scale will require all our combined efforts, which is why we’re supportive of WWF-Canada’s Mission Restoration. It will allow organizations doing large-
scale complex ecosystem restoration to document and report their activities, ensuring the work contributes to Canada’s restoration goals.”
“Conservation Ontario (CO) is excited to see WWF-Canada bringing restoration practitioners around the country together to help all of us reach our individual and national goals. For over 75 years Conservation Ontario and our 36-member Conservation Authority network have successfully collaborated with municipalities, residents and other partners in restoration to support biodiversity, flood risk reduction and build watershed resilience. This collaboration is an effective way to work together and make sure restoration in Canada counts,” says Angela Coleman, General Manager, Conservation Ontario
“Each and every one of us can make a difference. If we all work together hopefully, we can bring the salmon back, maybe not to historical levels but to levels
where our children and grandchildren in generations to come will still be able to have salmon to eat,” added Rick Bailey, Katzie First Nation councillor.
The restoration of damaged ecosystems in Canada is critical to reversing the loss of biodiversity, supporting the rights and priorities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and maximizing ecosystem carbon sequestration to fight climate change.
Canada’s natural ecosystems are incredibly diverse, but they’re under pressure from human activities such as resource development, urban growth, pollution and changes in land use. On top of that, natural events such as wildfires, floods, drought, as well as climate change and invasive species are exacerbating the loss of nature. All these factors have combined to destroy or fragment habitats, disrupting the important benefits that ecosystems provide. Restoration is an important tool in the effort to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It also
improves degraded areas and brings back ecosystem benefits, supporting wildlife and contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Putting nature on the path to recovery can also enable Indigenous conservation leadership, improve livelihoods and help build a sustainable economy.
Mission Restoration will: track and count current restoration initiatives; galvanize organizations to undertake new complex ecosystem restoration projects; inspire investments around national and international restoration commitments; and raise awareness of the benefits of restoration for nature and climate.
WWF-Canada is committed to equitable and effective conservation actions that restore nature, reverse wildlife loss and fight climate change. We draw on scientific analysis and Indigenous guidance to ensure all our efforts connect to a single goal: a future where wildlife, nature and people thrive.
Thirty years ago Canadian FundRaiser started
BY MICHAEL BROOKE
MHow This Environmental Nonprofit Uses Email Marketing to Support Fundraising Efforts
ost small businesses and nonprofits consider the last quarter of the year as the time to accomplish goals that have yet to be met. While SMBs look to use the last months of the year to meet revenue targets, nonprofits set their sights on achieving fundraising goals. In both cases, an uncertain economy and shifting consumer behaviours pose significant challenges to getting their books to a good place by year’s end.
The latest Small Business Now Report from Constant Contact, a digital marketing and automation platform, looks at how these groups are navigating the economy during this critical time of year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, data from the report shows that the long-tail impacts of inflation are still affecting both businesses and consumers. In fact, 90 per cent of the SMBs surveyed reported being impacted by inflation, while almost 60% of Canadian consumers have reduced spending at small businesses because of economic pressures.
But that doesn’t mean the fourth quarter can’t be a successful one for small businesses and nonprofits alike. By planning early, streamlining marketing efforts, and making adjustments to their marketing strategies, these groups can still make the most of this important time of year. We were able to connect with one nonprofit organization to understand how they benefit from Constant Contact’s powerful marketing tools.
The Circular Innovation Council believes the solution to greater resource efficiency and environmental protection lies in the circular economy. Through their work, the organization
engages with many audiences, including governments, schools, businesses, community organizations, and individuals.
Caitlin Perry, the Program Manager of Education and Engagement at the Circular Innovation Council, describes the organization as “small and busy with several programs and projects being delivered at once.” Regardless of their size and
CASE STUDY
time limitations, the organization is committed to educating and engaging stakeholders about the circular economy, and marketing plays a key role in how they do that.
Perry identified the organization’s biggest marketing challenges as a lack of bandwidth and budget to consistently produce new marketing content and pursue paid advertising opportunities. “As a non-profit charity, our budget for content creation and paid advertising is often limited,” she says. However, their use of Constant Contact’s software platform offers them a way to work around those hurdles.
“Email marketing offers us a way to directly engage with our members and stakeholder network. Using Constant Contact, we have developed a series of newsletter templates for different initiatives that allow us to easily produce and send weekly and monthly newsletters to our subscriber lists, ensuring that we’re consistently communicating with our network and keeping them up to date on circular economy-related news, events, pilot projects, educational resources, policy updates, and ways to get involved in the organization.”
Perry says the platform is particularly useful in supporting their year-end education and fundraising efforts. Every October, the organization runs their Circular Economy Month campaign to educate audiences about the circular economy and encourage behavioural change. “We use Constant Contact to deliver weekly newsletters throughout the month of October containing
educational information about the circular economy, showcase community initiatives and events, and invite organizations to partner with us.”
But the organization doesn’t stop there. In November, a special edition of their newsletter goes out to say thank you to all campaign participants and supporters, helping to further strengthen relationships with members and lay the foundation for next year’s fundraising. “This continues building the momentum and creates an opportunity to fundraise for 2025 programming and educate our audience about how to continue taking action everyday – especially around the upcoming holiday season where it can be easy to overconsume.”
When analyzing the most impactful initiatives, Perry says that tailored email marketing communications pay off in terms of engagement. “As a multi-stakeholder organization communicating content and promoting initiatives that apply to various audiences, we’ve created a series of different newsletter brands.” Perry says that each newsletter contains content that they feel best applies to a specific stakeholder group. “We believe this has helped make our communications more effective and strengthen relationships with our funders and stakeholders by providing a more personalized experience.”
While Canadian small businesses and nonprofits can face a variety of challenges at any time of year, such as economic factors, resource and budget constraints and time limitations, there are practical steps they can take to improve their year-end performance, mainly through focused marketing efforts.
To learn more about how Constant Contact can help support your non-profit’s marketing goals, visit constantcontact.ca and sign up today for a free trial.
MICHAEL
BROOKE is a writer and editor and works with Foundation Magazine on special projects.
Historic Plaques Which Honour Philanthropy
Sir Byron Edmund Walker, C.V.O.,
LL.D., D.C.L. 1848-1924
The plaque located near the community of Gilford in Innisfil bears the Ontario coat of arms.
Sir Byron Edmund Walker, C.V.O., LL.D., D.C.L. 1848-1924 - Born in Haldimand County, Walker joined the new Canadian Bank of Commerce at an early age, transforming it into one of Canada’s leading financial institutions. He helped author the Bank Act, cornerstone of Canada’s national banking system. By 1907, he was president of the Bank of Commerce, a position he held until 1924. Walker was a generous patron of the arts, helping to found and nurture many of Canada’s cultural and educational institutions, including the University of Toronto, National Gallery of Canada, Champlain Society, Appleby School, Art Gallery of Ontario and Royal Ontario Museum. In 1910, King George V knighted Walker for his contributions to business and the arts. Walker assembled land in Innisfil Township for a family retreat that his wife Mary named “Innisfree” and built Innisfree Farm in 1913. Ontario Heritage Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario.”
Walker credited his father for developing his broad interests and love for learning, and always regretted that poor health prevented him from getting a formal education. He believed that the basis of a civilized society was its educational system and that a nation’s universities were its most treasured institutions. Throughout his life he took an active interest in educational institutions. After fire destroyed the eastern portion of University College in 1890, Walker was instrumental in persuading the Ontario government to make its first grant to the amalgamated University of Toronto.
The Toronto Conservatory of Music also joined the university through his efforts. He served as a member of its Board of Governors, and later as president (1917-24). His support for music also included the Mendelssohn Choir, for which he was honorary president (1900-24).
Through his years in New York and early trips to Europe Walker developed skills as an art connoisseur and collector, often lecturing on the subject. His collection of 1,070 Japanese woodblock prints, were bequeathed to the Royal Ontario Museum on his death. A collection of over 400 works of graphic art including works by Dürer and Rembrandt were donated by his children to the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1926. Walker’s relationship with George Agnew Reid had led to the founding of the Art Gallery of Ontario. On March 15, 1900, Reid, then president of the Ontario Society of Artists, brought a group of citizens together to consider the formation of an art gallery for Toronto. At that meeting, a Provisional Art Museum Board was set in place with Walker as chairman and Reid as secretary. Through effective lobbying and fundraising ($5,000 each from 10 benefactors), the Ontario Legislature later that year passed a bill incorporating the Art Museum of Toronto. Walker became president of its Board of Trustees and served until his death.
The Town of Innisfil acknowledges that this land is the Traditional Territories of the First Peoples of Turtle Island. It is shared between the Anishinaabe peoples of Beausoleil First Nation, Chippewas of Rama First Nation, and Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation and we thank them for generations of stewardship.
Five Lives: What We Do
Each issue Foundation Magazine provides a mini-profile of five people whose work and commitment make Canada a more liveable country. We thank them for their service.
1
Alexis Kane Speer is the Founder and Executive Director of STEP Public Art, a Canadian charity that supports and elevates artists. The organization is marking its 10th anniversary. The organization aims to animate spaces with vibrant public art, while bringing the community together. Alexis (she/they) is responsible for STEPS’ strategic planning, partnership development, and fundraising. Inspired by the city and the people who bring it to life, she has 20+ years experience leading public art, cultural planning, and community building initiatives, for which she has received numerous awards. STEP inspired by art, people, and community. We began as a passion project collecting personal stories across North America about how art affects where people live, work, and play. Speer saw through 100+ conversations the direct impacts of art on social well-being. That’s why their team of artists, urban, and cultural planners are here to animate spaces with vibrant, community-engaged public art. STEP brings art to unexpected corners with artists who are as deeply passionate about art as they are.
2
Kate Karn, Director, Public Policy; A/Coordinator, Mastercard Changeworks. Karn supports the development and management of the company’s public affairs and government relations programs, including advocacy and stakeholder management. In addition, she serves as Acting Coordinator for Mastercard Changeworks™, Mastercard Canada’s social impact program, managing partnerships to help Canada’s not-for-profits harness the power of technology and data to create positive change for Indigenous and new Canadian entrepreneurs. Kate has a Bachelor of Public Affairs & Policy Management from Carleton University and a Master’s in International Public Policy from the Balsillie School of International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is a member of Startup Canada’s Private Sector Leadership Advisory Council and the Toronto chapter of Mastercard’s Women’s Leadership Network Executive Committee. Most recently, she served as Study Group Chair for the Northwest Territories as part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conference.
3
Jenny Marsh is the Executive Director of the Vancouver Public Library Foundation. Jenny has been a fundraising professional since 2008, working as a major gifts fundraiser in the Faculties of Medicine and Science at UBC prior to joining the VPL Foundation in 2013. She is passionate about connecting people to causes they care about and contributing to a thriving social-impact sector. In the role of Executive Director, Jenny leads a team of six to raise funds for VPL collections, programs, services and spaces through major and community giving programs. Outside of her role at VPLF, Jenny currently serves as Chair of the board of the Vancouver Farmers Market Society. She loves collaborating and brainstorming with fundraising colleagues across many sectors and particularly at public libraries, which support, sustain and enrich arts & culture, social service, and education in the communities they serve.
4 5
Simone Hicken is the Vice President, Philanthropy and Donor Engagement, WWW-Canada. With thirty years in the non-profit sector, Simone is driven to succeed at fundraising by the passionate dedication of the volunteers in the organizations that she has served. Prior to joining World Wildlife Fund of Canada, Simone held senior fundraising positions at Trans Canada Trail, David Suzuki Foundation, St. Joseph’s Healthcare, McMaster University, the University of British Columbia and the BC Wildlife Federation. Simone has a BA from the University of Toronto in International Relations, Public Policy and Administration. She has served on a number of boards and been engaged in many volunteer activities throughout her life, ranging from coaching U12 girls soccer and managing Pee Wee rep hockey teams to assisting in the preservation of the Haida language.
Andrew Reddin is Chief Executive Officer at Child Development Institute, where he oversees development, delivery and evaluation of evidence-based, outcome-focused programs and services for children, youth and families, including mental health, family violence, early years and child care services, and partners with Board of Directors in multi-year strategic planning, risk assessment and mitigation planning, policy development, and making key decisions on topics like capital allocation, organization design and sector accreditation, among other strategic priorities. He was previously Chief Operating Officer at NPower Canada, a charitable organization that launches underserved youth across Canada into digital careers. In his past role, he cultivated and secured transformative multi-year contributions from public and private sector partners, building a sustainable foundation for rapid organizational growth. He has also served as Treasurer on the Canadian Council for Youth Prosperity (CCYP) Board of Directors and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors.
