A Prelude to December, Canada’s charitable giving season

A Prelude to December, Canada’s charitable giving season

In late November dozens of Montreal’s non-profit and philanthropic leaders met at the University Club to discuss how to inspire a whole new generation of Canadians to give.

Co-hosted by John Hallward, Chairman of the GIV3 Foundation, and Dominique Anglade, co-founder of the KANPE Foundation, the evening brought together several members of Montreal’s family foundations including Peter McConnell, Brian Bronfman, Stuart and Claire Webster, Diana Stewart of the Macdonald Stewart Foundation and event sponsor David Laidley.

Event sponsor David Laidley and Montreal Economic Institute advisor
Reford MacDougall

While there has been a boom in wealth among top Canadian income earners, research by IPSOS, a global market research firm, “shows that three-quarters of Canadians do not know how much they should be giving and as a result they give less,” said Hallward, senior consultant at IPSOS.

“If the country returned to the average giving rate of a generation ago [1% of income, up from the current average level of giving which is .75%] it would generate almost $2 billion more annually for the non-profit sector.”

It is this enormous potential which led Hallward in 2008 to start GIV3, a non-profit movement whose sole purpose is to encourage more Canadians to be more giving – either by donating or by volunteering.

The non-profit sector, which represents 7% of our GDP and employs over two million Canadians, has a significant impact, from providing services to children at risk, to providing homeless shelters and elder care.

December is the biggest month of philanthropy in Canada, and was recently kicked-off with the very successful “Giving Tuesday” on December 1^st with over 4,000 charities and businesses participating in this year’s Canada-wide event.

To find out how to participate in giving during the month of December, please go to: www.givingtuesday.ca