COLUMNIST
THE ACCIDENTAL PHILANTHROPIST MARK HALPERN
What it Means to Have Will Power
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BY MARK HALPERN, CFP, TEP, MFA-P
Mark Halpern, CFP, TEP, MFA-P 12
FOUNDATION Magazine
September/October 2021
e love philanthropy and we love estate planning. Sitting squarely between the two is one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal to do both: The last will and testament and a desire for donors to go from success to significance by creating a legacy for your charity and a legacy for their family. A lot of people have learned about this from working with us, but it still bears repeating. That is, if you have a large estate tax bill coming due, as is likely the case when you die, one of the very best ways you can head it off is to donate the amount you might pay in taxes to a charity instead. Rule of thumb: every $2 that you give to charity will save you $1 in taxes AND receipts for charitable donations at death can mitigate 100 percent of estate taxes and can even be used to go back one year and save even more taxes. Thank you CRA. This is an exciting time for Canada’s philanthropy community as people across the country are beginning to learn about this concept through a national program called Will Power. The program is modeled after another in the United Kingdom which aimed to increase the number of people who planned to leave some of their wealth to charity in their will. They did this because very few (only 5 percent) of all people who already had wills were even considering the thought of leaving a donation to charity in their will. To improve that number, nonprofit organizations banded together and bought retail advertising — foundationmag.ca
