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SOCIAL PURPOSE & CLIMATE ACTION Five Meaningful Ways to Give Back to Your Community The holiday season is often a time for connecting with friends and family, but if your circle has felt smaller in recent years, you’re not alone.
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Julie Fiorini
ccording to CanadaHelps’ 2024 Giving Report, the number of Canadians with six or more close friends dropped by 40 percent from 2013 to 2022. At the same time, fewer Canadians are donating, and 57 per cent of charities say they can’t keep up with demand. Shrinking social networks may be contributing to lower donation rates, according to the report. More than 80 per cent of Canadians with many close friends report donating to charity, while just over half of those with very few close friends give. This shift is not only making it harder for charities to deliver their critical services, but indicates a broader risk to Canadians overall. What if generous actions could not only help stop this downward trend, but reverse it? Research shows that the more we practice generosity, the more capacity we have to be generous, and the more we enhance each other's well being. This formula is also called The Generosity Loop. That’s why this year we are challenging Canadians to take the CanadaHelps Generosity Challenge!
Here are five ideas to get you started:
1.
Give a charitable gift.
2.
3. 4. 5.
Get out and volunteer.
Julie Fiorini General Manager, Donor Services, CanadaHelps
Roll up your sleeve to give. Perform an act of kindness.
Donate to a charity you want to support on CanadaHelps.
Read more about the five meaningful ways to give back on innovatingcanada.ca.
Giving doesn’t have to be material or expensive to make an impact. Whether it’s donating, volunteering, or simply helping out a neighbour, small acts of kindness can bring communities together and create meaningful change. By spreading generosity, you can make the holiday season a little brighter for someone in need.
The Power of a Meaningful Corporate Gift? They Keep On Giving Canadian companies can bolster their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) structure while also supporting the local community, through conscious corporate gifting.
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Katherine Cappellacci
Melissa Botelho Founder & CEO, Conscious Collective
cross the country, corporations use their power and platform to create a positive future, encourage sustainability, and give back to their community. “A company’s ESG framework ensures their practices reflect their values,” says Melissa Botelho, Founder and CEO of Conscious Collective. “An effective way to promote the ‘social’ element is through conscious corporate gifts while strengthening stakeholder loyalty.” Conscious Collective is dedicated to helping corporate leaders achieve ESG objectives, communicate brand values, and boost economic equality through gifting. Their custom gift boxes contain goods from local, diversely led, sustainable, and ethical small businesses.
For the holidays, they’ve partnered with Up With Women, a registered Canadian charity that works to end the cycle of poverty for women. They’re providing inspirational holiday gift boxes to 350+ people in need.
To donate to this campaign or learn more about Conscious Collective, Up With Women, and the awesome small business vendors ready to make meaningful change for economic equality and sustainability, visit consciouscollective.io.
Gifts with Purpose By donating towards the purchase of these gift boxes, corporations support a preventative approach to homelessness as well as the small Canadian business vendors who are featured in the packages. “Through us, big companies can source their employee and client gifts from smaller, local makers,” Melissa adds. “When they help others, companies also help themselves.”
This article was sponsored by Concious Collective.
Conscious Collective only provides gifting services to organizations, not consumers.
How Donor Advised Funds Simplify Charitable Giving for Families Donor advised funds make charitable giving easier, offering flexibility, tax benefits, and the integration of philanthropy into overall wealth and estate plans.
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Tania Amardeil
or Canadians seeking an efficient way to create lasting impact, donor advised funds (DAFs) offer a flexible solution. A DAF is a charitable giving account where donors contribute funds, receive immediate tax benefits, and then recommend donations to charities at their own pace. Combining many of the benefits of a private foundation with lower costs and simpler setup, DAFs also allow either recognition or anonymity with charities and handle CRA reporting through the managing foundation. Benefaction Foundation specializes in managing DAFs, helping individuals and corporations to seamlessly incorporate charitable giving into their wealth management plans.
Creating a culture of giving Joady, a donor and Vice-President at Assante Wealth Management, highlights the simplicity and strategic benefits of
DAFs. “They allow me to donate when it makes sense financially, even before choosing a specific charity,” she says. Assante introduced DAFs five years ago to facilitate planned giving conversations. “They create a multigenerational family experience and align perfectly with our firm’s values,” says Joady. The idea of enhancing family philanthropy certainly rings true for Keith, another donor with CIBC Wood Gundy. “On their birthdays, my children and grandchildren choose charities to support, creating a culture of giving,” he says. Keith also praises the administrative ease of DAFs for larger, strategic donations. “Charities often see DAFs as a threat, but in 2021 alone, they granted nearly $1 billion to Canadian charities,” he notes.
To learn more about how individuals, corporations, and financial advisors can make a positive impact through planned giving with Benefaction Foundation’s DAFs, visit benefaction.ca.
This article was sponsored by Benefaction.
Publisher: Emily Hellam, Lauren Christie Business Development Manager: Sarah Ferreira Country Manager: Nina Theodorlis Production & Delivery Manager: Michael Taylor Creative Director: Kylie Armishaw Digital Designer: Miranda Robinson Digital Media Manager: Karm Rathod All images are from Getty Images unless otherwise credited. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve The National Post or its editorial departments. Send all inquiries to ca.editorial@mediaplanet.com.