Overhead and Impact: Charity Evaluations and Giving Tuesday

The #GivingTuesday Countdown Edition

Financing solutions instead of funding problems

As we enter into the holiday giving season we wanted to share a few inspirational stories and provide you with some tools and resources to help you along your philanthropic journey.

Each family and individual that we sit down with to help plan out their giving strategy is unique. Their motivations may be driven by financial planning, may be driven by family dynamics and a desire to stay connected across generations, or may be driven by a personal connection to the issue or organization they want to support. Understanding the "WHY" behind their giving allows for establishing deeper relationships with the charities they support, the businesses they invest in and the shops that they buy from.

The resources offered in this newsletter range from a simple six-step giving guide to some tips & tricks for family foundation governance.

Creative Impact: Maximizing Philanthropic Investment

On October 24th we hosted a gathering of family foundations from across Western Canada diving into topics around strategic philanthropy, the charitable system, impact investing and the role that private philanthropy plays in shaping our societies.

The keynote address was presented by Dan Pallotta, author of UnCharitable and Charity Case both of which you can order through our bookshelf (and see the other books we have read).

Below are just a few points raised from his presentation that garnered discussion and further food for thought:

North American charities and non-profits vary in size from small *under $300K" to extra-large "$100Million+". The classification of non-profit or charity, in and of itself leads to confusion around really the size and scope that these agencies play in our communities. In fact, Canada's charitable sector's contribution to the GDP is the same size as the Automotive, Retail, Agriculture and Manufacturing combined!

GivingTuesday Workshop: Joint Ventures, Collaborations and Family Foundations

Often we hear funders telling their recipient organizations that they want to see more collaboration between organizations, and asking questions about why there is "so much duplication in the sector?"

If we want charities to collaborate more then it behooves the funding side of the coin to do the same. But what does this mean? What does this look like? Who is doing it well? What are the pitfalls?

On November 19th and 21st we will be running a workshop in partnership with ABFI at the University of Alberta School of Business , for family foundations and family business owners on different collaboration models to drive social change.

Philanthropy 3.0 - Rethinking How Money Flows in the Charitable Sector (2010 TEDxCalgary)

TEDxCalgary - Gena Rotstein - Adaptive Philanthropy

This video was originally posted in April 2010 at a TEDxCalgary event. Are you a builder or a de-constructor? Given the conversation with Dan Pallotta we felt it would be worthwhile revisiting some of the messages covered in this short TEDTalk.

What happens when Foundations get together to raise awareness on a specific issue? In this case, we are pleased to share that Invisible Heart, a film project that Place2Give Foundation was involved with is now available for live streaming on Amazon Prime !

This movie explores the good and bad behind Social Impact Bonds . SIBs are unique financing vehicles for charities that provide a Return on Investment (ROI) for purchasers of the bond while at the same time providing organizations with much needed operating capital (the un-sexy funds that charities need to keep the lights on and the doors open...).

Philanthropy 3.0 - GivingTuesday Projects with

Place2Give Foundation

Place2Give Foundation is our Donor Advised Fund. We use it as a teaching tool for families with "young philanthropists" and those that are testing the waters of their giving strategy.

Focusing on funding projects that are pushing the needle on complex social problems and projects that engage multiple stakeholders, P2G puts an emphasis on supporting donors, their families and the community at large by financing solutions instead of funding problems.

Click here to see what some of our clients are working on, and support their efforts OR you can start your own micro-foundation.

Place2Give is a registered charity in both Canada and the US.

Thank you to the

Creative Impact Event Partners

Click here to access the tools & resources shared at the event