The art of giving is to start early and start small
The notion of everyday philanthropy: If we all contribute a little, we can make a huge difference
For her ninth birthday this year, Tess Farnel handed every student in her Grade 3 class a personal note telling them a donation to The Stop Community Food Centre had been made in their name.
Her older brother, Jimmy, did the same thing when he turned 11, says their mother Colleen Hill, 46.
“We are a relatively young family and we don’t have a lot of disposable income,” says Hill. “But we think it’s important to get children thinking about charitable giving early.”
Hill works in the non-profit sector while her husband, Sean Farnel, works in the arts. She estimates the family donates about $2,000 a year, divided between The Stop, a small local agency, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, a large national charity.
“The Stop is a wonderful organization in our neighbourhood that we like to support as a family,” says Hill, who lives near Ossington Ave. and Davenport Rd. “It is a place the children know. They see the community gardens and they understand the good work they do.”
Hill also wants them to see that philanthropy isn’t just for the rich.
“I’ve always believed if we all contribute a little, we can make a huge difference,” she says.
Imagine Canada, a national organization that supports the country’s charities and non-profits, wishes more of us had that attitude.
According to a 2011 Statistics Canada study, the average Canadian tax-filer donates about $1,480 a year. The average Ontarian gives about $1,670, while the average Torontonian donates about $2,200.
Although Canadian giving in 2011 went up 2.6 per cent over 2010, the number of people making donations is slipping. Just 23 per cent of tax-filers reported charitable donations in 2011, down from 23.4 per cent in 2010 and 29.5 per cent in 1990, according to the Statscan report.
It means fewer people are giving more. And most of the donations are coming from the relatively wealthy. Today, half of all donations come from people earning $80,000 or more.
And yet, a recent poll found two-thirds of Canadians would rather have a donation made on their behalf than receive a gift.
Close to 80 per cent would consider making such a gift, according to the poll conducted last December for BMO Harris Private Banking. So why don’t more of us do it? With so many community agencies, arts organizations and medical causes, not to mention hospitals, universities and other public institutions looking for support, donors can feel overwhelmed, Hill says.
“When people hear about foundations giving $1 million, they wonder how their own $20 donation can make a differ-
“We don’t have a lot of disposable income. But we think it’s important to get children thinking about charitable giving early.” COLLEEN HILL SUPPORTS THE STOP COMMUNITY FOOD CENTRE AND THE HEART AND STROKE FOUNDATION
ence,” she says.
“I don’t think charities do enough to get the message out that every little bit counts.”
Engaging young people is also important, because most people who give regularly say they started early.
Toronto grandmother Pat MacKay, 89, says she can’t remember when she wasn’t connected to some form of giving.
“As a child, I was always involved in carol singing or holding raffles for the local Santa Fund,” she recalls. “If you learn it early, it will be a lifelong passion.”
Charity isn’t just about money, she notes.
“For some people it might be just sharing a meal. Being a good neighbour, a good friend . . . it is all equally important,” she says.
The BMO survey found that 45 per cent of Canadians volunteer, a figure that may improve with high school students in On- tario and other provinces now required to volunteer. As a result, more may continue to volunteer as adults.
MacKay, who has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of British Columbia, was a homemaker for most of her life, but volunteered on numerous community boards.
When her husband, Stuart, died in 1986, Mackay decided to set up a $100,000 charitable fund with the Toronto Community Foundation “because we know the money is invested carefully and used wisely,” she says.
Mackay still takes pleasure in choosing the local charities to support with the annual proceeds from the Stuart and Patricia MacKay Family Fund.
“I like to give to the smaller groups that can really use the money,” says the spry octogenarian, who lives independently in a midtown apartment and still drives. “It keeps me engaged in my community.”