How to get in the real spirit of Boxing Day
Tap back into what the day was originally all about and maybe get a tax credit
The Boxing Day tradition hails from the U.K., where it was typically a day of giving. The parish priests opened the “poor boxes” and distributed alms to the poor. The wealthy gave Christmas boxes to servants and others less fortunate.
So entrenched was the tradition that in 1710, Gulliver’s Travels author Jonathan Swift complained bitterly about the expense when “the rogues” at his favourite coffee house doubled the expected gratuity. (He paid it to avoid being embarrassed in front of his friends.)
The good news: charitable giving these days is at your own discretion — you can give as much or as little as you wish.
Here’s how to honour the true meaning of the day and make a donation that — also in keeping with Boxing Day tradition — gives you the biggest bang for your buck.
Reap the tax benefits: Make your donation before Dec. 31and you’ll get a tax credit for this year. Canada Revenue Agency has a charitable donation tax credit calculator to help you determine how much your donation will carve from your tax bill.
Take an active approach: “Don’t just give to the charities that approach you at the door,” warns Kate Bahen, managing director of Toronto-based non-profit Charity Intelligence.
“Give to those that are transparent and get the best results.” Bahen suggests researching charities as you would another type of investment. Ask questions, she advises. “Don’t check your brains at the door.”
Choose a charity that gets a fourstar rating: Charity Intelligence rates about 700 Canadian charities according to the following four fac- tors, with its listed “four-star charities” scoring well in all categories.
Transparency: Does the charity have audited financial statements on its website?
Accountability: Is it clear how the charity spends your cash, how it helps and how successful it is at achieving its goals?
Cost efficiency: Are fundraising and overhead costs within a reasonable range of 5 per cent to 35 per cent?
The balance sheet: If it is already a very rich charity, does it really need to fundraise for more money?
“Most people want their money to be used for programs or to help keep the lights on,” Bahen says.
“They don’t want it sitting in an investment account.”
Donating to a smaller charity? Do some homework yourself. As Bahen points out, there are approximately 86,000 charities in Canada, and Charity Intelligence is only able to monitor those that generate more than a million dollars.
“I would never want to discourage people from donating to smaller charities,” she says. “In fact, some of those get the best results.”
If the charity of your choice is not listed, she advises, at least make sure it has a registered charitable number (check the Charities and Giving sec- tion at the Canada Revenue Agency website) and audited financial statements (on the charity’s website).
“Look at their newsletter and their annual report as well,” Bahen suggests, to try to determine how successful the charity is at meeting its goals.
Choose a gift that multiplies: Many charities offer gifts with a government or private sector matching component. A $30 gift to provide medicines for children through World Vision’s Christmas Gift Catalogue, for example, reaps nine times the value thanks to donations from partner companies.
But there’s a caveat, Bahen says: If there’s a match on providing soccer balls to an underprivileged community, but not on mosquito nets, you could be moving from a high impact gift to a less impactful gift.
“There’s so much evidence that mosquito nets save lives by preventing people from getting malaria,” she says.
“You want to make sure there’s not an incentive to give badly.”
Team up with your boss: Many employers offer a gift-matching program that can as much as quadruple the value of your donation.
Give of your time: Volunteer opportunities abound, according to Paula Speevak, president and CEO of Volunteer Canada. Volunteering can be a good way to get to know an organization first-hand or determine a community’s needs.
Volunteer Canada’s website (volunteer.ca) will link you to 220 local volunteer centres across the country that list a vast array of opportunities from helping out at the local Y to devoting time to the historical society, teaching or mentoring.
“Donations take all kinds of forms,” Speevak says, including financial contributions, gifts of gently used clothing, furniture or toys and your own time.
“They all contribute in some way to our world,” she says.