Childless adults make huge impact with charities

When I read that Margaret and Charles Juravinski are creating an endowment fund of $100 million to support health research in Hamilton, my first reaction was admiration. My second was to wonder if they had children. They don’t.

A good friend of mine willed her house and large plot of land to the Indigenous community in her area. She, too, has no children.

Pope Francis decried childless people as selfish. But patterns of charitable giving belie that. According to the British group Legacy Foresight, childless people make 55 per cent of all legacies to charities.

The Canadian charity newsletter Hilborn cites research that finds those without children are five times more likely to give a bequest than other seniors. And when parents make bequests, they’re typically less than donations made by others.

Those of us with children are typically more inward-looking. From the moment a newborn baby arrives, every impulse seems to galvanize us toward helping that baby thrive. Our resources become our child’s resources. And when doing estate planning, although we might leave money to charity, most parents and grandparents put family first.

This evolutionary impulse to cushion our children’s lives runs deep. Scratch the U.S. college admissions scandal and you’ll see it in one of its uglier incarnations. Parents talk about wanting the best for their children, be it schools or other opportunities. Environmental activists often talk in terms everyone understands: leaving a brighter future for grandchildren.

Those without children are better placed to see the bigger picture. Without obligation to specific children, they can focus on all children.

Religious people, even if they’re parents, think differently too. In traditional Judaism, for example, Jews are exhorted to give 10 per cent of income each year to charitable causes.

In contrast, a study this year on the Compare the Market website suggests the average billionaire gives 3.76 per cent of net worth to charity. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett started their Giving Pledge campaign nine years ago, encouraging the ultra-wealthy to leave at least half their billions to charity.

But for the rest of us, children and grandchildren are usually the main recipient of any discretionary largesse. The good news for charities is that the Canadian fertility rate has dipped. These days it sits at 1.6 births, not enough to reach replacement levels for couples. Fewer children could mean more philanthropy.

The Juravinskis didn’t have to think about depriving their children or grandchildren when they made their wonderfully generous gift. And would that have affected their decision in any way?

In the meantime, the rest of us can only admire the Juravinskis’ generosity. Researchers at Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton can rejoice. Future generations will benefit from this funded research, not just heirs of the Juravinskis. And the lesson about open-hearted giving should be an inspiration to those of us who are parents.