A New Holiday Tradition

Happy senior couple smiles at camera with Christmas tree in the background.

Christmas is just around the corner and there are still lots of opportunities to practice generosity this season. Unfortunately, high inflation rates and increased risk of illness have only heightened the usual stress of buying gifts for family and friends and catching up on charitable giving before the end of the year. While Matthew and Tanya share in the worries over everyone’s health, they are thankful their charitable giving has been able to carry on despite the year’s many challenges. How do they do it? They have a Generosity Plan™.

Sustainable Charitable Giving

In addition to faithfully supporting their church, Matthew and Tanya have always shared a sense of responsibility to help those in need in their community. They have long donated to a variety of neighbourhood charities, such as the homeless shelter in their city. As young parents, they were struck with deep compassion for kids growing up without the kind of opportunities their own children enjoyed, so Matthew and Tanya started sponsoring children’s charities overseas. They have always hoped that their charitable giving would not only provide others with a better life but also encourage generosity in the next generation.

Now settling into retirement, Matthew and Tanya wanted to make sure their philanthropy will continue long-term. They met with an Abundance Canada Gift Planning Consultant and developed a Generosity Plan to achieve their philanthropic goals. The plan included continuing to support their favourite causes while building up a fund to sustain their charitable giving throughout their retirement years. Now, instead of giving to a variety of charities from their annual income, Matthew and Tanya simply donate publicly traded securities in-kind to their Gifting Fund™ once or twice per year.

The Fun of Philanthropy

With their Generosity Plan in place, Matthew and Tanya enjoy taking time in the relative quiet between the bustle of Christmas and the busy re-start after New Year to discuss what they want to put aside for future giving and the charities they’d like to support. They ask themselves:

Which charities will we support this year?
How much money in total do we plan to give in the coming year?
How will that amount be broken down between annual, quarterly, and monthly support?

Once these decisions are made, Matthew and Tanya forward their charity distribution recommendations to Abundance Canada, who manages the disbursements of funds. Then, Matthew and Tanya celebrate by hosting a big New Year’s Day dinner with their family where the conversation often turns to the joy of giving.

A Favourite Holiday Tradition

From the quiet December evenings talking about the causes close to their hearts, to the fun work of planning out their giving and the joyful celebration with family, planning their charitable giving has become one of Matthew and Tanya’s favourite traditions. They would love to see this tradition become a family legacy, so this year, they plan to help their children establish Generosity Plans of their own.