The Benefits of a Gift of Life Insurance (Part 1)

Gift of Life Insurance

Thanksgiving is often the time of year when we consider the abundance we have and reflect on the needs of others. Some of us extend our generosity as part of our Thanksgiving traditions; researching opportunities to give and then writing a cheque, participating in a food collection drive, or spending some time volunteering. As wonderful as giving back like this can…

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When Giving Is Good for Business: Donating Private Company Shares (Part 2)

In Part One, I introduced you to Keith and Edward, who contacted me to help them donate $100K of private company shares. Although complex rules apply, with proper planning and professional advice, this gift planning strategy can be a tax efficient way to support charity.   How to Donate Private Company Shares  The process of donating private company shares to Abundance…

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Markets Are Looking Up, and Your Charitable Giving Can Too

Instead of spending fun times at our favourite amusement parks over the past few months, many of us have been riding a different kind of a rollercoaster. Along with businesses and charities, investors white-knuckled it through volatile market ups and downs this spring and early summer as the world figured out the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.    Thankfully, markets today have largely recovered, and most stocks and mutual funds have…

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Support Your Favourite Charity with Gifts of Securities

Fred Smith* is a big-hearted man, and has always donated a percentage of his annual income to charity. When the homeless shelter in his city launched a fundraising campaign to construct a new building, he decided to give them an extra $10,000 above his annual support. Fred was excitedly telling a friend about the project over lunch one day when his friend told…

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A Generosity Mindset

Even though it’s been a few years since my kids were in school, our household still settles back into new routines this time of year. My wife and I sit down in September and fill out the calendar with our various commitments.  While this activity has the potential to feel overwhelming, I’ve found that taking…

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The Freedom of Disciplined Giving

Elliotts

Growing up in Enniskillen, Ireland, Albert Elliott learned to practice generosity from a young age. His parents faithfully supported their local church, including encouraging their son to place his own bit of money into the collection plate every Sunday. He was also deeply influenced by an aunt who gave generously to help others. “She used to…

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A Trend Worth Keeping

David Barker

We all need some good news right now, and I love hearing stories of neighbours helping neighbours, random acts of kindness for frontline workers, and celebrities giving back. The media has been highlighting big generosity lately, but you don’t need a multi-million-subscriber channel to start your own generosity trend. You just have to be willing…

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Modelling Generosity Across Generations

Brad Family

Generosity doesn’t just start all of a sudden when we decide we have accumulated “enough”; it is shaped by experiences throughout our lifetime and deeply influenced by the people around us. Growing Up Amidst Generosity My family didn’t talk about charitable giving while I was growing up, but their actions spoke volumes about the joy…

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Launch Your Generosity Today

Launch Your Generosity

Last weekend people from around the world live-streamed NASA’s launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon, the first manned spaceflight to launch from North America in nearly a decade. The images of Mission Control and the launch site had me marveling at how much technology has changed since the Apollo missions. When someone mentioned Newton’s famous…

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