Donating Securities to Charity

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Why donate publicly traded securities to charity? Historically, donations to charities have been in the form of cash (cheque, e-transfer or credit card). However, as people discover the benefits of donating publicly traded securities (stocks, bonds or mutual funds), these in-kind gifts are gaining prominence as a tax effective way to donate versus cash gifts.…

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Passion for Giving, Passed Down Through Generations

Alain and Emily

For Alain Reimer, learning to be generous started when he was a child. “We were taught that giving was just a part of life,” he says of what his parents told their children. On Sundays, when the family attended church, he remembers being given money to put in the Sunday school offering. “If we had…

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Sometimes Love is Half a Sandwich

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I never would have thought it, but one of the best lessons of love I ever learned was taught by a man with half a sandwich. More than thirty years ago, I spent a few summers on a construction crew. The work was hard, and the days were long. The pay was okay, but like…

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Generations of Giving

Generations of Generosity Blog Image, Evelyn

Evelyn is an avid volunteer and gives to various charities. Most of her holidays are spent with teams of shoe box distributors: building water filters for homes, providing medical services in needy communities, and supporting agriculture projects (food always in the home). “After annually packing shoe boxes, I was curious about the distribution at the…

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A Legacy of Love

Arthur and Beverly* were in love. It had taken years to understand the depth of their connection, but they had found it and cherished it. Then, tragedy struck. A story like theirs needs to be remembered and honoured. This is how their legacy continues. A Difficult Family Separation Neither Arthur nor Beverley could pinpoint a…

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A Legacy of Generosity

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It can feel like receiving charity is a negative, but in fact, history shows us that it is part of a positive movement in the community; it promotes a legacy of generosity. I love the Old-English definition of the word ‘charity’ – “Christian love of others,” which looks at charity through a lens of relationship…

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A Grandparent’s Gift

While parenting comes with the pressures to raise a child into a productive, happy, well-rounded adult, being a grandparent can be less goal-oriented. There is often more breathing room in the relationship. That generational distance positions grandparents perfectly to help instill the value of charitable giving in the next generation. A New Tradition Charity and…

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A Different Kind of Legacy

Over the course of their life together, Doug and Heather Leung* raised a happy family and built up a successful business. They worked hard in the shop and instilled in their children the value of hard work, simple living and care for others. Although Doug and Heather had often dreamed about passing the business on…

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Title Change for Executive Director

Kitchener, Ontario: On May 11, 2018, Allister Penner, Board Chair at Abundance Canada (formerly Mennonite Foundation of Canada), announced a change in title of the Executive Director, Darren Pries-Klassen, to Chief Executive Officer. With the goal of positioning Abundance Canada more broadly within Canada, it was the consensus of the board that this new title…

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