Year-End Dash for Charitable Giving

Happy black couple walkd down the street arm in arm holding shopping bags.

As the year draws to a close, people are making that last dash to send a charitable donation before the year-end to make the most of their tax credit and support a worthy cause.

If it’s the first time you’re making a charitable donation, especially a significant amount, with approximately 86,000 charities to choose from in Canada, your options are endless. Besides figuring out which charities you would like to support, there are also different ways you can donate beyond a traditional cash gift.

Charlotte and her husband Matt were in a similar situation.

They had planned carefully to sell the business and prepare themselves for the next adventure life had in store. They also knew they wanted to make a sizable gift to charity with the proceeds of the sale. However, they were unsure about the specific charities or the amounts they wanted to send… And, it was nearing the end of the year.

All these decisions made it hard for them to start giving. “We didn’t know where to begin,” says Charlotte, “Until a friend referred us to Abundance Canada.”

After discussing their charitable giving options with a gift planning consultant, Charlotte and Matt created a Generosity Plan ™ that involved using their various assets to support their charitable goals.

They opened a Gifting Fund™, commonly referred to as a donor advised fund, which provided them with a donation receipt for the funds added. Their gift planning consultant encouraged them to consider a long-term distribution strategy, which meant that they could use earnings from invested undistributed donations in their Gifting Fund to support future projects. It also provided them with the time they needed to think about where the funds would be sent.

Relieved, Matt said, “Once the pressure to donate by year-end was removed, we really enjoyed working out the specific details and plans for donations to various charities over time.”

Enjoy the process

People are often surprised to learn that they don’t need to have all the details of their charitable giving worked out immediately.

A simple solution to consider is opening a Gifting Fund. You benefit from a donation receipt in the same year funds are added to the account, which gives you time to decide when and where funds are sent to charity. Abundance Canada will disburse your funds based on your recommendations to any registered Canadian charity or qualified donee.