It’s Bud the spud from the bright red mud
Rolling down the highway smiling
The Spuds are big on the back of Bud’s rig
(‘cause) They’re from Prince Edward Island
– Stompin’ Tom Connors
by Paul Nazareth
As a kid, my immigrant parents gave us a powerful gift in the early 1980s. Piling into huge station wagons with a lot of food and no seatbelt laws and over several summers drove across Canada. Motels and sandwiches were the food of the day, but we saw what we called Canada at the time.
Our final time together as children and parents was on the bright red sand of Prince Edward Island. The P.E.I. Community Foundation and charity community were my host last year for GivingTuesday, and while our peers are all working at full capacity.
We are losing ground, not just nameless “charities” but when a YMCA goes under, daycare spots are lost and so many other community losses.
My first job out of University was for the advertising company who printed all of Ontario’s Catholic Church bulletins. I would drive about 100,000 kilometres a year visiting Churches and ensuring they would have a bulletin for the rest of the year. Paid for by small business advertisers who were never thanked or recognized possible but kept the lights on.
Like a lot of people from the nonprofit’s sector’s past, I come from 1980s Churchland. Bake sales on the weekends, Unicef boxes at Halloween, clothing drives and food collections and non-stop fundraising. Even the church of teenage dirtbags MuchMusic would make us fundraise for a high school dance party. There had to be a better way.
Volunteering in the student call center in University I found a clear calling to fundraising from what was already a great job in advertising sales…. And a more direct connection to funding the work and purpose of an organization. But I really hated special events and chocolate almonds still make me break out into a cold sweat that there is a donation thermometer out there I’m responsible for or people will suffer.
“What if there WAS a better way”, Maria Gallo annual fund leader at the University of Toronto introduced me to planned giving ( and then she left Canada to teach Alumni strategy all across Europe for 20 years https://www.thealumniway.com/ ) and 25 years later after a wild ride working for my alma mater, a bank in donor-advised funds and the Pope ( Archdiocese of Toronto ), and then CanadaHelps during the scale to $100M+ and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners advancing gifts of assets.
Did it work? Did planned giving actually catch-on or do mostly Hospitals, Universities and large charities use it to dominate the capital fundraising dollars leaving income and literal pocket change for the rest of Canada’s 85,000+ charities ( data from Imagine Canada and CanadaHelps Giving Reports ).
Donor Advised Funds’ rampant success is billion-dollar proof that the Community Foundation model has the highest potential to raise capital dollars for all charities and under possible non-qualified donee rules, the rest of nonprofits and public do-gooders too.
Well that didn’t happen. And there was a LOT I got wrong ( what was it they say about hindsight? ). Turning the page on my time in the sector means a divestment of knowledge, board roles, leadership roles – and a place of curiosity.
Would you join me on this ride for this column to ask, not whether it’s legal ( it has to be if it’s compliant ), not if it’s transparent ( we can see it all on the terrible CRA site or better at charitydata.ca ), but is it GENEROUS? Is it doing real good affecting people, planet and the causes they claim to affect? And I know that’s subjective, but if we all continue to hide at our own conferences in our own corners of the work; governance, finance, tax, fundraising, operations – our neighbours are dying around us, let alone the state of the world.
One thing I know for sure is that fundraising is philanthropy on capitalism and that it won’t ever end. We know which charities are set up for perpetual fundraising and won’t open their minds, governance or strategy to any new ways or thinking. Me personally, I’m very ready to leave this organizations who have had a hold on my donated dollars and my heart for a life time.
There is good stuff happening. I’ve been yelling that Board of Trade and Chambers of Commerce needing philanthropic tax, financial and estate information for their business owners, most of whom are board members. Well, I’m going to GO to these places and spaces, more to listen than just speak.
But who will represent US, the sector moving into the future. These entities’ ethos IS “trade” and “commerce” after all, and the masters’ tools won’t be able to dismantle the master’s house as we’re told… we need a Chamber for US. As usual the nation’s nonprofit networks lead the way, the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations has relaunched as “The Nonprofit Chamber” Calgary VO https://www.thenonprofitchamber.org/ , wow. Add to that the amazing work done by these networks on board and nonprofit governance ( https://theonn.ca/topics/onn-projects/reimagining-governance/ ), volunteer networks waking up to the need for #DecentWork conversations ( https://www.volunteertoronto.ca/news/681079/Volunteer-Toronto-Adopts-a-Decent-Work-Charter-.htm ) and the work done by Vantage Point in BC on nonprofit leadership capacity, there is a lot of hope for the future. But virtually none of the above plays in fundraising or foundation-land. More silos.
And I’m still curious, especially about this wealth transfer we’ve been told so long about. Banks and Trust companies have been telling charities this for a quarter century, and our sector thought the money would what, fall from the sky into our laps? No, corporate charities, donor-advised foundations and hybrid family foundations who want to fundraise will be competing against the crowdfunding and many distractions for donor’s dollars. And we’ll be arguing over their money about donor or community centricity while capital dollars are locked up and we’re left for generations asking for income hand-outs.
What about the basements full of coin and stamp collections, what to do with all that fine china and crystal no one wants? What about the useless $100M obituary donation sector, a moment of meaning ruined once again by money.
We’re heading up to a decade of the declaration to engage in reconciliation in the sector https://the-circle.ca/media-and-publications/declaration-of-action/ take a read and honestly ask yourself not just what progress we haven’t made but do you think there is any intention do move this forward while golf and gala season is in full swing?
I’m part of the Governing Circle ( old word: board ) of The Circle on Philanthropy and I’ve enjoyed being part of this campaign started BY Canadians like us to learn about Indigenous generosity and give “one day’s pay” directly to Indigenous-led organization and guess what, the revolution may NOT be receipted, check it out to find out why https://www.onedayspay.ca . Many people who look like me no longer see a home in a sector that will tolerate us at best, when I talked about “violent code-switching” in the pages of this publication, I heard from dozens of people like me. How do we move forward?
(and still) I see no changes, all I see is racist faces
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under, I wonder what it takes to make this
One better place, let’s erase the wasted
– Tupac Shakur
Big news recently as Warren Buffet changes the deal on his pledge to give his funds to another billionaire’s Foundation, turns out his kids want it and….who cares?!! Will this really help Souls Harbour in Halifax, and of the city ‘Mission’ charities on the front lines of homelessness or any Meals on Wheels in any rural community in this country who actually cares about seniors? Spending more time on my own reconciliation journey I’ve found that the strong focus Indigenous peoples put on understanding one’s ancestry; past, present and future that I see and feel holds the medicine our sector needs… diving into where fundraising, philanthropy and generosity meet and what we can do to help our shared nations be happier, more connected, feel belonging and just live a good life. No golf tournaments needed. Just go golfing and leave us be.
I no longer know how to look the thousands of peers I’ve taught in courses to advance their important work raising money for causes but neither they nor I can retire from inside this sector. I’m tired of having to counsel fundraisers at the director level on our collective mental health as we deal with the “how’s the cottage” board meeting banter while we are raising our families in one-bathroom precarious rentals owned by the same board members.
I will no longer humour search and HR professionals who hire for acronyms like CFRE and don’t know what they mean, let along the launch of a new Canadian financial designation in philanthropy for advisors ( https://www.knowledgebureau.com/site/program/mfa-p ).
So now what?
So much to discuss… I hope to see you in your hometown to break bread, walk and talk and I’m grateful to hear your thoughts…on generosity.
Paul Nazareth, MFA-P
aka “The Generosity Guy”
paulnazareth.com
Paul Nazareth has worked in Canada’s philanthropic sector for over 30 years. He continues to teach philanthropic tax, financial, estate and gift planning with the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP) part-time. Paul was previously VP at the charity CanadaHelps, part of the donor-advised and foundation team at a bank and spent 15 years working with charities from Universities to Churches. Paul is part of the Governing Circle of The Circle on Indigenous Philanthropy, on the board of Word on the Street, Canada’s largest literary festival, and on the editorial committee of The Philanthropist Journal. He serves as faculty for the Master Financial Advisor in Philanthropy (MFA-P) program led by CAGP, Knowledge Bureau and Spire Philanthropy, and is a frequent instructor to both charities and advisors.
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