Strategic giving plans: Defining your values

The number of Canadians who give and volunteer is continuing to decline. According to StatsCan, over the last 15 years, not only have less people been giving, but they have also been giving less.

So, why exactly are people shying away from giving?

At Charitable Impact, we think this trend is due to the complications of the fundraising system. With over 85,000 charities in Canada to choose from, and constant fundraising requests coming in via email, phone, mail or otherwise, it’s not hard to see how the process can become overwhelming for an introverted donor.

Our Charitable Impact Strategies team helps to simplify the process for donors, so they can find joy in giving and create genuine, long term-change. An important part of their service is the development of a strategic giving plan – a personalized strategy that allows donors to say yes joyfully, and no peacefully to charity.

A set of questions

When developing a strategic giving plan, it’s important to consider your values and priorities. Here are some questions to get you thinking:

1. Is how you will be remembered – your legacy – important to you?
2. Has a happy or tough memory in your life informed your giving priorities?
3. When you hear of local or world events, or witness an injustice, what moves you most?
4. Is there anything that you would like to preserve or change during your lifetime?
5. Think about the best charitable giving experience you’ve ever had. What made it so meaningful?

Answering honestly can be a great starting point to developing a successful, long-term giving strategy that helps you make a real difference to the causes that matter most to you.

If you’d like to work with our team to develop a philanthropic plan, we would love to hear from you! Get in touch with our team.