The nonprofit accounting you purse your mission

cash dividends and given to charity every year tax-free.

Starting as early as the first year of the policy, the charity can begin to receive annual tax-free cash dividends. But waiting until year 10 means that those dividends won’t reduce the legacy gift on death. At that point, the charity can begin to receive annual tax-free cash dividends that start at $162,000 and increase annually until the second spouse dies.

In the end, in exchange for a net investment of $2.5 million over 10 years, the charity could receive $5 million of annual dividends and a substantial legacy gift on death of $7.7 million in insurance proceeds. That’s $12.5 millions of charity at a cost of $2.5 million.

Much more than income replacement

We meet many people with great advisors working to build customized financial, tax and estate plans for them. But it’s a rare client who has a coordinated team working to implement the most effective strategies across every discipline.

We love to collaborate with other specialists, including accountants, lawyers, investment advisors, family offices and insurance advisors. Doing so allows us to share our expertise in personal and business insurance, estate planning and philanthropic planning, and help clients achieve their unique goals.

Get professional help

Don’t go it alone. Get the benefit of experience and knowledge from a team of seasoned insurance professionals who can assess your needs and suggest appropriate strategies. Get the right types of insurance in the right amounts, with the help of professionals who will be there to advocate for you in the event a claim is made.

MARK HALPERN is a well-known CFP, TEP, MFA-P (Certified Financial Planner, Trust & Estate Practitioner, Master Financial Advisor – Philanthropy). He was honoured to speak in the Disruptors Category at Moses Znaimer’s most recent ideacity conference. His talk generated high interest and comments. Watch “The New Philanthropy” at bit.ly/MarkHalpernTalk Learn more at www.wealthinsurance.com. He writes this column exclusively for each issue of Foundation Magazine.

Welcoming a New Era with a Human Touch

CONTINUED FROM page 13 charitable sector workforce. A recent Imagine Canada report, Diversity Is Our Strength, reveals that women make up more than 75 percent of the non-profit workforce. The report also states that nonprofit workers are more highly educated than those in the broader economy. However, those working in communitybased agencies earn an average annual salary of $38,716 compared to $57,137 economy-wide. This makes me question if our own sector continues to marginalize women. This argument could also be made for immigrants, Black, Indigenous, racialized, and older workers. If aligned values between donors and charities are a key motivator for donors, then aligned values like pride and hope will influence the relationships we are trying to build.

Providing a bit of optimism

Albeit all these factors I just mentioned, I remain optimistic for our sector. Like many of us over the past few years, Laura Frye, Senior Major Gifts Officer at “From the Top,” a non-profit NPR program nurturing the talent of young classically trained musicians, illustrated what happened when she said, “the pandemic forced the group to cancel or adapt much of its in-person programming but also proved the resilience of From the Top’s team and donors”.

Amid the uncertainty ahead, and by focusing on the human values we have honed over the last few years we can get through some of the post pandemic related uncertainty. Active listening will help us through these challenges, so listening to our donors, continuously, adapting to donors’ preferences, and asking donors about their individual circumstances may enable us to incorporate trust and accountability into our relationships towards one another. This is also true for our working relationships with the charitable sector.

Maybe this means having a more “human touch” in our relationships.

My final thoughts

The charitable sector continues to face stress every day, but the unprecedented experiences we have had in the last years have taught us to shift into neutral and take a moment to “check-in” and understand what’s happening. This new era is forcing our sector to be a little more “human” with regards to relationship building, which is at the core of our philanthropic activities. Building trust and accountability leads to “success” for individuals involved in making a donation as well as those involved in problem-solving.

As Nancy Pole mentioned in her article entitled Measuring and accounting for ‘success’ in the charitable and non-profit sector: “changes are underway in the non-profit and charitable sectors and in their relationships with partners and communities. In the last few years, the needs, aspirations, and calls for justice of equity-seeking communities have begun to receive long-overdue attention”. Pole talks about working in an increasingly complex funding ecosystem of delicate relationships with ongoing tension.

We are attempting to satisfy individual and social needs while developing new rules of engagement. As a result, it will be possible for charitable organizations and non-profits, and their allies to build healthy relationships in a way to reconcile different stakeholders’ needs. Maybe, by adding a little human touch, we can aspire to build healthy relationships based on trust and accountability.

KATHLEEN A. PROVOST, CFRE is currently the Director, Campaign Initiatives at St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, NS. She brings over 25 years of fundraising experience within the charitable sector. She has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2007, and a long-time member and volunteer for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). As a recognized leader, Kathleen has tailored presentations and workshops for French and English audiences at various events including AFP-Nova Scotia, AFP-Ottawa, AFP-National Congress, Coady International Institute and the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education. Kathleen is a McGill University graduate and holds a Master, Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University. She has received numerous recognitions during her career, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contributions to the charitable sector and 2021 Fundraiser of the Year in Nova Scotia. She writes this column exclusively for each issue of Foundation Magazine.