In this episode, Prof. Abigail Payne explores why someone gives to charity and how charities can utilize their donations by understanding incentives and motivations.
Professor A. Abigail Payne is the Director of the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research and the Ronald Henderson Professor of Economics. Professor Payne holds a PhD from Princeton University, a J.D. from Cornell Law School, and a Bachelor’s Degree (with honours) from Denison University. Professor Payne has a longstanding research interest in empirical public economics issues with a focus on how government policy affects spending and performance. Her work encompasses educational issues such as understanding successful transitions from high school to university, why there are gender gaps in STEM enrollments, and the role of scholarships on university participation, especially those from low-income backgrounds. She also studies charitable giving (e.g. what motivates individuals to donate), the role of government funding on service provision, and how tax policy affects giving and the delivery of public services. Her scholarship demonstrates how best to use big data for economic research and the issues involved in accessing and using these data. She has initiated several key projects in Australia that relate to entrenched disadvantage, charitable giving, educational performance. She is actively involved in Australian economic and social policy as a member of multiple State and Commonwealth Government and University of Melbourne committees. Internationally she is a member of the Ifo Institute’s Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and a number of boards and co-editorships.
Michael Trent joins Adam Aptowitzer in a conversation on creating a thriving arts and culture sphere by utilizing philanthropy and viewing this area as an important niche in today’s charity space.
Michael’s article, “A Leading Role: How Philanthropy Can Support Arts and Culture in Canada,” can be found here.
Michael Trent joined Metcalf as Director of Performing Arts in 2015. Over his thirty-year career, he has contributed to the development of the dance field as choreographer, performer, teacher, artistic director, curator and arts community activist and volunteer. Most recently, Michael spent eight years as the Artistic Director of Toronto’s Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation. Michael has frequently consulted and collaborated with artists and arts organizations at the local and national levels on issues including strategic planning, transition, curatorial expertise, artistic assessment and training. He received a BSc from the University of Toronto in physiology and bioethics and was the co-recipient of the 2004 K.M. Hunter Artists Award in dance.
In light of the Covid-19 international crisis, Andrea McManus joins Adam Aptowitzer in a timely and imperative discussion on how charities can cope with the shift in international attention and stay connected to potential and previous donors.
Andrea McManus is the Chair and Founding Partner of ViTreo Group, a Western Canada- based consultancy that specializes in working with charities and nonprofit organizations. Known for her passionate belief in philanthropy and the value of the nonprofit sector in society, Andrea’s work is firmly anchored in cultivating philanthropic literacy and strong governance through all levels of an organization.
Andrea was the first non American Chair of the international board of AFP in 2011-12. In 2004 she received the Canadian Business in the Arts Award for Innovative Partnership. She was recognized by the AFP Calgary Chapter as the 2007 Outstanding Fundraising Professional Award and in 2012 received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for her contributions to the nonprofit sector in Canada. She has recently been appointed to the newly established Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector for the Canadian government and is a member of the AFP Ethics Committee. She is an AFP Master Teacher and contributing author to five books on nonprofit management, fundraising and global philanthropy.
Jason Clemens is the Executive Vice President of the Fraser Institute and the President of the Fraser Institute Foundation. He has an Honors Bachelors Degree of Commerce and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Windsor as well as a Post Baccalaureate Degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University. Before rejoining the Fraser Institute in 2012, he was the director of research and managing editor at the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute and prior to joining the MLI, Mr. Clemens spent a little over three years in the United States with the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute. He has published over 70 major studies on a wide range of topics, including taxation, government spending, labor market regulation, banking, welfare reform, health care, productivity, and entrepreneurship. He has published over 300 shorter articles, which have appeared in such newspapers as The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Washington Post, Globe and Mail, National Post, and a host of U.S., Canadian, and international newspapers. Mr. Clemens has been a guest on numerous radio and television programs across Canada and the United States. He has appeared before committees of both the House of Commons and the Senate in Canada as an expert witness and briefed state legislators in California. In 2006, he received the coveted Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 award presented by Caldwell Partners as well as an Odyssey Award from the University of Windsor. In 2011, he was awarded (along with his co-authors) the prestigious Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for the best-selling book The Canadian Century. In 2012, the Governor General of Canada on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, presented Mr. Clemens with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contributions to the country.
Bill Schaper talks about the surfacing challenges and policy concerns that arise from the changing nature of charitable giving and the increasing demand for charity. The discussion is on what is the broader relationship between the federal government, the economy, and charities.
Bill Schaper
Bill Schaper is the Director of Public Policy in Imagine Canada’s Ottawa office. In past lives, he was a political staffer on Parliament Hill, the senior policy advisor to a federal cabinet minister, a policy analyst and GR practitioner for universities, an independent policy consultant, and a communications specialist for the United Kingdom’s Auditor General. In addition to working at Imagine Canada, Bill is a full-time assistant to four cats and a dog, who graciously allow him and his wife room and board in exchange for belly rubs and copious praise.
Hilary Pearson gives us an overview of how the Canada Revenue Agency advises and regards the charitable sector.
Hilary M. Pearson, CM
Hilary Pearson has had a twenty-year career in the field of foundation philanthropy in Canada. As the founding President of Philanthropic Foundations Canada for almost eighteen years, Hilary has worked with many of the largest private charitable foundations in the country. She has been a strategic advisor and facilitator for many family foundations, in their work to understand the landscape, develop their goals, and structure their governance and grantmaking practices.
Author of numerous articles and reviews on foundation philanthropy, Ms Pearson also speaks frequently at conferences and workshops in Canada and globally. In her role at PFC, she edited comprehensive guides to starting and managing foundations, as well as guides for funders working with governments, with universities, and in policy advocacy.
Ms Pearson has an extensive knowledge of federal public policy regarding charities and serves as co-chair of the Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector, advising the federal government on policy and regulatory issues. From 2012 to 2015, she served on the Governor-General’s Advisory Committee on Volunteerism and Philanthropy.
In July 2018, she was appointed to the Order of Canada for her contributions to building the field of philanthropy in Canada.
Ms. Pearson has served as a director on many national nonprofit boards of directors, including:
Imagine Canada
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada
CARE Canada
Indspire
She chairs the Advisory Body of the Coady Institute at St Francis Xavier University and serves on the Advisory Committee to the Masters in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership program at Carleton University.
She has a BA and MA in Political Economy from the University of Toronto, and honourary doctorates from Carleton University and the University of New Brunswick.
The line between sponsorship and charitable giving is blurring. In this episode, Brent Barootes explains how sponsorship has taken off as a form of marketing, and how charities can better utilize sponsorships, even with legal limitations and its obstacles.
Brent’s Bio: Brent Barootes is President and CEO of the Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists, a sponsorship marketing consulting firm. Brent has worked with Canadian brands, charities and non-profits helping them all to generate more bottom-line revenue for their respective organizations through sponsorship.
Brent is the author of Amazon.ca’s #1 Best Seller in the Nonprofit Marketing and Communications category; Reality Check – Straight Talk about Sponsorship Marketing. Brent is a regular speaker at conferences and conventions across Canada.
Brent lives with his wife and 14-year-old daughter in Nanaimo BC.
In this episode, Gena Rotstein, a philanthropic adviser, shares how philanthropy is changing and how the charity field can shift to accommodate the new perspectives and trends.
About Gena: Gena Rotstein, FEA, MA, is one of Canada’s leading experts in Social Enterprise and Philanthropy. The founder of Canada’s first Philanthropic Brokerage Firm, Dexterity Consulting leading into the creation of North America’s largest charity search engine, Dexterity Ventures Inc. and venture philanthropy fund – Place2Give Foundation. Gena sold her company in 2016 to Good Done Great, a BCorp based in Charleston, SC.
In September 2017, Gena launched along with Richard Ouellette Karma & Cents Inc. – A Social Impact Lab working with single and multi-family offices in designing impact driven legacy and philanthropy plans. To date, Karma & Cents supports families across Canada advising on over $200Million in charitable assets.
With over 20 years of social business management and non-profit work experience throughout Canada and the United States, Gena has worked with some of Canada’s most influential family foundations, family enterprises and financial institutions helping them generate greater social impact beyond traditional philanthropy for themselves and their customers.
She is a Rotarian and was a founding board member of a number of charities, non- profits and social enterprises including: CivicTechYYC, WINKCalgary a non-profit dedicated to providing educational opportunities for women around finances, and Sponsor Energy a unique social business utility company based in Alberta.
In this episode, Bruce MacDonald and Adam Aptowitzer explore the common challenges that charities face and share various ideas on how to bring the sector together.
About Bruce: When carnivals and social good combined, it pointed to a path and for 30 years Bruce has been walking that route. From working for organizations that provide services to young people, older adults, persons with disabilities, community service clubs and sports and recreation groups, Bruce’s experiences have led him to Imagine Canada, where he is the President & Chief Executive Officer. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada where he participated in a collective effort to bring mentoring programs to kids.
Bruce holds a Bachelor Degree in Sports Administration from Laurentian University, a Masters in Management in the Voluntary Sector from McGill University and a record in the Guinness Book of World Records. In early 2019, Bruce was appointed Co-Chair of the Permanent Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector working with the federal government.
