Student awards are one of the most popular charitable purposes, especially in estates. Donors often strongly identify with the life changing benefit of direct educational funding to students. Named scholarship funds are often named and constitute part of the donor’s legacy. Educational awards are such a popular purpose that there…
Malcolm Burrows
Malcolm is a philanthropic advisor with over 30 years of experience. He is head, philanthropic advisory services at Scotia Wealth Management and founder of Aqueduct Foundation. Views are his own. malcolm.burrows@scotiawealth.com
From the 19th century to about 1990, the testamentary charitable trust was an important estate planning structure. These trusts are part of the will and are funded after death from estate assets. At one time, testamentary trusts were the primary way for an individual to support one or more charities…
One of the most common philanthropic clichés is that family foundations produce family harmony. I was recently at a forum of advisors to ultra high net worth clients. In a moment of candour, someone asked “has anyone used family foundations to promote family harmony, and has it ever worked?” The…
Changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) rates and rules are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024. For the first time AMT will apply to charitable donations from high-income individuals, which is worrying for charities and donors. Simply, targeting donations is poor tax policy that will produce unintended…
Early in my charitable planning career my employer was offered a donation of islands on Georgian Bay. Surrounding the 100-year-old family cottage were sheds, cabins and boat houses. The donors had a vision: it would be a children’s camp. It was a stunning property. Valuable, despite the sagging, mouse-infested buildings. …
I get regular inquiries about donating funds from registered retirement income funds or RRIFs. The value of RRIFs has grown through careful saving and market gains, and these funds may represent surplus wealth. Some RRIF holders resent the requirement to take steadily increasing annual withdrawals from their RRIF. Add a…
Charitable endowments are having a challenging moment. Despite the historical success of this medieval European charitable fund structure, the accumulation of capital for public benefit has always faced controversy. Endowments, which focus on long-term public benefit, have a built-in tension between capital and annual spending. Does the capital exist…
Estate planning is an exercise in time travel. It is impossible to predict the future, especially when the time gap between planning and death is often decades. Fast forward 25 years, a charity may not exist when the estate is distributed. Charity law identified this problem and a solution to it over…
In estates, the tax rules governing professional artists and their art are both enabling and complex. On the enabling side of the ledger, art is treated as inventory for tax purposes, which means works can have a NIL value. Sales, however, are fully taxable as income, not capital gains. On…
Charity regulators all have processes for members of the public to make complaints about the charities. These processes reveal as much about the regulator and the underlying laws as they do about charity malfeasance. Charities are generally good actors, but they do sometimes have lapses or get caught in internal,…