In our last issue we posed the question, "Should we be placing a dollar value on the work volunteers and donors contribute to charitable and non-profit organizations?"  Not surprisingly, we received feedback on this issue.  Some of our readers share their thoughts:

“When I was Director of Retired and Senior Volunteer program we put the hourly minimum wage to the hours worked by the 3,000 volunteers and were surprised that it came to over a million dollars.  We presented that information to the city the next time we submitted our grant and they were amazed that our seniors were giving back that much to our city.  Hours are impressive,  but when you put a dollar amount to it, the point is driven home.

I think the information needs to be included some place if not on the budget as an addendum.” - Linda Lee Davis, Independent Consultant and former VP of Development for Warm Spring Rehabilitation System. 

 “I think they could be considered as in-kind gifts.” 

- Christine Chediak, Development Manager, Gilda’s Club South Florida 

An interview with John Horwood, First Vice President, Investment Advisor, Richardson Partners Financial.

Editor’s Note:  These tax incentives are offered in Canada.  Check with your financial advisor to ascertain the applicable tax credit benefits in the United States.

The Planned Giving Pulse interviewed John Horwood on his planned giving strategy that coordinates three tax strategies.

Planned Giving Pulse:  What is “triple dipping” and how can investors and charities benefit from it?

John Horwood:  Triple dipping is the combination of three different pieces of tax legislation that individually benefits investors and also charities.  If you combine them it significantly adds to the benefit for all concerned.  There are three independent pieces of legislation that when combined make for an attractive package for individual investors and for charities seeking to increase their level of donations. 

 “Triple Dipping” using flow through shares coordinates three strategies:

1. The deductions available on flow through shares (Canadian Exploration Expense)
2. The special tax advantages on donating appreciated securities
3. A donation tax credit.

Donors benefit from the tax incentives for charitable giving and also to natural resource exploration.

One key benefit is that charities look for long-term strategies.  “Triple Dipping” lends itself to a long-term commitment – it works well over the popular 5 year planning horizon.

Planned Giving Pulse:  What are flow-through shares?

John Horwood:  These are a special class of shares issued by Canadian resource companies (mining, oil and gas), which include some special tax benefits relating to the exploration expenditures that the companies undertake.  These benefits “flow-through” to benefit the investor, hence the term “flow-through” shares.  Flow-through shares have the same characteristics as other common shares of the companies that offer them, with one important difference:  their issue proceeds must be spent on qualified exploration activities, for the tax deductions generated to be transferred by the issuer to the purchasers of the shares. 

To see an example of the tax benefits of this strategy click here:

Putting A Dollar Value on Your Volunteer Contributions

Reprinted with the kind permission of The Canadian Centre for Philanthropy

It is useful to measure the economic value of volunteer activity to demonstrate to donors, funders, supporters, policy makers, the public and volunteers themselves how volunteer contributions extend your organisation's budget, activities and services.

Once calculated, you can use this information in a number of ways:

To Help Manage and Evaluate Your Volunteer Program

• You can demonstrate the real costs associated with your volunteer program and the economic benefits of volunteer involvement. You can then use this information in your planning and program administration to:

• Demonstrate how much volunteers contribute to your organisation (i.e., the dollar value of the amount of time they give and the out-of-pocket expenses they incur as a result of volunteering). *

• Evaluate the contribution of volunteers relative to your organisation's investment in volunteer recruitment, development and support.

Assess the return your organisation receives on the money it invests in its volunteer program.

To Educate Your Organisation, Funders and the Public About the Value of Volunteer Activity

Add impact to funding proposals, volunteer recruitment information, internal and external accountability reports, public relations and program development by describing the important contributions of your volunteers and the economic value of their activities.

Will Now Offer Education to Fundraisers, Wealth Holders and Financial Professionals

The former Social Welfare Research Institute has been renamed the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy (CWP, pronounced swep).

Director Paul G. Schervirsh, says, "The change in name to the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy catches up with the increasingly exclusive focus of our work over the past two decades on the trends, meaning, motivations, and practice of wealth and philanthropy. It also coincides with a new program of executive education that we will be offering to wealth holders, fundraisers, and financial professionals."

The Center studies and publishes research on a variety of topics pertinent to the non-profit sector.  New research projects include the economic and spiritual aspects of philanthropic decision-making, and a study of the financial and philanthropic plans that result from that decision-making.

Future Services Will Include:

*Providing regional, state, and metropolitan area wealth transfer estimates;

Reprinted with permission of the Philanthropy Journal at www.philanthropyjournal.org

The other name I typed in my name to Google.

It’s called “ego surfing,” but it’s a good thing to do once in a while to see what others see when they look for you or your agency.

It was like looking through my high school year book – horrifying and embarrassing.

I started fooling around on the web soon after the first Mosaic browser was released to the public in 1993 – the birth of the World Wide Web.

For over 10 years, I’ve been trying out various services, participating in Usernet groups, signing up for collaborative tools, messing about with web logs and so on.

After a while, I typically lose interest in a service and abandon it.

As a result, my old experiments are cluttering up the web like so much space junk.

I can’t even remember the passwords that would enable me to delete many of them and, in any case, they are captured forever in web archives and can be search by the WayBack Machine.

So what does this have to do with you?