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The “Win-Win” Secret of Charitable Annuities Most Canadians Overlook

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 11:46:22 GMT

The “Win-Win” Secret of Charitable Annuities Most Canadians Overlook

When it comes to giving back, most people assume it means sacrificing financial security. But what if you could support causes you care about and receive reliable income for life? That’s exactly where charitable annuities —often called a gifted annuity —come in.

Let’s break down how this powerful financial tool works and why more Canadians are turning to it as part of their long-term financial and philanthropic strategy.

What Is a Charitable Annuity?

A charitable annuity is a simple agreement between you and a charity. You donate assets—such as cash or a gift of securities —and in return, the charity provides you with fixed payments for life.

Think of it as a hybrid between an investment and a donation:

You receive guaranteed income
You get tax benefits
A charity receives a future gift

Once the annuity ends (typically after your lifetime), the remaining funds go directly to the charity to support its mission.

Why Charitable Annuities Are Gaining Popularity in Canada

Across Canada—especially in communities like Hamilton and the GTA—more individuals are looking for ways to align their financial goals with their values. With over 85,000 registered charities nationwide, Canadians have no shortage of causes to support.

Charitable annuities provide a structured, tax-efficient way to do just that.

The Top Benefits of a Gifted Annuity

1. Guaranteed Income for Life

One of the biggest advantages of charitable annuities is predictable, stable income. Once your rate is set, it never changes and cannot be outlived .

This makes it especially appealing for:

Retirees
Pre-retirees planning income streams
Anyone looking to reduce market risk

Unlike stocks or mutual funds, there’s no need to worry about market fluctuations.

2. Significant Tax Advantages

A gifted annuity isn’t just about giving—it’s also about smart tax planning.

Benefits often include:

An immediate charitable tax receipt
A portion of payments that may be tax-free
Reduced capital gains when using a gift of securities

These tax savings can be especially valuable for middle- and higher-income Canadians. ( linkcharity.ca )

3. No Investment Management Required

If managing investments feels overwhelming, this is where charitable annuities shine.

With a gifted annuity:

Payments are automatic
No need to track markets, rates, or maturity dates
No ongoing financial decisions required

It’s a “set-it-and-forget-it” income solution—ideal for simplifying retirement planning.

4. Support Multiple Causes You Care About

One unique advantage (especially with providers like Link Charity) is the ability to support multiple charities through one annuity .

This means you can:

Divide your impact across several organizations
Support local Hamilton initiatives and national causes
Create a broader legacy aligned with your values

5. Immediate and Long-Term Philanthropic Impact

Unlike traditional donations, charitable annuities allow you to see your impact while you’re still alive .

You receive income today, and your chosen charities receive meaningful support in the future. It’s a powerful combination of:

Financial security
Purpose-driven giving
Legacy building

6. A Powerful Estate Planning Tool

Charitable annuities simplify estate planning by:

Reducing the size of your taxable estate
Ensuring funds are directed to causes you care about
Providing clarity and structure for your heirs

They can also complement other giving strategies like donor advised funds , offering flexibility both now and later.

While donor advised funds and a gift of securities are excellent tools, they don’t provide the same lifetime income that a charitable annuity offers.

Who Should Consider a Charitable Annuity?

A gifted annuity may be ideal if you:

Want reliable retirement income
Are holding taxable investments or securities
Care deeply about charitable giving
Prefer low-maintenance financial solutions
Want to leave a lasting legacy

It’s particularly attractive for Canadians aged 60+ who want to convert assets into dependable income while supporting meaningful causes.

Local Perspective: Why It Matters in Hamilton & Ontario

In communities like Hamilton, charitable giving plays a major role in supporting:

Healthcare initiatives
Community programs
Education and local nonprofits

By choosing charitable annuities, residents can directly contribute to the growth and sustainability of their own communities—while still benefiting financially.

A Smarter Way to Give

Charitable annuities are one of the rare financial tools that truly deliver a win-win outcome :

You receive guaranteed income
You enjoy tax efficiencies
You create a lasting charitable impact

It’s not just about giving—it’s about giving strategically.

Ready to Turn Your Wealth Into Impact?

If you’re exploring ways to combine income, tax savings, and meaningful giving, a gifted annuity could be the perfect solution.

Speak with a trusted advisor or connect with a provider like Link Charity to explore your options, request a personalized quote, and see how your assets—whether cash or a gift of securities —can work harder for both you and the causes you care about.

Your legacy doesn’t have to wait.

How to Leave Your Financial Assets to Charity in Canada

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 11:44:11 GMT

Planning what happens to your financial assets after you pass away isn’t always easy—but it is one of the most meaningful decisions you can make. For many Canadians, leaving a portion of their estate to charity is a powerful way to create a lasting legacy while supporting causes that matter most. If you’re wondering how to arrange this properly, here’s a clear, step-by-step guide to help you get started.

Why Consider Leaving Assets to Charity?

Including a charitable gift in your estate plan allows your values to live on. Whether you’re passionate about healthcare, education, community services, or the environment, your contribution can continue making a difference long after your lifetime.

In Canada, these gifts—often called charitable bequests—also come with financial advantages. Your estate may receive significant tax credits, which can reduce or even eliminate taxes owed at death.

Step 1: Decide What You Want to Give

The first step is determining what type of asset you want to leave to charity. This could include:

● Cash or a fixed dollar amount

● A percentage of your estate

● Specific assets like property, investments, or valuables

● The “residue” of your estate (what remains after other gifts are distributed)

Each option has its benefits. For example, leaving a percentage rather than a fixed amount ensures your gift adjusts with the value of your estate over time.

Step 2: Choose the Right Giving Method

There are several ways to leave financial assets to charity in Canada:

1. A Gift in Your Will (Bequest)

This is the most common method. You simply include instructions in your will outlining what the charity should receive.

2. Naming a Charity as a Beneficiary

You can name a charity directly on accounts such as:

● RRSPs or RRIFs

● TFSAs

● Life insurance policies

This method can bypass probate and streamline the process.

3. Donating Securities

Gifting stocks or mutual funds directly to a charity can eliminate capital gains tax, making it a tax-efficient option.

4. Charitable Trusts

For more complex estates, tools like charitable remainder trusts can provide income during your lifetime while benefiting a charity later.

Step 3: Work with Professionals

Estate planning is not something you should do alone. To ensure your wishes are legally sound and tax-efficient, consult:

● A wills and estates lawyer

● A financial advisor

● An accountant

They can help structure your charitable giving in a way that benefits both your chosen causes and your loved ones.

Step 4: Clearly Identify the Charity

When naming a charity in your will or beneficiary designation, accuracy matters. Be sure to include:

● The charity’s full legal name

● Its registered charitable number

This ensures there’s no confusion and your gift reaches the intended organization.

Step 5: Keep Your Plan Flexible

Life changes—and so should your estate plan. Review your will regularly, especially after major events like:

● Marriage or divorce

● Birth of children or grandchildren

● Significant financial changes

Updating your plan ensures it continues to reflect your wishes.

Step 6: Communicate Your Intentions

While not legally required, it’s often helpful to inform:

● Your executor

● Your family

● The charity itself

Clear communication can prevent confusion and make the administration of your estate smoother.

The Tax Benefits Explained

One of the biggest advantages of leaving assets to charity in Canada is the tax relief. Charitable donations made through your estate can generate tax credits that offset up to 100% of your income in your final tax return.

This means more of your estate can go where you want it—to your loved ones and the causes you care about.

How Link Charity Canada Inc. Can Help

Navigating charitable giving and estate planning can feel overwhelming—but you don’t have to do it alone. Link Charity Canada Inc. specializes in helping Canadians structure their charitable donations in a simple, effective, and tax-efficient way.

Whether you’re considering a bequest, donating investments, or setting up a long-term giving strategy, Link Charity Canada Inc. can guide you through the process and ensure your legacy reflects your values.

Leaving your financial assets to charity is more than just a financial decision—it’s a personal statement about what matters most to you. With proper planning, you can support meaningful causes, reduce taxes, and leave behind a legacy that truly makes a difference.

If you’ve been thinking about including charitable giving in your estate plan, now is the perfect time to start the conversation. With the right guidance and a clear plan, your generosity can have an impact for generations to come.

What Is a Donor-Advised Fund? How Link Charity Can Help

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 19:53:01 GMT

If you’re looking for a smarter, more flexible way to give to charity, a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) might be exactly what you need. Over the past decade, DAFs have become one of the fastest-growing charitable giving vehicles in the United States — and for good reason.

In this blog, we’ll break down:

● What a Donor-Advised Fund is

● How it works

● The benefits for donors

● How Link Charity can help you maximize your impact

What Is a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)?

A Donor-Advised Fund is a charitable investment account designed specifically for philanthropy.

Here’s the simple version:

1. You contribute cash, stocks, or other assets to a DAF.

2. You receive an immediate tax deduction.

3. The funds can be invested and grow tax-free.

4. You recommend grants to qualified charities over time.

Think of it as a charitable savings account — you set aside money for giving, get the tax benefit upfront, and distribute funds to nonprofits whenever you’re ready.

How Does a Donor-Advised Fund Work?

Let’s walk through a typical example:

● You donate $50,000 in appreciated stock to your DAF.

● You receive a tax deduction for the fair market value.

● You avoid capital gains tax on the stock.

● The funds are invested and grow.

● Over the next several years, you recommend grants to charities you care about.

It’s structured, flexible, and incredibly efficient.

Key Benefits of a Donor-Advised Fund

1. Immediate Tax Benefits

You receive a charitable deduction in the year you contribute — even if you distribute the funds later.

2. Tax-Free Growth

Assets inside the DAF grow tax-free, increasing your giving power over time.

3. Strategic Giving

You can plan long-term philanthropy rather than making rushed year-end donations.

4. Simplicity

No need to set up a private foundation or handle administrative burdens.

5. Family Legacy

DAFs are excellent tools for involving children and creating multi-generational charitable traditions.

Who Should Consider a DAF?

A Donor-Advised Fund may be ideal if you:

● Sold a business or received a large bonus

● Have appreciated stock

● Want to bunch charitable contributions for tax purposes

● Are planning your estate

● Desire a more organized approach to philanthropy

How Link Charity Assists Donors

While many financial institutions offer DAFs, Link Charity provides something deeper than just an account — it provides partnership.

Here’s how Link Charity can assist:

1. Strategic Philanthropic Planning

Link Charity works with donors to clarify:

● Your values

● Your impact goals

● The causes you care most about

They help turn generosity into a long-term strategy.

2. Identifying High-Impact Opportunities

Not sure where your funds will do the most good? Link Charity connects donors with vetted nonprofits and mission-driven initiatives aligned with your vision.

3. Simplifying the Grant Process

From paperwork to compliance, Link Charity handles the administrative side so you can focus on impact.

4. Ongoing Support and Reporting

Transparency matters. Link Charity provides insight into how your grants are making a difference.

5. Legacy and Family Giving Guidance

If you want to involve your children or create a philanthropic legacy, Link Charity helps structure meaningful participation.

Donor-Advised Fund vs. Private Foundation

Many donors ask whether they should start a private foundation instead.

For many families, a DAF offers nearly all the benefits of a foundation — without the complexity.

Why Work With Link Charity?

The difference isn’t just technical — it’s relational.

Link Charity focuses on:

● Personalized service

● Thoughtful impact

● Stewardship of your generosity

● Long-term philanthropic vision

Instead of simply processing grants, they walk alongside you in your giving journey.

A Donor-Advised Fund is more than a tax strategy — it’s a powerful tool for intentional generosity.

Whether you’re planning a major liquidity event, organizing your year-end giving, or building a charitable legacy, a DAF provides flexibility, efficiency, and impact.

And with guidance from Link Charity, your generosity becomes strategic, focused, and deeply meaningful.

Your Will: More Than a Document, It's Your Legacy

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 04:16:38 GMT

A Will is one of the most important documents you will ever create. It ensures your assets are distributed according to your wishes, protecting your loved ones and providing for their future. But what if your Will could do more? What if it could be a testament to your values, a final statement of what mattered most to you, and a way to support the causes you championed throughout your life? This is the power of turning your Will into a lasting legacy.

Planned giving allows you to make a significant impact on the world long after you are gone. By including charitable contributions in your estate plan, you can create a legacy of generosity that reflects your passions and supports organizations doing vital work. This article will explore how you can transform your Will into a powerful tool for change, the benefits of doing so, and the steps you can take to get started.

The Power of a Legacy Gift

When you think about the legacy you want to leave, what comes to mind? For many, it's about being remembered for kindness, compassion, and a commitment to making a positive difference. A charitable bequest in your Will is a concrete expression of these values. It’s an opportunity to give a final, powerful gift to a cause that has touched your heart.

This act of planned giving extends your influence beyond your lifetime. It allows you to support advancements in medical research, protect the environment, fund educational scholarships, or provide aid to those in need. The ripple effect of your generosity can be felt for generations, creating a story of impact that becomes a permanent part of your life's narrative.

Emotional and Practical Benefits

The decision to leave a charitable gift is deeply personal and brings with it a unique sense of fulfillment. Knowing that you will continue to support causes you care about provides a profound sense of peace and purpose. It’s a way to ensure your values endure and continue to shape a better future.

Beyond the emotional satisfaction, there are practical advantages. Charitable bequests can offer significant tax benefits for your estate. A gift to a registered charity can reduce the amount of tax your estate owes, potentially leaving more of your assets for your beneficiaries. This strategic approach to estate planning allows you to maximize your generosity while being a good steward of your resources.

How to Create Your Charitable Legacy

Transforming your Will into a legacy document may seem complex, but it can be a straightforward process with the right guidance. Here are actionable steps to help you begin your journey of planned giving.

1. Identify Your Passions

Start by reflecting on what truly matters to you. What causes have you supported during your lifetime? What change do you want to see in the world? Your gift will be most meaningful if it aligns with your core values.

Consider areas such as:

● Healthcare and medical research

● Education and youth programs

● Environmental conservation

● Arts and culture

● Faith-based initiatives

● Humanitarian aid

Make a list of the organizations you admire or the issues you want to address. This will be the foundation of your charitable giving plan.

2. Consult with Professionals

Estate planning requires careful consideration. It’s essential to seek advice from financial advisors and legal professionals. They can help you understand the best way to structure your gift to achieve your philanthropic goals while ensuring your family is provided for.

These experts can explain the different types of bequests you can make, such as a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or the remainder of your estate after other obligations are met. Their guidance is crucial for creating a legally sound and effective Will.

3. Partner with an Expert Organization

Managing charitable donations through an estate can be complicated. This is where organizations specializing in planned giving become invaluable partners. A trusted entity like Link Charity Inc. can simplify the entire process, ensuring your philanthropic vision is carried out exactly as you intended.

These organizations act as a bridge between you and the charities you wish to support. Instead of naming multiple charities in your Will, which can create administrative complexities for your executor, you can name a single organization like Link Charity Inc. You provide them with a list of your chosen charities, and they handle the distribution of funds after your passing. This streamlines the process, reduces administrative burdens, and ensures your gifts reach their intended destinations efficiently.

Working with an expert facilitator provides peace of mind. They have the expertise to manage various types of assets, navigate any legal requirements, and honor your specific instructions. This ensures your legacy is protected and your final wishes are fulfilled with precision and care.

4. Document Your Wishes Clearly

Once you have a plan, it's time to formalize it. Work with your lawyer to draft or update your Will to include your charitable bequest. Be specific about the charities you want to support and the amount or percentage you wish to give.

If you are working with a facilitator like Link Charity Inc., your Will would name them as the beneficiary. You would then complete a separate, simple agreement with them detailing the final distribution to your chosen charities. This approach offers flexibility, as you can update your list of charities with the facilitator at any time without having to formally change your Will.

Your Legacy Starts Today

Creating a Will is an act of responsibility. Turning it into a legacy is an act of vision. By planning today, you can ensure that your compassion and generosity create a lasting impact for years to come. You have the power to support the causes that define you and to leave a legacy of positive change.

Start the conversation with your family and financial advisors. Explore the charities that inspire you, and consider partnering with an organization that can help bring your philanthropic goals to life. Your Will is more than a legal document—it is your final opportunity to make a difference. Make it count.

Let Link Charity Help

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 19:56:39 GMT

Link Charity Canada Inc. is a leading facilitator of planned giving in Canada, dedicated to bridging the gap between donors and charitable organizations. Founded by Harry Houtman in partnership with five original charity members, the organization simplifies the administration of charitable gifts and provides essential tools to maximize the impact of philanthropy.

Since 1998, Link Charity has offered guidance, education, and service to both individuals and charities. By operating as an intermediary, they connect donors with over 30 member charities and more than 1,100 other charities across Canada, having provided $16.9 million in funding between June 2024 and June 2025 alone.

Core Services and Donor Advantages

Link Charity streamlines the donation process, offering several strategic advantages for donors:

● Tax Efficiency: Their expertise in estate planning and gift structuring can significantly reduce fees and taxes, maximizing the value of the gift.

● Convenience: They offer a platform for donating stocks and mutual funds that saves on brokerage fees.

● Anonymity: Donors have the option to remain anonymous while supporting causes that matter to them.

● Simplified Administration: They handle the administrative burden of complex gifts, such as setting up Family Foundations or managing annuities.

● Confidentiality: All interactions and transactions are handled with strict confidentiality.

Gifting Tools

Link Charity provides a comprehensive suite of gifting options designed to suit various financial situations and philanthropic goals:

● Charitable Gift Annuities: The #1 provider in Canada, offering amazing ROIs (5-10% depending on age). This allows donors to support multiple charities through a single annuity while receiving a guaranteed income stream.

● Gifts of Securities: A convenient and economical way to donate stocks and mutual funds, often resulting in capital gains tax savings.

● Donor Advised Funds: Enables donors to establish a "Family Foundation" without the high costs and legal complexities of creating a private foundation.

● Estate Planning & Bequests: Expert assistance in incorporating charitable giving into wills and estate plans to leave a lasting legacy.

● Life Insurance: Facilitating the transfer of existing policies or the purchase of new ones to create a substantial future gift with manageable current premiums.

● RRSP/RRIF: Strategies for donating registered retirement funds to offset taxes.

● Charitable Loan Agreements: Flexible lending options for charitable purposes.

Contact Information

Link Charity Canada Inc.

● Address: 604 – 789 Don Mills Road, Toronto, ON, M3C 1T5

● Phone: 1-800-387-8146

● Email: info@linkcharity.ca

● Charitable Registration No: 88804 7826 RR0001

● Website: www.linkcharity.ca

Leave a Lasting Legacy: Charity and Life Insurance

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 08:21:02 GMT

Life insurance is often seen as a way to protect our loved ones financially. It provides a safety net, ensuring that mortgages can be paid and futures are secure. But what if your policy could do more? What if it could also become a powerful tool for change, supporting a cause you are passionate about long after you are gone?

By designating a registered charity as your life insurance beneficiary, you can create a significant, lasting impact. This guide will walk you through how this process works, the benefits it offers, and how organizations like Link Charity can help you turn your policy into a powerful gift.

How to Name a Charity as a Life Insurance Beneficiary

Making a charity the beneficiary of your life insurance policy is a straightforward process. It’s an effective way to make a substantial donation that might not be possible during your lifetime.

There are a few primary ways to structure this type of gift:

1. Name the Charity as a Beneficiary

This is the simplest method. You can name a charity as the sole beneficiary, a partial beneficiary (e.g., 50% to your family, 50% to the charity), or a contingent beneficiary. A contingent beneficiary would receive the payout if your primary beneficiaries are no longer living when the policy is paid out. You simply update the beneficiary designation form provided by your insurance company.

2. Transfer Ownership of an Existing Policy

You can transfer the ownership of a paid-up policy directly to a charity. The charity becomes the new owner and beneficiary. When you do this, you may receive a tax receipt for the cash surrender value of the policy at the time of the transfer. This provides an immediate tax benefit for you.

3. Purchase a New Policy for the Charity

Another option is to take out a new life insurance policy with the express purpose of donating it. You name the charity as the owner and beneficiary from the start. You then make annual payments to cover the premiums. Each premium payment is considered a charitable donation, making you eligible for a tax receipt each year.

The Powerful Benefits of Gifting Life Insurance

Donating through life insurance offers unique advantages for both you and the charity you choose to support. It’s a strategic way to amplify your giving potential.

Significant Impact for a Modest Cost

Your premium payments are a fraction of the final death benefit. This allows you to make a much larger gift than you might otherwise be able to afford. A policy with manageable annual premiums can result in a transformative donation of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for your chosen cause.

Tax Advantages for You and Your Estate

Gifting life insurance comes with compelling tax benefits.

● Premium Payments: If a charity owns the policy, your premium payments are considered charitable donations, earning you annual tax credits.

● Estate Benefits: When a charity is named the direct beneficiary, the death benefit is paid directly to them and does not pass through your estate. This means the payout is not subject to probate fees. Your estate then receives a donation receipt for the full amount of the death benefit, which can significantly reduce or even eliminate taxes owed by your estate.

Supporting a Cause You Believe In

Beyond the financial benefits, this is a way to create a meaningful legacy. You can provide long-term support for an organization whose mission aligns with your values. Whether it’s advancing medical research, protecting the environment, or supporting community services, your gift ensures that work continues.

Simplicity and Privacy

Designating a beneficiary is a private matter between you and your insurance provider. It is not part of your will and therefore not subject to the public probate process. It’s a simple form to complete and can be updated if your circumstances change.

Making It Easy with Link Charity

Navigating the world of planned giving can feel complex, but organizations exist to simplify the process. Link Charity is a prime example of an organization that helps donors facilitate these kinds of gifts.

Link Charity works as an intermediary, connecting donors with over 30 different member charities. Their expertise lies in managing planned gifts, including life insurance policies.

Here’s a brief overview of how they can help:

● Expert Guidance: Their team can provide information and help you understand the different ways to gift a life insurance policy, ensuring you choose the option that best suits your financial goals and philanthropic vision.

● Simplified Process: They handle the administrative details of setting up and managing the donation. This ensures the process is smooth and that your gift is handled correctly.

● Flexibility: Working with an organization like Link Charity allows you to support one or more of their member charities. You can direct your gift to a specific cause you are passionate about within their network.

By partnering with an organization like Link Charity, you can be confident that your donation will be managed professionally and used effectively to fulfill your charitable intentions.

A Legacy That Lasts a Lifetime and Beyond

Your life insurance policy is more than just a financial tool; it's an opportunity to make a final, powerful statement about what matters to you. By naming a charity as a beneficiary, you can leave behind a legacy of generosity that will continue to create positive change for years to come.

If you are interested in exploring this option, a great first step is to speak with your financial advisor or insurance provider. You can also reach out to your favorite charity or an organization like Link Charity to learn more about their specific planned giving programs. It’s a simple step that can lead to an extraordinary impact.

Your Will, Your Wishes: The Power of Clear Estate Planning

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 13:01:22 GMT

Creating a Will is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your loved ones. It’s your

final message, a clear set of instructions that ensures your assets are distributed exactly as you intend.

Without a well-thought-out Will, you leave those decisions to the courts, which can lead to conflict,

confusion, and outcomes you never would have wanted. Proper estate planning provides immense

peace of mind, knowing your legacy will be handled according to your wishes.

This guide will walk you through the importance of being specific in your Will, particularly when it comes

to charitable giving. We will explore how you can leave a lasting impact and why clarity is key to honoring

your intentions.

Why a Vague Will Creates Problems

Imagine you leave a note saying, "I'd like some of my money to go to charity." While the sentiment is

wonderful, the instruction is too vague to be legally executed. Which charity? How much money? Who

makes the final decision? This ambiguity can cause significant delays and disputes among your

beneficiaries and the executor of your estate.

When your wishes are not clearly defined, the responsibility falls on your executor to interpret your

intentions. This can place them in a difficult position, trying to guess what you would have wanted. In

many cases, provincial or state laws will dictate how your assets are distributed if your Will is deemed

unclear or invalid, which may not align with your goals at all.

Clarity is your greatest tool. By being specific, you remove all doubt and ensure a smooth process for

everyone involved. You protect your loved ones from the stress of uncertainty and guarantee your legacy

is exactly what you envision.

The Importance of Specificity in Your Will

A strong Will leaves no room for interpretation. It provides precise details that guide your executor

through every step of the process.

Naming Beneficiaries Clearly

It’s not enough to say "to my children" or "to my spouse." You should name each beneficiary by their full

legal name and their relationship to you. This prevents any confusion, especially in blended families or

situations where names may be similar.

Defining Assets and Distribution

Clearly outline what assets each beneficiary will receive. This can be a percentage of your total estate,

specific monetary amounts, or tangible items like property, vehicles, or family heirlooms. The more

detailed you are, the less chance there is for disagreement later. For exampl instead of "my jewelry,"

specify "my diamond engagement ring" or "my grandfather's gold watch."

Leaving a Legacy Through Charitable Giving

A charitable bequest, or a gift made through your Will, is a powerful way to support a cause you care

about long after you are gone. It allows you to make a significant impact on an organization whose

mission you believe in. For many people, this is a cornerstone of their legacy.

Just like with other parts of your Will, specificity is crucial when planning a charitable gift. You need to

clearly state which organization you want to support and what form your donation will take.

Naming a Specific Charity

To ensure your donation reaches the right place, you must identify the charity by its full, official name and

its registered charity number. For example, simply writing "the cancer society" is not enough. You need to

specify the exact organization, such as "The Canadian Cancer Society."

If you are looking for reputable charities and want to explore your options, resources are available to

help. A great place to start is www.linkcharity.ca , which provides information on various organizations

and how you can support their work. Exploring their site can help you find a cause that aligns with your

values and learn the correct details needed for your Will.

What Can You Donate?

Your charitable gift doesn’t have to be a simple cash sum. There are many ways to give, and you can

choose the one that works best for your financial situation.

A Percentage of Your Estate: You can designate a percentage (e.g., 10%) of your residual estate to a charity. The residue is what’s left after all debts, expenses, and specific gifts to loved ones have been paid.
A Specific Dollar Amount: This is a straightforward cash gift of a predetermined amount.
Assets and Property: You can donate real estate, stocks, bonds, or valuable personal items. These are known as "gifts in kind."
Life Insurance Policies: You can name a charity as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy.This is a simple way to make a large gift with relatively small, manageable premium payments during your lifetime.

By outlining these details, you empower the organization to continue its important work and create a

legacy of generosity that reflects your values.

Final Steps for Peace of Mind

Drafting a Will is not a one-time task. It’s a living document that should be reviewed every few years or

whenever you experience a major life event, such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or a

significant change in your financial situation.

Working with a legal professional who specializes in estate planning is the best way to ensure your Will is

legally sound and accurately reflects your wishes. They can help you navigate the complexities of the law

and structure your Will, including any charitable bequests, in the most effective way possible.

Planning for the future is a profound act of care for those you leave behind. By creating a clear, specific,

and thoughtful Will, you provide a final gift of certainty and peace. You ensure that your legacy, whether

it’s providing for your family or supporting a cherished cause, is honored exactly as you intended.

Don't Leave Charity Selection in Your Will to Chance

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:41:00 GMT

Don't Leave Charity Selection in Your Will to Chance

Planning your Will is one of the most important financial decisions you'll ever make. Yet many people treat one crucial aspect with surprising casualness: choosing which charities to include. If you're considering leaving a bequest to charity, the organization you select deserves the same careful consideration as any other major financial decision.

Making this choice hastily or delegating it to someone else can lead to unintended consequences that undermine your charitable goals. Here's why careful planning matters and how you can make informed decisions about charitable giving in your Will.

The Hidden Risks of Last-Minute Charity Selection

Your Values May Not Be Represented

When you leave charity selection to the final moments of Will planning, you risk choosing organizations that don't truly align with your values. A charity's name or mission statement might sound appealing, but without proper research, you could discover too late that their practices don't match your expectations.

Consider this scenario: You quickly select a well-known environmental charity because you care about climate change. Later, you might learn they spend 60% of donations on administrative costs rather than direct environmental action. Had you researched beforehand, you might have chosen a more efficient organization that better reflects your values.

Administrative Complications

Last-minute charity additions to Wills often create administrative headaches for your executors. Hastily chosen organizations might have unclear legal names, making it difficult to locate them after your death. Some charities merge, change names, or even dissolve over time.

Your executors could spend months trying to identify the correct recipient of your bequest, delaying the distribution of your estate and potentially reducing the final amount due to additional legal fees.

Inefficient Use of Your Legacy

Every dollar you leave to charity represents your desire to make a positive impact. When you rush this decision, you might inadvertently support less effective organizations. Research shows that charity effectiveness varies dramatically within the same cause area. The difference between a highly effective charity and an average one can mean your donation has 10 times more impact.

Why You Shouldn't Delegate This Decision

Personal Values Can't Be Transferred

Well-meaning family members or advisors might have different priorities than you do. Your daughter might prefer animal welfare causes while you're passionate about education. Your financial advisor might recommend large, established charities when you prefer supporting grassroots organizations.

Only you truly understand what causes matter most to you and why. This personal connection to your chosen causes is what makes charitable giving meaningful.

Emotional Decision-Making

People making decisions on your behalf, especially during the emotionally charged period after your death, might choose based on recent events or personal experiences rather than your long-term values. They might select a charity that helped them during a difficult time, not necessarily one that aligns with your charitable philosophy.

Limited Research Time

Executors and beneficiaries dealing with estate settlement have numerous responsibilities and limited time. They're unlikely to conduct the thorough research needed to identify the most effective charities in your areas of interest. This time pressure often leads to choosing familiar names rather than optimal organizations.

Introducing Link Charity: Your Guide to Informed Giving

Link Charity serves as a comprehensive resource for individuals planning charitable bequests. This platform helps you navigate the complex landscape of charitable organizations, ensuring your gifts create maximum impact.

The service provides detailed information about charity effectiveness, financial transparency, and impact measurement. Rather than relying on marketing materials or name recognition, you can access objective data about how organizations operate and achieve their missions.

Link Charity also offers guidance on structuring charitable bequests to minimize tax implications and maximize the benefit to your chosen causes. Their expertise helps you avoid common pitfalls that can reduce the effectiveness of your charitable giving.

How to Evaluate Charities for Your Will

Financial Transparency

Start by examining a charity's financial statements. Look for organizations that spend at least 70-80% of their budget on program expenses rather than administrative costs. However, don't automatically dismiss charities with higher overhead costs if they're achieving significant impact.

Use resources like Charity Navigator, GuideStar, or the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance to access standardized financial information. These platforms provide easy-to-understand ratings based on financial efficiency and transparency.

Impact Measurement

Effective charities measure and report their impact clearly. Look for organizations that can articulate specific outcomes: "We provided clean water to 50,000 people" rather than vague statements like "We helped many families."

Ask potential recipient charities for their annual impact reports. Organizations confident in their effectiveness will readily share detailed information about their achievements and methodology.

Organizational Stability

Consider the charity's track record and leadership stability. Organizations with consistent leadership and steady growth patterns are more likely to continue their work effectively after receiving your bequest.

Research whether the charity has weathered previous challenges successfully. Organizations that have adapted to changing circumstances demonstrate resilience that suggests they'll be good stewards of your legacy gift.

Alignment with Your Values

Beyond effectiveness, ensure the charity's approach aligns with your values. Some organizations focus on direct service delivery, while others emphasize advocacy or research. Some work locally, others globally. Some address immediate needs, others work on long-term systemic change.

Spend time understanding not just what a charity does, but how they do it. This ensures your bequest supports an approach you believe in.

The Benefits of Planning Ahead

Time for Thorough Research

Starting your charity research early gives you time to investigate multiple organizations, compare their effectiveness, and even visit or volunteer with your top choices. This hands-on experience provides insights you can't gain from financial statements alone.

You might discover smaller, highly effective organizations that perfectly match your values but aren't well-known. Early research opens up possibilities that last-minute decisions foreclose.

Opportunities for Engagement

When you identify preferred charities well in advance, you can begin supporting them during your lifetime. This allows you to see their work firsthand and build relationships with their leadership. You'll gain confidence that your eventual bequest will be well-used.

Some donors even serve on boards or volunteer with their chosen charities, deepening their understanding and ensuring their bequest will align with the organization's future direction.

Flexibility for Changes

Charitable landscapes evolve constantly. New organizations emerge while others become less effective or change focus. Planning ahead gives you time to monitor your chosen charities and make adjustments if needed.

You might discover that a cause you care about is becoming well-funded by others, freeing you to support a more neglected area. Or you might learn about innovative approaches that didn't exist when you first drafted your Will.

Tax Planning Benefits

Early charity selection enables sophisticated tax planning strategies. You might discover opportunities for charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, or other vehicles that provide income tax benefits during your lifetime while supporting your favorite causes.

Working with financial advisors and tax professionals requires time to structure these arrangements properly. Last-minute charitable additions rarely allow for optimal tax planning.

Making Your Decision

Start with Your Passions

Begin by identifying causes that genuinely matter to you. Consider experiences that shaped your worldview, challenges you've faced, or issues you find compelling. Authentic passion for a cause increases the likelihood you'll choose effective organizations within that area.

Don't feel pressured to support certain "popular" causes if they don't resonate with you personally. Your charitable legacy should reflect your unique perspective and values.

Research Multiple Options

Within each cause area, investigate several organizations. Compare their approaches, effectiveness, and financial health. This comparison helps you identify which organizations best match your criteria.

Consider supporting a mix of organization types: perhaps one large, established charity with proven scale and one smaller organization doing innovative work. This diversification can maximize your impact while supporting different approaches to the same problem.

Consult Experts

While you shouldn't delegate the final decision, consulting experts can provide valuable insights. Link Charity and similar resources offer professional guidance without conflicts of interest that might influence recommendations.

Estate planning attorneys familiar with charitable giving can help structure your bequests for maximum effectiveness. They can also suggest language that ensures your gifts go to organizations that continue to align with your values over time.

Securing Your Charitable Legacy

Your Will represents your final opportunity to make a positive impact on the world. The charities you choose will carry forward your values and continue work you consider important long after you're gone.

This profound responsibility deserves careful attention and thorough planning. By researching potential recipients, understanding their effectiveness, and ensuring alignment with your values, you can create a charitable legacy that truly reflects who you are and what you believe in.

Don't leave something this important to chance or to others. Take control of your charitable legacy by starting your research today. Your future beneficiaries – and the causes you care about – will benefit from your careful preparation and thoughtful decision-making.

The time you invest now in charity selection will pay dividends in impact and peace of mind. Make your charitable giving as intentional as every other aspect of your estate planning.

What is a Charitable Bequest?

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:59:08 GMT

When planning for the future, many people think about how they can make a meaningful impact even after they’re gone. Incorporating a charitable bequest in your will is one way to achieve this goal. It offers you the opportunity to extend your generosity, ensuring the causes you care about continue to thrive beyond your lifetime.

This blog explores what charitable bequests are, the benefits they can provide, and how organizations like Link Charity Canada can simplify the process of integrating philanthropy into your estate planning.

Understanding Charitable Bequests

A charitable bequest is a gift specified in your will or estate plan that directs some portion of your estate to a specific charity or charitable cause. These gifts can take on various forms, which makes them versatile and accessible to donors from all walks of life.

Types of Charitable Bequests

Specific Bequests: These indicate a particular dollar amount or a specific item to be donated. For example, you might leave $10,000 or a piece of artwork to a favoured charity.
Percentage Bequests: This specifies a percentage of your total estate to be gifted. For instance, you might decide to allocate 10% of your estate to a nonprofit organization.
Residual Bequests: These bequests involve donating the remainder of your estate after other beneficiaries have received their share. Residual bequests ensure your intended heirs are prioritized, while still leaving a gift for charity.
Contingent Bequests: A contingent bequest only takes effect under specific conditions. For instance, you might name a charity as a beneficiary if your primary beneficiary passes away before you.
Gifts of Securities or Assets: Charitable bequests aren’t limited to cash. You can donate stocks, bonds, real estate, or even shares in a business, providing financial benefits for both you and the beneficiary.

The Benefits of Charitable Bequests

Including charitable bequests in your estate plan offers personal and financial rewards, creating a win-win scenario that can leave an enduring legacy.

1. Support the Causes You Care About

A charitable bequest is one of the most powerful ways to reflect your values. Whether you’re passionate about education, healthcare, environmental protection, or religious missions, your bequest ensures these causes receive the support they need.

2. Create a Lasting Legacy

Donations to charity through your estate extend your generosity far into the future. This legacy demonstrates a commitment to making the world a better place, inspiring your loved ones and community.

3. Tax Advantages

There are practical perks to adding philanthropy to your estate plan. Gifts made to registered charities typically qualify for tax exemptions that can reduce the taxable value of your estate, resulting in more savings for other beneficiaries. Gifting publicly traded securities can also help you sidestep capital gains tax, maximizing the impact of your donation.

4. Flexibility

Life circumstances evolve, and so can your charitable intentions. Bequests are easily adjusted through updates to your will, ensuring your legacy adapts to reflect your values and priorities over time.

5. Ease for Executors

By clearly stating your charitable intentions in your will, you minimize administrative burdens and provide clear instructions for your executor. This reduces confusion and the potential for disputes.

How Link Charity Canada Can Help

Managing an estate and including charitable bequests can feel overwhelming. That’s where organizations like Link Charity Canada come in. They streamline and simplify the process, helping donors maximize the value of their gifts and their impact on the causes they care about.

1. Donor-Advised Funds

One of Link Charity’s standout offerings is their donor-advised fund. This service consolidates your charitable giving, allowing you to direct all gifts through one account. It offers flexibility, ensuring that multiple charities can benefit from one plan, while also giving you the ability to amend your instructions without revisiting your will.

Here’s how it works:

You make a single bequest to Link Charity Canada.
Then, via a letter of direction, you specify how and where the funds should be distributed.
You can revise your instructions at any time without needing costly legal amendments to your will.

2. Tax Benefits and Strategic Planning

Link Charity specializes in helping you maximize the tax advantages of your charitable giving. For example:

Donating securities like stocks or bonds through your estate can eliminate the capital gains tax on appreciated value. Your estate receives a tax receipt for the full current value of the gift.
Donations can offset estate taxes, leaving more of your estate to heirs and charities.

Their experienced advisors guide you through these options, ensuring you get the maximum tax benefits while effectively supporting your chosen causes.

3. Legacy and Estate Planning

The advisors at Link Charity understand how important it is to honor your wishes. They work closely with you to plan a charitable legacy that reflects your passions and leaves a meaningful impact. Whether you want to benefit local charities, religious institutions, or educational organizations, their expertise ensures your gifts are handled with care and respect for your intentions.

4. Anonymous Giving Options

If you prefer discretion, Link Charity allows for anonymous giving. This ensures that you can support meaningful causes while retaining your privacy.

For full information on Charity Bequest, please visit our Charity Bequests .

Charitable Annuity vs. Annuity: What’s the Difference and Which is Right for You?

Sat, 28 Jun 2025 03:52:18 GMT

When it comes to financial planning, the word “annuity” often gets thrown around. However, not everyone is familiar with the term, and even fewer people know the difference between a standard annuity and a charitable annuity. While both offer unique benefits, they serve entirely different purposes.

Whether you're looking to secure a steady stream of income or make a lasting impact through philanthropy, understanding these options is essential.

What is an Annuity?

An annuity is a financial product that provides regular payments over a specific period. Typically issued by an insurance company, annuities can be a great solution for those looking for reliable passive income, especially during retirement.

Types of Annuities:

Fixed Annuities: Provide a guaranteed payout, offering financial stability.
Variable Annuities: Payment amounts may vary depending on the performance of your investment portfolio.
Immediate Annuities: Begin payouts almost immediately after deposit, perfect for those who need income now.
Deferred Annuities: Allow you to accumulate money over time before withdrawals.

Annuities’ main appeal lies in their ability to guarantee predictable income for life or a set number of years. However, a standard annuity is purely a financial product with no philanthropic component.

What is a Charitable Annuity?

A charitable annuity, also known as a charitable gift annuity, combines the benefits of an annuity with the joys of giving back to a cause you care deeply about.

With this arrangement, you make a gift to a charity, such as Link Charity, in exchange for fixed payments for the rest of your life (or for a specified term). Once the agreement ends (usually upon your passing), the remaining portion of the donation is retained by the charity to further its mission

Key Features of a Charitable Gift Annuity:

Philanthropy: Giving to a cause you care about while receiving financial benefits.
Lifetime Payments: Similar to standard annuities, charitable annuities provide regular income payments.
Tax Benefits: Donors typically qualify for a partial charitable tax deduction at the time of the gift.
Legacy Creation: You leave a lasting impact that goes beyond your lifetime.

With a charitable annuity, you’re not just securing income for yourself; you’re creating a ripple of positive change that outlives you.

Charitable Annuity vs. Annuity: A Quick Comparison

Which One is Right for You?

The decision between a standard annuity and a charitable annuity ultimately depends on your financial goals and personal values.

Choose a Standard Annuity if:

You’re primarily focused on securing a guaranteed income for retirement, without the added layer of charitable giving.

Choose a Charitable Annuity if:

You want to combine financial stability with philanthropic impact, knowing your contributions will support a cause dear to your heart.

Both options provide security, but a charitable annuity offers the added bonus of making a positive difference in the world.

Have Questions? Link Charity Can Help

Understanding annuities and charitable donations can be complex. That’s where Link Charity comes in. Our team of professionals is dedicated to answering all your questions and simplifying the process.

Whether you're considering a charitable gift annuity or exploring other ways to create a lasting impact, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.

Contact Link Charity today to learn more about how we can help you secure your financial future while making a meaningful difference in world.

At the end of the day, your financial decisions should reflect your goals and values. Annuities, whether charitable or not, provide excellent opportunities to create security and impact. Choose the path that resonates most with you, and feel confident knowing you’re making an informed choice.

How to Use Your Will as a Gift-Giving Tool

Tue, 20 May 2025 13:24:48 GMT

How to Use Your Will as a Gift-Giving Tool

When most people think of a will, they envision it as a legal document that determines how their assets are distributed to loved ones. While that's a crucial aspect, your will can also serve a much broader purpose. It can become a powerful tool for gift-giving that extends your values and legacy beyond your lifetime.

If you’re someone who believes in making a lasting impact, especially through philanthropy, using your will for charitable giving is a meaningful way to continue supporting causes close to your heart.

Why Include Gift Giving in Your Will?

Including gift giving in your will offers numerous benefits—not just for your beneficiaries, but for your own peace of mind as well. Here's why you might consider this approach:

Leave a Lasting Legacy : Support causes you care deeply about, ensuring your life’s values live on in meaningful ways.
Financial Advantages : Charitable donations in your will can result in tax benefits for your estate.
Make an Impact : Even a modest gift can make a significant difference to organizations that rely on donor generosity.
Personal Fulfillment : Knowing that your contributions will positively influence future generations is incredibly rewarding.

How to Start Using Your Will for Gift Giving

If you're ready to use your will as a tool for giving, here's how to get started:

1. List Your Beneficiaries, Including Charities

Start by making a list of loved ones you’d like to provide for and any charitable organizations you want to support. These could be local nonprofits, community initiatives, or causes that are personally significant to you.

2. Choose the Type of Gift

You can give in several ways:

Specific Dollar Amount : Assign a fixed sum to a chosen individual or charity.
Percentage of Your Estate : Allocate a percentage of your total assets after other bequests are fulfilled.
Specific Assets : Leave a particular asset, such as property, stocks, or valuable items.
Residual Bequests : Direct what remains of your estate, after all other distributions, to a charity.

3. Work With Trusted Professionals

An estate planning lawyer or advisor can help you draft your will and ensure all legal and tax considerations are addressed. For those looking to include charities, Link Charity can help manage the process of setting up your gift donors in your will seamlessly.

4. Notify the Beneficiaries

It’s wise to inform your loved ones and the organizations you plan to support about your intentions. This ensures everyone is aware of how your legacy will be handled.

5. Update Your Will Regularly

Life changes, and so do your priorities. Revisit your will every few years or after major life events to ensure it continues reflecting your wishes.

How Charitable Giving Impacts Communities

Imagine knowing that your contributions have helped fund scholarships, conserved the natural environment, supported vulnerable populations, or enabled lifesaving medical research. Charitable gifts made through your will can touch countless lives in profound ways.

Your generosity creates ripples of change that carry forward, providing resources and opportunities for communities for years to come.

Need Guidance? We'll Help You Get Started

Transform your will into a meaningful gift-giving tool with ease. At Link Charity , we specialize in helping you set up gift donors in your will to reflect your legacy. We’ll guide you through every step to ensure your wishes are honored and your values shine through.

Call 647-435-7243 today for more information and assistance with your estate planning.

Using your will as a gift-giving tool is about more than just distributing assets. It’s about giving purpose and meaning to your legacy. Start planning today, so you can keep making a difference tomorrow.

Understanding Charitable Gift Annuities

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 13:25:49 GMT

Understanding Charitable Gift Annuities

Charitable giving is often seen as a meaningful way to align one’s financial goals with their personal values. For retirees, financial planners, and philanthropists, finding ways to give back while also securing financial stability can be a priority. This is where Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs) come into play. A CGA enables you to support causes close to your heart while receiving a steady income for life. Intrigued? Let's break it down.

What is a Charitable Gift Annuity?

A Charitable Gift Annuity is a contract between you and a charitable organization. Here’s how it works:

You donate a significant asset (like cash, securities, or other property) to a chosen charity.
The charity then agrees to pay you (or a designated beneficiary) a fixed income for life. The amount is determined based on factors such as your age, the size of your donation, and current annuity rates.
Once you (and any designated second beneficiary) pass away , the remaining funds stay with the charity, supporting their mission.

The Benefits of a Charitable Gift Annuity

Charitable Gift Annuities offer several advantages, making them an appealing option for many retirees, financial planners, and philanthropists:

1. Guaranteed Lifetime Income

A major draw of CGAs is the promise of a predictable income stream for the rest of your life. This consistent support can help retirees or beneficiaries maintain financial stability during later years.

2. Charitable Tax Benefits

Donors often qualify for significant tax deductions when they fund a CGA. Additionally, part of the annuity payments may also be tax-free for a period, making it a smart strategy for those with taxable assets.

3. Philanthropic Impact

Once the annuity term ends, your contribution goes directly to supporting the charitable work of your chosen organization. It’s a lasting legacy of generosity.

4. Simplified Estate Planning

Including a CGA as part of your estate plan can help reduce complexities. You create a structured financial plan with meaningful impact by providing guaranteed payments and directing funds to a charity.

5. Win-Win Opportunity

Not only does a CGA secure your financial future, but it also allows you to see your gift at work within your lifetime. Many philanthropists find satisfaction in knowing their gift supports important causes.

6. Stronger Returns for Older Donors

While CGAs are available for donors of various ages, they offer higher payout rates for older participants. This makes them particularly attractive to retirees.

Who Should Consider a Charitable Gift Annuity?

Charitable Gift Annuities aren't for everyone, but they are a great fit for certain groups of people:

Retirees seeking fixed, reliable income streams alongside philanthropic goals.
Financial planners advising clients on ways to manage wealth while reducing tax burdens.
Philanthropists who wish to make meaningful contributions to charity while ensuring their financial comfort.

If you're looking for a balance between financial security and charitable giving, a CGA could be exactly what you need.

Finding the Right Charitable Gift Annuity Provider

Since a CGA is a legally binding financial agreement, it’s critical to partner with a trustworthy charitable organization. You want to ensure that the organization is financially stable and operates with integrity.

Link Charity Canada Inc is a trusted leader in charitable gift annuities. Their team specializes in helping individuals and organizations explore how these annuities align with their goals. They take the time to walk you through the entire process, ensuring transparency and clarity every step of the way.

For more information, simply call 1-800-387-8146 . The experts at Link Charity Canada Inc will be happy to help you understand your options and find a solution that works for you.

Is a Charitable Gift Annuity Right for You?

Choosing a Charitable Gift Annuity is a deeply personal decision that depends on your financial situation, charitable goals, and future needs. To decide if a CGA aligns with your vision, consider:

How important it is to you to support a specific cause.
Your current and future financial needs.
Whether you're seeking potential tax advantages.
Your comfort level with making a long-term financial commitment.

Take the time to evaluate your options carefully. If you’re unsure about where to start, reaching out for expert advice can make all the difference.

Start Your Journey Toward Meaningful Giving

With a Charitable Gift Annuity, you don’t have to choose between securing your financial stability and making a difference. You can achieve both. Whether you’re a retiree looking for steady income, a financial planner wanting to offer more to your clients, or a philanthropist striving to leave a lasting legacy, CGAs offer a solution worth exploring.

For personalized guidance, contact Link Charity Canada Inc today at 1-800-387-8146 . Their experienced team will make sure you fully understand the benefits and how you can start supporting charitable causes that mean the most to you.

Your legacy of generosity begins here.

Ensuring Your Wishes Are Fulfilled Through Your Will

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 19:12:02 GMT

Ensuring Your Wishes Are Fulfilled Through Your Will

Estate planning is more than just distributing assets—it's about ensuring that your values and intentions live on after you’re gone. A will is an essential tool to make sure your desires are carried out seamlessly and your loved ones are taken care of. But have you considered how to ensure that these wishes are fully met, beyond just writing them down? This is where Link Charity steps in, providing support and expertise to help make your plans a reality.

Why Your Will Matters

Your will is the foundation of your estate plan. It’s where you outline how your assets will be distributed, name guardians for children, and sometimes even specify end-of-life preferences. But more than anything, it’s a reflection of your values. Whether you’re leaving assets to support family, friends, or causes close to your heart, your will secures your legacy.

However, simply writing a will isn’t enough to guarantee that your intentions are honored or your estate is managed as you envisioned. This is where the right support system becomes vital.

Introducing Link Charity

Link Charity is dedicated to bridging the gap between your intentions and the actions needed to carry them out. They specialize in helping individuals ensure their wishes are not only communicated clearly but also implemented effectively.

If you’re wondering how your goals—whether personal, philanthropic, or financial—can be seamlessly met after your death, Link Charity works as your partner to make it happen.

How Link Charity Helps:

Fulfilling Charitable Wishes

If you’re passionate about supporting certain charities or causes but are unsure about how to include them in your will, Link Charity offers guidance. They simplify the process of leaving a gift to one or more charitable organizations. With their expertise, you can even ensure tax efficiencies for your estate and maximize the impact of your generosity.

Consolidating Your Intentions

Overwhelmed by balancing the needs of your loved ones with charitable giving? Link Charity can help you consolidate your goals into one clear and actionable strategy, so you don’t have to compromise.

Effortless Estate Administration

The aftermath of losing a loved one is an emotional time, and managing your will should not add to the burden of those left behind. Link Charity helps streamline the estate administration process, keeping it as uncomplicated as possible for your executor and beneficiaries.

A Clear and Trusted Communication Channel

Miscommunications or unclear legal language in a will can lead to disputes or misinterpretations. Link Charity makes sure your wishes are articulated clearly, reducing the chance of misunderstandings or conflicts.

Why Partner with Link Charity?

More than just a service, Link Charity is a seasoned and trusted organization that has been helping individuals with their estate planning needs for years. They bring both the technical know-how and understanding required to balance personal, family, and philanthropic priorities.

By working with Link Charity, you create the peace of mind that everything you care about will be taken care of in the way you intended.

How to Get Started

If you're ready to take the next step in ensuring your wishes are met through your will, we encourage you to reach out to Link Charity today. Working with experienced professionals means your legacy will continue to thrive long after you’re gone.

Taking Control of Your Estate

Planning for the future isn’t always easy, but with the right help, it can be deeply rewarding. Link Charity puts your goals at the forefront, ensuring that your intentions are simple to put into action. Here's to crafting a legacy that reflects your values and making an impact where it matters most.

Learn more about Link Charity and get started on securing your future today by calling 1-800-387-8147.

Reasons to Choose Link Charity as Your Beneficiary

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 05:17:37 GMT

Reasons to Choose Link Charity as Your Beneficiary

Why Choose Link Charity as Your Beneficiary?

When it comes to giving back—whether through estate planning or personal philanthropy—aligning your generosity with your values is essential. However, with so many charities and causes to choose from, it can feel overwhelming to make the right decision. This is where Link Charity steps in, simplifying the process and ensuring your charitable wishes are honored.

If you’re a donor, philanthropist, or estate planner seeking a seamless and reliable way to manage charitable giving, here’s why choosing Link Charity could be the easiest—and most impactful—decision you make.

What is Link Charity?

Link Charity is a platform designed to make charitable giving easier, more impactful, and more efficient. It connects donors like you to the causes that matter most, streamlining the giving process while ensuring that your donations are used exactly as you intend. Their core mission? To ensure your charitable wishes are respected and carried out faithfully, both now and in the future.

Why Choose Link Charity?

1. Flexibility in Giving

Link Charity provides you with the flexibility to allocate your donations exactly how you wish. Whether you’re supporting one cause or several, they offer the tools you need to make your philanthropic goals a reality.

For instance, when setting up a gift in your will, Link Charity allows you to divide your donation among multiple organizations.

This means no complicated paperwork—just clear, straightforward giving.

2. Simplifies Estate Planning

Estate planning can be overwhelming, especially when trying to navigate tax implications and ensure your charitable goals

are met. Link Charity acts as an intermediary, ensuring your estate is administered efficiently with minimal legal complexity.

By managing the allocation of funds to your chosen charities, Link Charity reduces the administrative burden for both

donors and beneficiaries.

3. Maximized Impact

Your generosity should have the greatest impact possible. Link Charity helps optimize tax benefits and reduce unnecessary fees, ensuring that more of your contribution goes directly to the causes you care about, rather than being lost in overhead expenses.

4. Trust and Transparency

Link Charity stands out for its commitment to trust and transparency. They ensure your wishes are followed to the letter, so you remain in control of how your donations are distributed. Whether giving during your lifetime or as part of your estate planning, Link Charity provides peace of mind knowing your values are upheld.

5. Access to Expert Guidance

Charitable giving is personal, and questions often arise along the way. Link Charity provides expert guidance to help you answer questions like:

Which causes should you prioritize?
How should your donations be structured?
What tax benefits can you take advantage of?

Their dedicated team works closely with donors, estate planners, and financial advisors to ensure your charitable giving is smooth, impactful, and aligned with your goals.

Who Should Consider Link Charity?

Link Charity is ideal for anyone who wants to make thoughtful, impactful charitable contributions:

Charity Donors : Whether you’re giving now or planning for the future, Link Charity ensures your donations are handled with care and precision.
Philanthropists : Maximize your philanthropic impact with optimized strategies and reduced fees.
Estate Planners : Simplify estate administration while supporting your clients' charitable wishes with tailored solutions.

How Does Link Charity Work?

Choose Your Causes : Decide which charities or organizations you’d like to support. You can allocate your donations in any way you choose.
Set Up Your Gift : Work with Link Charity to formalize your giving, whether through a will, a planned gift, or a direct donation.
Leave the Rest to Link Charity : Link Charity will ensure your wishes are followed, and your donation has the maximum positive impact.

Why Your Choice Matters

Choosing a trusted partner like Link Charity is not just about simplifying the donation process—it’s about ensuring your generosity creates meaningful, lasting change. With their emphasis on transparency, flexibility, and impact, you can enjoy the joy of giving, knowing that they’re handling the details.

Get Started Today

Whether you’re just beginning to explore charitable giving or are already deep into the estate planning process, Link Charity is here to help. Make your kindness count by choosing a seamless, reliable, and impactful way to give.

Start today by connecting with Link Charity, and rest assured that your wishes will be honored every step of the way. Together, we can turn your philanthropic dreams into action.

Call 1-800-387-8146 when you're ready or if you have any questions.

Thoughtful Legacy: Gifting Options in Your Will

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 20:35:46 GMT

When planning your estate, the decisions you make today can have a lasting impact on your family, loved ones, and the causes you care deeply about. Including gifting options in your will is one way to ensure your legacy aligns with your values, while providing financial support to the people and charities most important to you.

Whether you're a Baby Boomer, an estate planner, or a family heir, understanding how will gifting works—and the many benefits it offers—can empower you to make informed decisions about your estate. Organizations like Link Charity Canada Inc. make it easier than ever to incorporate charitable bequests into your planning, providing you with flexible and impactful options.

Why Include Gifting in Your Will?

Will gifting is about more than just distributing assets. It’s an opportunity to leave a thoughtful legacy that reflects your life’s priorities

Here are a few reasons why including gifting in your estate plan is a meaningful choice:

Support Loved Ones: Ensure your family and close friends are taken care of financially.
Bolster Causes You Care About: Make a charitable bequest to organizations like Link Charity Canada Inc., contributing to causes that have shaped your life or align with your values.
Tax Benefits: Charitable gifts can reduce the tax burden on your estate. Many donations are eligible for significant tax deductions.
Leave an Impact: Create a legacy that resonates for years to come, leaving a lasting imprint on the community or charities you support.

Gifting Options to Consider

When it comes to will gifting, there are various options to meet both personal and financial goals.

Here's a breakdown of popular approaches:

1. Charitable Bequests: A charitable bequest allows you to name a nonprofit organization, such as Link Charity Canada Inc., as a beneficiary in your will. You can choose to leave a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or even tangible assets like real estate or art. This option is highly flexible and can be tailored to work with your unique estate goals.

2. Gifts of Securities: Donating appreciated securities, such as stocks or bonds, is another smart option. This allows you to sidestep capital gains taxes while maximizing the value of your gift for the beneficiary.

3. Residual Gifts: After your primary beneficiaries have received their inheritances, you can donate the remaining balance of your estate (the residual) to charity. This ensures your loved ones are prioritized while still leaving a meaningful gift.

4. Life Insurance Policies: By naming a charity like Link Charity Canada Inc. as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, you can make a significant donation while maintaining control over your other assets during your lifetime.

5. Endowments: Establishing an endowment fund allows your gift to create an ongoing impact. Endowments distribute annual funds to the beneficiaries or charities of your choice, ensuring your contribution lasts indefinitely.

6. Gifts in Honor or Memory: This option is a heartfelt way of giving. It allows you to dedicate a gift in honor or memory of a loved one. It’s a meaningful act that also supports a cause close to your heart.

How to Get Started with Will Gifting

The process of including gifting options in your will can be straightforward, especially with the right guidance. Here are the steps to help you get started:

1. Define Your Priorities: Identify key goals for your estate. Do you want to focus on supporting your family first before giving to charity? Or split your estate between loved ones and organizations?

2. Research Charities: Take the time to research organizations like Link Charity Canada Inc. that align with your values. Look into their mission, impact, and financial transparency.

3. Consult an Estate Planner: An estate planner can walk you through gifting options and help you maximize the financial and charitable benefits of your contributions.

4. Communicate with Your Family: Open communication ensures that your loved ones are aware of your intentions. It can help prevent misunderstandings while creating a shared sense of legacy.

5. Draft or Update Your Will: Ensure your will is updated with specific language detailing your gifting decisions. Work with a qualified attorney to ensure clarity and compliance with legal requirements.

6. Connect with Charitable Organizations: Many organizations, including Link Charity Canada Inc. , offer resources and advice to help donors include them in their estate plans seamlessly.

Why Choose Link Charity Canada Inc.?

When considering charitable bequests as part of your estate planning, Link Charity Canada Inc. simplifies the process and ensures your gift has maximum impact. They specialize in helping individuals and families plan meaningful gifts that reflect their values and priorities. With decades of experience and a reputation for trustworthiness, they’re an ideal partner for your legacy planning.

By choosing Link Charity Canada Inc., you’re not only leaving a legacy that makes a difference but also benefiting from their expertise in tax-efficient giving options.

Leave a Legacy of Purpose

Estate planning is your chance to shape your legacy and ensure your hard-earned assets serve a meaningful purpose. Whether you’re supporting family, friends, or causes close to your heart, gifting has the power to make an enduring impact.

Take the first step today. Research your options, connect with organizations like Link Charity Canada Inc., and consult with an estate planner to create a legacy built on generosity, care, and purpose.

Have questions about how to incorporate gifting options into your will? Visit Link Charity Canada Inc. to learn more about their estate planning solutions and explore the impactful ways you can create a brighter future.

To discuss your gifting options, you can reach out to 1-800-387-8146.

How Giving Can Help You Feel Good and Make Money Through a Charitable Gift Annuity

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:36:37 GMT

Have you ever thought about how philanthropic giving can make a profound difference not only in your community but also in your personal life? Through a charitable gift annuity offered by Link Charity Canada, you can support meaningful causes, enjoy financial benefits, and experience the emotional rewards of giving—all at the same time.

This unique form of giving combines the joy of philanthropy with a secure financial return, making it an appealing option for donors who want to contribute to society while taking care of their own future.

What is a Charitable Gift Annuity?
A charitable gift annuity is essentially a “win-win” financial arrangement between you and a registered charity like Link Charity Canada. Here’s how it works:

You, as the donor, contribute a lump sum (usually cash, securities, or other assets) to the charity.
In return, you receive a guaranteed, fixed income stream for the rest of your life—or for the lives of you and a designated beneficiary, such as your spouse.
After your lifetime, the remaining funds are used by the charity to support its mission.

This type of planned giving not only provides peace of mind through a consistent income stream but also delivers the satisfaction of knowing you’re leaving a legacy of impact long after you’re gone.

Emotional Benefits of Giving

There’s something deeply fulfilling about knowing your actions are improving lives and strengthening your community. Giving isn’t just about writing a cheque—it’s about creating positive change in areas that matter most to you. Whether your passion is education,

healthcare, environmental conservation, or the arts, your contribution can help sustain vital services and programs.

Research has shown that acts of generosity activate parts of the brain associated with happiness and satisfaction. When you establish a charitable gift annuity, you have the added reward of seeing the impact your gift will bring, turning the act of giving into an incredibly

uplifting experience.

Financial Advantages of a Charitable Gift Annuity

This giving vehicle isn’t just emotionally rewarding—it makes financial sense too. Here are the key benefits to you as a donor:

1. Guaranteed Income for Life: Whether you’re planning for retirement or already enjoying it, a charitable gift annuity provides steady, predictable income for as long as you live.

2. Tax Benefits: Since part of your contribution goes directly to charitable purposes and is not returned to you, you may qualify for significant charitable tax receipts. These can help reduce your income tax liability now or in the future.

3. Potential for Lower Taxable Income: A portion of your annuity payments is often considered a tax-free return of your original

capital, which means you keep more of your income.

4. Peace of Mind: Unlike other types of investment vehicles, a charitable gift annuity provides fixed payments not influenced by market fluctuations. This stability is particularly reassuring during uncertain financial times.

How Link Charity Canada Facilitates the Process

At Link Charity Canada, we specialize in making planned giving simple, clear, and rewarding for donors. Here’s how we help you every step of the way when setting up a charitable gift annuity:

Personalized Guidance: Our team works closely with you to ensure your annuity aligns with your financial goals and charitable vision. Whether you’re new to the concept or a seasoned donor, we’ll answer your questions and offer expert advice.
Trusted Partnerships with Charities: Link Charity represents a network of trusted charitable organizations, allowing you to choose the causes closest to your heart. Your legacy becomes part of a life-changing efforts in your community and beyond.
Transparency and Trust: We prioritize your confidence by offering clear terms and full transparency about how your contribution is invested and managed.

Make a Difference While Providing for Yourself

At its core, a charitable gift annuity is about empowerment. It gives you the tools to make a tangible difference in the world while securing your own peace of mind and financial future. Whether it’s funding youth programs in your neighbourhood or saving endangered wildlife, your gift ensures that generations to come will benefit from your generosity.

With Link Charity Canada, giving is more than a transaction—it’s a meaningful partnership that lets you witness the good you create while reaping the many rewards of giving back.

Take the Next Step

Are you ready to feel good, make a difference, and enjoy financial benefits at the same time? Contact Link Charity Canada today to learn how a charitable gift annuity can be part of your legacy. Your generosity doesn’t just change lives—it transforms them, including your own

Link Charity Canada Inc.

647-435-7243

1-800-387-8146

Ensuring Your Beloved Charities Are Named in Your Will

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 17:40:07 GMT

Philanthropy is a significant part of your life. It's a reflection of your values and the legacy you wish to leave behind. However, ensuring that your beloved charities are named in your Will requires careful planning and attention to detail.

Why It's Important to Ensure Your Will is Correct Now

1. Clarity of Intentions

A properly structured Will serves as a clear guide to your intentions, eliminating any ambiguity or misinterpretation. When your charitable desires are explicitly stated, it ensures that your wishes will be honored, providing peace of mind. Whether you're supporting education, healthcare, environmental causes, or any other mission, clarity in your Will ensures that your contributions make the intended impact.

2. Avoiding Legal Challenges

Ambiguities or omissions in your Will could lead to legal disputes among beneficiaries. By clearly naming your chosen charities, you minimize the risk of contested claims, ensuring that your assets are distributed as you desire. It's crucial to consult with an attorney specializing in estate planning to ensure all legal formalities are observed.

3. Tax Benefits

Naming charities in your Will can offer tax advantages, potentially reducing the estate tax burden. This maximizes the value of your bequests to both family and philanthropic causes. A knowledgeable estate planner can guide you through the tax implications and benefits of including charitable donations in your Will.

4. Flexibility and Updates

Circumstances and priorities change over time. Regularly reviewing and updating your Will allows you to adjust your charitable contributions as your interests evolve or as specific needs within the charitable sector change. Remember, it's not only about adding new charities but perhaps reallocating your contributions in light of changing circumstances.

5. Strengthening Your Legacy

Charitable giving through your Will enhances your legacy, extending your impact beyond your lifetime. It's a testament to your commitment to the causes you care deeply about, inspiring others in your community to consider their own philanthropic journeys. A well-planned charitable bequest can also amplify the reach of your chosen organizations, enabling them to continue their work with renewed vigor.

Steps to Ensure Your Charities are Properly Named

1. Consult with a Professional

Engage with an attorney or estate planner who has experience in charitable giving, like Link Charity. They can provide invaluable insights into structuring your Will to meet your giving goals effectively.

2. Specify Charities Clearly

Include full legal names of the charities, their registered addresses, and any other pertinent details to avoid confusion or misinterpretation.

3. Consider Charitable Trusts or Funds

If you wish to make ongoing contributions, consider setting up a charitable trust or fund. This can provide a structured approach to long-term giving.

4. Maintain a List of Charitable Organizations

Keep a list of all the charities you support, and update this regularly as you make changes to your giving strategy.

5. Communicate with Your Chosen Charities

Inform the charities of your intentions. This not only builds a relationship but ensures they are aware of your planned contribution and can plan accordingly.

By ensuring your beloved charities are named in your Will, you provide them with critical support that can sustain their missions long after your passing. It's a meaningful way to continue your philanthropic efforts, reinforcing your values and leaving a lasting legacy.

To start this process, consider consulting with an estate planning professional today. Make your philanthropic intentions clear, and ensure that your legacy of generosity lives on. Link Charity will walk you through the process of making sure your charities are named in your Will so there will be no questions asked and confusion.

Link Charity Canada Inc.

647-435-7243

1-800-387-8146

Finding Your Perfect Cause for a Lasting Legacy

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 13:09:12 GMT

Leaving a mark that outlives you is a powerful way to impact the world positively. This is where bequest planning comes into play, particularly when choosing a charity to include in your will. Whether driven by a desire to support a favorite cause or ensure a brighter future for others, selecting where your charitable donations go is a crucial decision. This guide will help you to find a charity that aligns with your values, ensuring your legacy supports a cause you genuinely care about.

Understanding the Importance of Bequest Planning

Bequest planning isn't just about allocating funds; it's an opportunity to shape a better future. By carefully planning your charitable donations in your will, you can support causes that matter deeply to you, having a tangible impact even after you're gone. Whether it's providing scholarships for underprivileged students or supporting sustainable environmental practices, your bequest can leave a lasting legacy.

When you begin this process, consider what values are most important to you. Many people choose to support causes they have been involved with personally, while others might be inspired by stories they've heard or experiences they've had. Additionally, bequest planning allows you to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes, offering peace of mind that your contributions will foster meaningful change.

Involving Link Charity in your planning process can simplify the task. Their expertise can guide you through the logistics, helping streamline the process and ensure everything is set up correctly. Furthermore, they offer insights into the impact of various charities, which can help you decide where your support will be most beneficial.

Identifying Causes Close to Your Heart

The first step in selecting a charity is identifying what causes resonate with you. Reflect on the issues that have moved you throughout your life. Perhaps it's medical research, education, environmental conservation, or assistance for the homeless. The options are vast, and your personal experiences can significantly influence your choices.

It's beneficial to jot down the issues you're passionate about. Consider the time you've invested in volunteering, the organizations you've supported, or the topics you've avidly discussed with friends and family. This reflection can help clarify which charities align with your personal values.

Remember, the most impactful donations come from the heart. When you choose causes that genuinely matter to you, your contributions are more meaningful. This not only ensures a significant impact but also honors your legacy in a way that reflects your life's passions and beliefs.

Researching Potential Charities

Once you've identified the causes you care about, the next step is researching charities that align with those interests. A crucial aspect of charity selection is ensuring your funds will be used effectively. This means finding organizations with a transparent track record and a clear mission that resonates with your goals.

Start by exploring online resources that provide information about charities, such as GuideStar or Charity Navigator. These platforms offer insights into the financial health, accountability, and transparency of various organizations. Additionally, they can help you understand the reach and impact of their work.

It's also wise to visit the websites of potential charities to learn more about their missions and initiatives. Pay attention to how they allocate their funds and the outcomes they've achieved. Understanding their goals and effectiveness will help you make an informed decision about where your bequest will have the most significant impact.

Evaluating the Impact of Your Donations

One of the most important aspects of your bequest is ensuring that your contributions will genuinely make a difference. Evaluating the impact of a charity is crucial to this process. You'll want to select an organization that will use your funds to drive meaningful change, rather than simply sustaining its operations.

Start by examining how the charity measures its success. Look for evidence of tangible results and stories of change directly tied to their work. If possible, reach out to the organization and ask for reports or case studies that highlight their impact.

Consider the charity's approach to transparency and accountability. Organizations that willingly share their successes—and challenges—often have a higher degree of trustworthiness. They can demonstrate how your donations will contribute to their ongoing efforts and help achieve their mission.

Aligning with a Charity's Mission and Values

It's essential to ensure that the charity's mission and values align with your beliefs. This alignment not only strengthens your connection to the organization but also ensures your bequest supports initiatives that genuinely reflect your priorities.

Begin by reading the charity's mission statement. Does it resonate with what you hope to achieve through your contribution? Consider how their values align with yours and whether their goals match the ideals you hold dear.

If possible, engage with the charity directly. Whether that's through volunteering, attending events, or speaking with their representatives, this interaction can provide deeper insights into their work and culture. It can also solidify your confidence that they are the right choice for your bequest.

Considering the Long-Term Sustainability of the Charity

Another vital factor to consider is the long-term sustainability of the charity. You want to ensure that the organization you support will continue to thrive and make an impact long after your donation has been made.

Review the charity's financial statements and funding sources. Are they financially stable, with diversified income streams? Organizations that rely heavily on a single source of income may face challenges if that support diminishes.

Additionally, assess the charity's leadership and governance. Strong leadership and a committed board of directors are usually indicators of an organization's ability to adapt and grow. This stability helps ensure that your bequest will continue to support meaningful work well into the future.

Understanding Tax Implications and Legal Considerations

When planning your charitable donations in your will, it's crucial to understand the tax implications and legal considerations involved. While the primary goal is to support a cause you care about, it's also important to ensure that your bequest is structured in the most beneficial way for both you and the charity.

Start by consulting with a financial advisor or legal professional. They can help you understand the tax benefits associated with charitable giving and guide you in setting up your bequest to maximize these advantages.

Additionally, consider working with organizations like Link Charity. They can provide expert advice on bequest planning and help you navigate the complexities of charitable donations in a way that aligns with your goals and ensures your legacy is honored.

Engaging with the Charity Community

Building a relationship with the charity and its community is an enriching part of the donation process. By engaging with like-minded individuals and organizations, you can gain a deeper understanding of the cause and feel more connected to the impact of your contribution.

Consider participating in events, volunteering, or joining donor circles. These activities can enhance your understanding of the charity's work and allow you to meet others who share your passion for the cause.

Engagement can also provide you with opportunities to see firsthand the difference your bequest will make. Hearing personal stories from those impacted by the charity's work can be incredibly rewarding and reinforce your decision to support them.

Reviewing and Adjusting Your Bequest Plan

Your charitable giving plan should be a dynamic document, reviewed and adjusted as needed to reflect changes in your circumstances or priorities. Regularly revisiting your bequest plan ensures that it continues to align with your goals and the evolving needs of the charities you support.

Periodically assess your overall financial situation and consider any life changes that may impact your bequest planning. You might decide to adjust the amount of your donation, change the charities you support, or add new causes to your plan.

Engaging with Link Charity will be helpful during this process. They can provide guidance and ensure that any changes you make are in line with your vision for your legacy.

Communicating Your Intentions with Family

Discussing your charitable intentions with family members is an essential part of bequest planning. Open communication ensures that your loved ones understand your decisions and can support your wishes. Begin by sharing your values and the reasons behind your charitable choices. Explain how you hope your bequest will make a difference and why these causes are meaningful to you.

Encourage your family to become involved in your charitable endeavors. They may wish to continue supporting these causes or even establish new traditions of giving in your honor. This shared commitment can strengthen family bonds and ensure your legacy of generosity continues.

Taking Action and Leaving a Lasting Legacy

Choosing a charity to support in your will is a meaningful step toward leaving a lasting legacy. By thoughtfully considering your values, researching potential charities, and planning your bequest, you can ensure your contribution makes a significant impact. Ultimately, your legacy is not just about the financial gift you leave behind—it's about the positive change you inspire. With careful bequest planning and the support of organizations like Link Charity, you can create a future that reflects your values and makes a difference.

If you're ready to begin your bequest planning journey, reach out to Link Charity who can guide you through the process. By taking action today, you can ensure your legacy supports a cause you care about and leaves a lasting impact on the world.

Legacy of Love and Impact Making Charitable Donations in Your Will

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 13:48:09 GMT

Planning your estate is a profound way to ensure that your values and wishes continue to have an impact beyond your lifetime. For many, this includes making charitable donations in their Will. But why is it so important to document these philanthropic intentions? In this blog post, we will explore the significance of including charitable donations in your Will, providing valuable insights for estate planners, family members, and anyone with a charitable heart. You'll learn the benefits, practical steps, and how these decisions can create a lasting legacy.

The Importance of Documenting Your Charitable Wishes

When you explicitly state your charitable intentions in your Will, you ensure your wishes are honored. This clarity prevents any misunderstandings or disputes among your beneficiaries and executors. Documenting your philanthropic desires also serves as a powerful statement of your values, inspiring others in your family or community to continue your charitable work.

Furthermore, it may offer financial benefits to your estate. Many jurisdictions provide tax incentives for charitable donations, which can reduce the overall tax burden on your estate and increase the inheritance left to your loved ones. This dual benefit underscores the importance of carefully planning and documenting your charitable donations.

Without proper documentation, your charitable intentions might be overlooked or contested, leading to potential delays and legal complications. Therefore, it's essential to clearly outline your wishes in your Will to ensure they are respected and executed as you intended.

Benefits of Including Charitable Donations in Your Will

Including charitable donations in your Will can provide numerous benefits, both for you and the beneficiaries of your estate. First and foremost, it allows you to support causes you are passionate about even after you are gone. This can be a deeply satisfying aspect of estate planning, knowing that your legacy will continue to make a difference.

Another significant benefit is the potential tax relief for your estate. In many regions, charitable donations are exempt from estate taxes. This can significantly reduce the taxable value of your estate, potentially allowing you to leave more to your family and other beneficiaries. By planning your charitable donations strategically, you can maximize these tax benefits.

Lastly, including charitable donations in your Will can also foster a sense of community and inspire future generations. By setting an example of generosity and compassion, you encourage your family and friends to consider their own charitable giving and the positive impact they can make.

How to Prepare Your Will

Preparing a Will may seem daunting, but with careful planning and the right guidance, it can be a straightforward process. Start by taking inventory of your assets and liabilities. This includes property, investments, bank accounts, personal belongings, and any debts you may have. Having a clear understanding of your financial situation is the first step in effective estate planning.

Next, think about your beneficiaries. Who do you want to inherit your assets? This can include family members, friends, and charities. Consider how you want your estate to be divided among them. This is also the time to think about any specific items or amounts you want to leave to particular individuals or organizations.

Finally, consult with a legal professional who specializes in estate planning. They can help you draft a legally binding Will that accurately reflects your wishes. They can also provide advice on any tax implications and ensure that your Will complies with local laws and regulations.

Choosing the Right Charities

When deciding which charities to include in your Will, consider the causes that are most important to you. These might be organizations you have supported during your lifetime or new causes you have recently become passionate about. Research each charity to ensure they are reputable and their values align with yours.

It's also important to consider how you want your donation to be used. Some people prefer to leave unrestricted gifts, allowing the charity to use the funds where they are needed most. Others may want to specify how their donation should be used, such as funding a particular program or project.

Communicating with the charities you plan to support can also be beneficial. They can provide information on how best to structure your donation to make the most impact and ensure it aligns with their needs and goals.

Types of Charitable Donations

There are several ways to include charitable donations in your Will. One common method is a bequest, where you specify a certain amount of money, a percentage of your estate, or specific assets to be given to a charity. Bequests are flexible and can be easily adjusted as your circumstances change.

Another option is to set up a charitable trust. This can be established during your lifetime or through your Will. A charitable trust allows your assets to be managed by trustees who distribute income or assets to the named charities over time. This can provide a steady stream of funding for the charities you support.

Lastly, you might consider naming a charity as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy or retirement account. This can be a simple way to make a significant donation without affecting the distribution of your other assets.

Ensuring Your Wishes Are Carried Out

Once you have included charitable donations in your Will, it is essential to ensure your wishes are carried out. Start by choosing a reliable executor. This person will be responsible for administering your estate and ensuring your instructions are followed. It's crucial to select someone you trust and who is capable of handling these responsibilities.

Communicate your wishes to your family and beneficiaries. While it may be a difficult conversation, explaining your intentions can help prevent misunderstandings and ensure everyone is aware of your plans. This transparency can also foster a sense of unity and shared purpose among your loved ones.

Regularly review and update your Will to reflect any changes in your circumstances or charitable interests. Life events such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or significant changes in your financial situation may necessitate updates to your Will. Keeping your Will current ensures your charitable wishes remain relevant and achievable.

Tax Benefits of Charitable Donations

Charitable donations can provide significant tax benefits for your estate. In many jurisdictions, donations to registered charities are exempt from estate taxes. This can reduce the overall taxable value of your estate, potentially lowering the tax burden for your other beneficiaries.

Additionally, some countries offer tax credits or deductions for charitable donations made through your Will. This can further enhance the financial benefits of including charitable gifts in your estate plan. It's essential to consult with a tax professional who can provide specific advice based on your circumstances and local tax laws.

By carefully planning your charitable donations, you can maximize these tax benefits while supporting causes that are important to you.

Creating Legacy

Including charitable donations in your Will is a powerful way to create a lasting legacy. It allows you to continue supporting the causes you care about, even after you are gone. This can provide a sense of fulfillment and purpose, knowing that your values and passions will live on through your charitable gifts.

Your legacy can also inspire others. By demonstrating the importance of philanthropy, you can encourage your family, friends, and community to consider their own charitable giving. This ripple effect can amplify the impact of your donations, creating positive change for years to come.

Ultimately, your legacy is about more than just financial contributions. It's about the values and principles you hold dear, and the lasting impact you want to have on the world.

Including charitable donations in your Will is a meaningful way to support the causes you care about, create a lasting legacy, and potentially enjoy tax benefits. By carefully planning and documenting your charitable wishes, you can ensure your intentions are honored and your impact continues for generations to come.

If you're ready to start planning your charitable legacy, consider consulting Link Charity They can provide valuable guidance and help you create a comprehensive plan that reflects your values and goals as well as have the contacts you will need to make sure your donations are directed as per your wishes.

Remember, your charitable donations can make a significant difference. By including them in your Will, you can leave a legacy of love and impact that will be remembered and appreciated for years to come.

Transform Lives Through Legacy Giving

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 18:38:15 GMT

Are you looking for a meaningful way to make a lasting impact? Leaving a gift to charity in your will is a powerful way to create a legacy that reflects your values. This blog post explores the benefits of making such a generous gesture and how it can transform lives in Canada. From providing financial advantages to strengthening communities, discover why more Canadians are choosing to include charitable gifts in their estate plans.

What is Legacy Giving?

Legacy giving, also known as planned giving, involves designating a portion of your estate to a charitable organization. This act enriches the lives of those in need while allowing you to leave a lasting mark on the world. It's a unique way to ensure your philanthropic goals continue even after you’re gone.

Financial Benefits for Your Estate

One of the most compelling reasons to leave a gift to charity in your will is the potential tax benefits. Donations can reduce the taxable amount of your estate, lessening the financial burden on your heirs. This means more of your assets go to causes you care about rather than taxes.

Personal Fulfillment

There’s an immeasurable sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing you’ve made a difference. By including a charity in your will, you leave a legacy that embodies your values and priorities. It's a fulfilling way to continue supporting causes that matter to you.

Strengthening Community Ties

Charitable bequests often benefit local organizations, strengthening your community. Whether it's a food bank, educational institution, or healthcare facility, your gift can help sustain vital services that improve the quality of life for everyone.

Supporting Future Generations

Leaving a gift to charity in your will also means investing in future generations. Your contribution can fund scholarships, support medical research, or provide resources for environmental conservation. These gifts ensure that your values live on, benefiting people for years to come.

Flexibility and Control

One of the great advantages of legacy giving is flexibility. You can choose how much to give and to which organizations. You can also specify how your gift should be used, ensuring that it aligns with your charitable intentions.

Types of Charitable Gifts

There are various ways to leave a gift in your will. Options include donating a fixed amount of money, a percentage of your estate, or specific assets like stocks and properties. Each type of gift has its own set of benefits and can be tailored to suit your financial situation.

Simplifying the Process

Creating a will doesn't have to be complicated. Many charities offer resources and support to help you include them in your estate plans. Legal advisors can also provide guidance, ensuring that your wishes are clearly articulated and legally binding.

Encouraging Philanthropy in Your Family

Your decision to leave a gift to charity can inspire your family to do the same. It sets a powerful example of generosity and compassion, encouraging future generations to continue your philanthropic legacy.

Building Stronger Relationships

Including a charity in your will can deepen your relationship with the organization. Many charities recognize and honor legacy donors, offering opportunities for you to engage more deeply with their mission and work.

Addressing Global Challenges

Your charitable gift can also have a broader impact by addressing global challenges. Contributions to international organizations can support disaster relief, healthcare initiatives, and educational programs worldwide. Your legacy can make a global difference.

Planning Ahead

It's never too early to start thinking about your legacy. Planning ahead ensures that your wishes are honored and that your contributions make the most significant impact. Taking the time to consider your options now can lead to a more meaningful and well-organized legacy.

The Importance of Professional Advice

Consulting with financial and legal advisors is crucial when planning your estate. They can provide expert advice on the best ways to leave a charitable gift and ensure that your will is legally sound. Their guidance can help you maximize the benefits of your donation for both you and the charity. The professionals at Link Charity Canada Inc. are than happy to make sure your wishes are spelled out.

Inspiring Stories of Legacy Giving

Many Canadians have left remarkable legacies through their charitable gifts. Their stories serve as powerful examples of how planned giving can transform lives and communities. By sharing these stories, we hope to inspire others to consider making a similar impact.

Leaving a gift to charity in your will is a profound way to make a lasting difference. It offers financial benefits, personal fulfillment, and the opportunity to support causes you care about. Whether you're passionate about education, healthcare, or the environment, your legacy can continue to create positive change for years to come. Start planning today and transform lives through legacy giving. Call Link Charity at 647-435-7243 .

What is a Gift of Securities?

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 18:27:44 GMT

A gift of securities refers to the donation of stocks, bonds, or other investment assets to a charitable organization. Instead of making a cash donation, individuals or entities can transfer ownership of these securities directly to the charity. This type of donation is often tax-advantageous, as it can potentially provide the donor with a deduction for the full market value of the securities and eliminate capital gains taxes on the appreciated value.

Key Benefits of a Gift of Securities:

Tax Deduction: Donors can claim a charitable deduction for the full market value of the donated securities, which can reduce their taxable income.
Avoid Capital Gains Tax: By donating the securities directly, donors can avoid paying capital gains tax on the appreciated value. This benefit is particularly significant for highly appreciated securities.
Support Charitable Organizations: This form of donation can provide substantial support to charitable organizations, enabling them to further their missions and goals.

How to Make a Gift of Securities:

Identify the Securities:

Choose the stocks, bonds, or other investment assets you wish to donate.

Consult with Your Financial Advisor:

Discuss the potential tax benefits and implications with your financial advisor to ensure this type of donation aligns with your financial and philanthropic goals.

Contact the Charitable Organization:

Reach out to the charity to inform them of your intention to donate securities. They will provide instructions and necessary details for the transfer.

Transfer the Securities:

Work with your broker or financial institution to transfer the ownership of the securities directly to the charity's brokerage account.

Obtain a Receipt:

Ensure the charitable organization provides a receipt acknowledging your donation. This documentation is essential for claiming your tax deduction.

By making a gift of securities, you can achieve significant tax savings while supporting causes you care about. It's a win-win situation for both donors and charitable organizations.

There are several companies and financial institutions in Canada that specialize in assisting individuals with the process of donating securities to charitable organizations. Link Charity Canada Inc will provide valuable guidance and support to ensure that the donation is both efficient and maximizes the potential tax benefits. Here are other types of organizations that can help:

Financial Advisory Firms:

Many financial advisory firms offer services related to charitable giving, including the donation of securities. Advisors at these firms can help you select which securities to donate, estimate the tax benefits, and handle the transfer process.

Brokerage Firms:

Major brokerage firms often have departments dedicated to supporting charitable giving. These firms can facilitate the transfer of securities directly from your brokerage account to the charity's account, ensuring that the process is smooth and compliant with regulations.

Charitable Foundations:

Some charitable foundations and donor-advised funds in Canada provide platforms specifically designed for the donation of securities. These organizations can manage the entire process, from receiving the securities to liquidating them and distributing the proceeds to various charities on your behalf.

Banks:

Several Canadian banks offer programs and services that support the gifting of securities. The banks’ financial advisors or specialized departments can help with the transaction, ensuring proper documentation for tax purposes.

Link Charity Canada will use their expertise to arrange your gift of securities so that you and your loved ones will have peace of mind down the road. Call 1-800-387-8146 today.

Unveiling the Benefits of Being a Link Charity Canada Member

Fri, 03 May 2024 13:08:40 GMT

If you're considering becoming a part of Link Charity Canada , you're in for an array of exclusive advantages that can elevate your philanthropic journey. Let's delve into the wealth of benefits awaiting you as a distinguished member:

1. Expert Guidance and Support

Access dedicated expert advice on planned giving and estate planning for you, your donors, and your staff.
Benefit from low to no-cost marketing tools to effortlessly promote planned giving within your organization.

2. Empowerment Through Participation

Secure a voice in decisions and plans for Link Charity through a representative vote at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), with potential Board membership opportunities.

3. Financial Returns

Enjoy higher than average returns on investments for your donors, ensuring a rewarding giving experience.

4. Reimbursement Plan

Explore the referral reimbursement plan that could potentially cover your entire annual dues, making your membership even more financially appealing.

5. Comprehensive Services

Benefit from a spectrum of services including quality marketing resources to simplify gift planning promotion.
Attend enlightening seminars and workshops for donors focusing on gift planning and estate needs.
Engage in face-to-face meetings offering personalized and confidential answers to gift planning concerns.
Train select staff and volunteers in essential areas of gift planning, enhancing organizational expertise.
Experience expanded networking opportunities through coordinated events and promotions of gift planning initiatives.

6. Innovative Donation Solutions

Easily donate stocks and mutual funds through Link Charity, saving significantly on brokerage fees.
Opt for Gift Annuities to support multiple charities under one annuity, streamlining your giving process.
Leverage Link Charity's estate planning expertise to potentially save on fees and taxes.

7. Tailored Giving

Enjoy the freedom to be anonymous and selective in your causes under Link Charity's guidance.
Establish a Family Foundation through the Donor Advised Funds program without the complexities of creating your own.
Save substantial amounts on taxes by strategizing your estate gift plan with Link Charity's consultants.

8. Confidentiality Assurance

Rest assured that all interactions and work done with Link Charity are handled with the utmost confidentiality, prioritizing your privacy and trust.

By embarking on this membership journey with Link Charity Canada, you not only gain access to a treasure trove of benefits but also contribute meaningfully to impactful charitable endeavors. Join hands with Link Charity today and unlock a world of giving possibilities!

For more information and to explore membership opportunities, contact us today!

Food For Thought

Tue, 20 Jun 2023 13:52:31 GMT

Why Helping Canadian Food Banks Is Important!

Food is a significant issue affecting many Canadians. A recent report from CTV News revealed that one in five single adults in Canada suffer poverty and hunger. The study found that many single adults struggle to put food on the table, with some skipping meals and reducing their portion sizes to survive. This unfortunate reality is startling, and it's a call to action for everyone to work together to help those in need.

While there are no easy solutions, there are ways to make a difference. For instance, supporting managed property electrical services companies can create more jobs and opportunities for people to make a living wage, which in turn can help address poverty and food insecurity. It's essential to be aware of the issues at hand and to take proactive steps towards meaningful change so together, we can help to alleviate poverty and hunger in Canada.

There are many reasons why someone may experience food insecurity, ranging from financial difficulties to health issues. Whatever the reason, however, the impact of food insecurity can be devastating, leading to malnutrition, poor health outcomes, and reduced quality of life.

This is where food banks come in. Food banks are non-profit organizations that provide food assistance to those in need, often relying on donations from individuals, corporations, and other organizations to fulfill their mission. By donating to a food bank, you can help ensure that individuals and families facing food insecurity have access to the food they need to thrive.

There are many reasons why you should consider donating to a food bank if you can. Firstly, it provides an immediate solution to the problem of food insecurity. By donating non-perishable items such as canned goods, pasta, and rice, you can help provide meals to those in need.

Secondly, donating to a food bank helps to reduce food waste. Many food banks work with grocery stores and restaurants to collect excess food that would otherwise go to waste. By diverting this food to those in need, food banks can help reduce the environmental impact of food waste.

Finally, donating to a food bank can provide a sense of community and connection. Knowing that you are helping others in need can be a powerful motivator and can help foster a sense of compassion and empathy for those facing difficult circumstances.

In short, donating to a food bank is a simple yet impactful way to help address the issue of food insecurity in Canada. Whether you donate money or non-perishable food items, your contribution can make a real difference in the lives of those who are struggling to put food on the table. So why not consider making a donation to your local food bank today?

Since 1998, Link Charity Canada has provided the service, tools, education, and guidance that individuals and charities need when it comes to gift giving. We work with many great charities that are in the business of not only helping Canadians, but people all over the world. Check out Link Charity’s members list to learn more.

Our wide variety of Gifting Options are current, relevant and designed to help both the individual and the charity. If you’d like to learn more about our unique giving tools such as Charitable Annuities , Gifts Of Securities, Donor Advised Funds, Bequests, and more please call us for a free consultation at 1-800-387-8146.

THE SURPRISING HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHARITABLE GIVING

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 18:14:43 GMT

HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHARITABLE GIVING

According to research, donating your time, money, and resources to those less fortunate can improve your mental, emotional, and physical well-being...

We all know that donating to charity is a wonderful way to help those in need. But what you may not be aware of is the many health benefits that come from giving. According to research, donating your time, money, and resources to those less fortunate can improve your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. So, not only are you helping others, but you're also helping yourself. Here are just a few of the surprising ways that donating to charity can help improve your health.

Enhanced Mood and Reduced Stress

One of the key benefits of giving to a worthy cause is that it can reduce stress and enhance your mood. When you give to charity, it releases endorphins in your brain that make you feel good. According to research, the act of giving stimulates the same pleasure centers in your brain as food and sex. This flood of endorphins can help to alleviate stress and improve your overall mood. So, the next time you're feeling overwhelmed or down, consider giving back to those in need.

Boosted Immune System

Donating to charity can also help to boost your immune system. According to research funded by the National Institutes of Health, volunteering can increase the production of antibodies and reduce inflammation in the body. This is because volunteering and charitable giving are associated with positive emotions, which can have a positive impact on your physical health.

Improved Sense of Purpose

Giving to charity can also help you to feel more connected to your community and give you a sense of purpose. Volunteering and donating your time can provide you with a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, which can help to improve your overall wellbeing. When you feel like you have a purpose and that you are making a difference in the world, it can have a positive impact on your mental health.

Decreased Risk of Depression and Anxiety

The act of giving can also help to reduce the risk of depression and anxiety. According to research, people who give to charity are less likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than those who do not. This is likely due to the fact that giving to others can help to take the focus off of your own problems and provide you with a sense of perspective.

Increased Longevity

Believe it or not, donating to charity can also increase your longevity. According to a study conducted by the University of Michigan, those who volunteered had a lower risk of mortality than those who did not. This is because volunteering and charitable giving can help to reduce stress and provide a sense of purpose, which are both factors in living a longer and healthier life.

Donating to charity is a wonderful way to help others, but it can also have a positive impact on your own health and wellbeing. By giving to a worthy cause, you can reduce stress, boost your immune system, improve your mood, and increase your longevity. So, the next time you're looking for a way to improve your health, consider giving back to those in need. Not only will you be making a difference in the world, but you'll also be improving your own quality of life.

Since 1998, Link Charity Canada has provided the service, tools, education, and guidance that individuals and charities need when it comes to gift giving. Our wide variety of Gifting Options are current, relevant and designed to help both the individual and the charity. If you’d like to learn more about our unique giving tools such as Charitable Annuities , Gifts Of Securities , Donor Advised Funds , Bequests , and more please call us for a free consultation at 1-800-387-8146.

LOVE AS AN ESSENTIAL SERVICE

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 16:44:49 GMT

The Couriers of Caring

When does a two-year-old behind the wheel with a fistful of expired credit cards sound like a good idea?

For Jeannie, it was the best solution she’d heard in Forever. Just like the rest of us, the last few months (and years) had felt like an unending game of Bad News Dodgeball. After a long illness, her mother had passed away.

Jeannie herself had dodged two-and-a-half years of COVID strains...but then came the flu. You Know, the one that was worse because we had been protecting ourselves from COVID for two years. It was actually Jeannie’s two-year-old grandson Max who caught the bug, because...well, if anyone is going to catch it, it’s a two-year-old. The shortage of children’s medication had Max’s parents scrambling. Four days and five pharmacies later, Jeannie actually tracked some down, thanks to a Facebook Moms group posting updates as to where the magic cure could be purchased.

Her grandson’s medicine was delivered, and all was on the way to being okay. Until Jeannie got the flu herself. There were adult remedies available to cover up the two weeks of symptoms, but somehow her spirit still felt like, ‘What Next?’

Enter the two-year-old behind the steering wheel. Grandson Max’s favourite possession was his red, toddler-sized Cozy Coupe, in which he liked to run daily errands (without leaving the front room. He gets the best mileage that way). His parents had even equipped Max with two expired cash cards, so he could mimic paying via Tap when he did his imaginary Timmy’s runs, complete with him emitting ‘BEEP’ sound when he reached his virtual drive-through window.

Max’s parents sent ailing Jeannie a short video showing the toddler, resolutely hopping in his Cozy Coupe.

Videographer Dad asks, ‘Where are you going?’

Max - ‘To the drugstore...”

What for? ‘medicine for grandma.’

Why?

‘To make her feel better...’

Grandson Max’s Cozy Coupe may not be able to reach highway speeds, but he got the cure delivered. Knowing that just one other person cared made more of a difference to Jeannie than anything available over the counter.

A standard sociological theory is that caring is baked into us, because the only reason our families survived is thanks to somebody else caring. How else did a two-year-old know that, since someone had shown him kindness when he needed help, the best thing to do was to repeat that kindness when it was needed in return?

The necessity of empathy has been hard-wired into us by necessity over thousands of years, to where we instinctively know it is in our best interests. What kind of a difference would you like to make? There are an infinite number of ways to do that. And Link Charity Canada are the proven professionals who can help you do just that...to the Max. Contact us today .

TALKING ‘BOUT A RESOLUTION

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 17:04:12 GMT

Fresh Starts and New Years!

If the yearly calendar was a race, the next few weeks would be a combination stretch-run obstacle course. Huge amounts of holiday joy and emotion, mixed in with the accompanying family pressures, multi-tasking, and shopping deadlines. Then, just six days later, New Years Eve arrives, with an almost mandatory demand to Celebrate! (Along with the not-too-subtle encouragement to list up a set of ‘Resolutions’, listing how you can be a better you…and guaranteeing a guilt-trip if (or more likely when) you slip up on those personal challenges.) Is it really that surprising that the next major date on the calendar is Groundhog Day?

Both New Years Eve and Groundhog Day are hoping for a change of fortune, respectively signalled by a metallic ball dropping in the middle of New York…and a rodent in Pennsylvania searching for his own shadow. At least New Years’ resolutions give us a minimum of control over our own fortunes. But can they actually work?

The answer is Yes…potentially.

Researchers have defined a ‘Fresh Start Effect’. People are basically more successful at addressing their goals if they do it at a clearly defined landmark in time, say the beginning of the month, or the week. Or especially the year.

Why?

Well, for the people who need a new start, it’s a chance to put a border between the past and the present. It’s a divorce from the past failures and misfortunes, a chance to wipe them from the proverbial books. And, as obvious as it sounds, the crucial distinction researchers made was, not everybody needs a ‘Fresh Start’. If you’re already succeeding, you’d be quite happy with the slate being left exactly as it is, and not wiped clean.

Unfortunately, too many people do need a new beginning.

One example the researchers cited was a slumping baseball player. When they get traded, someone will inevitably say that ‘a fresh start was needed. And the statistics back that up: if the player joining a new club was hitting below the league average, his numbers would go up by almost four points. And a trade is literally like getting a clean slate: the player’s average is reset to .000 as soon as he gets the chance to pull on that new uniform.

The key question is, who needs a fresh start?

As mentioned, the other striking statistic was that players who were traded while playing well actually saw their averages go down by five points after changing teams. Perhaps the reason that sports provide such strong metaphors is because there has to be an understanding of fairness in any game. Not everyone is going to succeed every single time they try - probably why any hitter gets three strikes, and not one. Any casual golfer appreciates the phrase ‘getting a mulligan,’ meaning they get to re-do their worst shot once in a game, so they’re not wrecked by a single bad occurrence. Imagine feeling like you’d never have a chance to live a successful life, all because of one previous misstep. Or just having a rough start, or something entirely out of your control happening early in your life.

The most important difference between sports and life is, we don’t need someone else to lose for us to win. If you’d like to help somebody get their fresh start there are thousands of ways to make that happen. Just like there are thousands of ways to define winning. For over twenty years, Link Charity has been helping people find the best way to give to help others. Why not make generosity part of your own resolution? Contact us today; sometimes, all someone needs is: HOPE to win.

‘TIS (ALMOST) THE SEASON’

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 15:01:33 GMT

How Caring Can Be The BEST Shopping!

Music and the Holidays were inseparable long before we had the ability to record music. Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas’ remains the biggest-selling single ever, at over 50 million copies sold. Part of the Beatles’ marketing (and magic) was always having an album out just before Christmas, so Mom and Dad’s shopping was made easier. (The fact that some of us are on their tenth copy of those albums, thanks to remastering and endless new formats, is a separate topic.)

Music will always be a perfect gift, because of its universality, and also how incredibly individual it can be. One way of showing someone else that you truly ‘Got them’ was by giving them music that would really resonate with them. (If one felt exceptionally daring during the courting phase, a ‘mixtape’ or CD could be concocted.) A gift card was practically an admission of ‘I don’t have the energy to Really get to know ya, so I settled for this.’ Giving and caring, just like music, is just as personal. What matters to you is as good as a mirror into who you Really are. And conversely, it’s a profound window into the people you care about. So, what to do as far as gifting for the Holidays?

Back in 1984, Bob Geldof brought the two ideas together. While watching news coverage of the famine in Ethiopia, he and friend Midge Ure felt moved to compose ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ George Harrison had felt similarly inspired to do the same thing with his 1971 concert for Bangladesh’, but Geldof and team arguably upped the all-star quotient. And managed to gather all that talent in the same London recording studio (Not without a few complications, though. On the day of recording, he found everyone in ensemble ready to go...except Boy George, who he tracked down by phone in New York. “Oh, was it Today?’ was George’s groggy answer. One four-hour flight later, and Band-Aid was done, both recording and, the newest rage, in video.)

Other musicians felt inspired, most notably the American ‘We Are the World’, and Canada’s own “Tears Are Not Enough’. ‘Band-Aid’ was remarkable not just in its ambition, and the speed in getting the single released before the holidays. The spirit of the project itself seemed to

perform a bit of a communal ‘reset’ on the spirit of Christmas. Based on the eventual worldwide sales of over eleven million copies, it succeeded.

While 2022 may feel like it could provoke the Scrooge in most of us, some of the biggest holiday songs came in pretty dark times. “White Christmas’ went to Number One while Hitler was winning World War Two. John Lennon’s ‘Happy Xmas’ was released after a period of violent U.S. riots and with the Vietnam War still raging.

Since what we care about most is just as personal as a special song...why not give your special people the gift of them being able to give? There are an infinite number of charitable possibilities that could solve your gift-shopping headaches this season. And, yes, there are

even gift cards specifically designed for just that. (In this instance, just knowing that the recipient cares about Caring is the biggest part of the present.)

However, you celebrate the Holidays, it’s a time when we make a ritual out of thinking about each other, through the coldest days and the darkest nights of the year. Giving, in whatever form you choose, can be a most joyful way of disagreeing with the gloom. Link Charity has

been helping people help other people for over forty winters. Get in touch today to find the cause that speaks to you (and those you care about), just like a favourite song.

And a Merry Jingle, Eh?

Cinderella After Midnight

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 15:11:21 GMT

Cinderella After Midnight!!!

Oddly enough, the Cinderella story has been around as long as Halloween has been celebrated...and long before it went by that name...

Yes, Halloween is normally associated with children. But adults have been known to enjoy chocolate, too. (The most recent statistics estimate that Americans alone spend roughly $2.6 Billion dollars on Halloween candy),Plus, grown-ups are not averse to wearing a costume and pretending to be someone else, at least for a night. Just like Cinderella at the ball, the idea that you can look and feel like somebody else, even for just a few hours, is pretty magical.

Oddly enough, the Cinderella story has been around as long as Halloween has been celebrated (and long before it went by that name). October 31st certainly didn’t start out as a Party night. Originating with the pre-Christian Celts as Samhain, the night was originally one to acknowledge and appease recently departed souls, by laying out banquet tables of food. Over centuries, the festivities evolved into people dressing up as ghosts or demons themselves, and enjoying the food and drink that used to be left on the banquet table. ‘Souling’ introduced the door-to-door ritual, where well-to-do homeowners would provide pastries known as ‘soul cakes’ to the costumed celebrants who knocked on their door. (And much like Cinderella, the All Souls’ Day cakes may have been the only time during the year when the lower classes would interact with their so-called betters.)

Spoiler alert: the fable of Cinderella goes back just as far as Halloween, and through just as many names as Halloween. Skip right past the Walt Disney version…and the Grimms’ Fairy Tales take as well. There was the French author from the late 1600s…oh, and the Italian writer with basically the same tale sixty years later. But, it turns out that Cinderella had been losing her slipper for centuries by then.

Rewind all the way back to first century B.C. Greece. In this case, Cinderella is named Rhodopis. And her slipper doesn’t fall off at a midnight ball, but is snatched by an eagle while she is bathing. The eagle drops it into the king’s lap in Memphis. The king dispatches his armies to locate the woman behind such a magic occurrence. Through different variations, and different names, the story appears, in Asia as well as Europe.

But why did the story of the peasant girl with the evil sisters and the magic prince persist for TWO Millenia? Quite possibly, because through most of that time, the idea of improving your life could only happen IN a fable. For all the stresses of the 21st century, we are historically fortunate to live in a society where we’re not simply relying on a magical prince or miracle to permit us to live a better life. People can dream, and hope…and not feel automatically sentenced to live at the same status as the last six generations of their family.

With heightened expectations, though, come possible disappointments. Misfortunes and unexpected circumstances can strike anyone, at any time. We all have the capability to remind people suffering adversity that it isn’t a lifetime sentence, and that with assistance, they can truly transform back to where they want to be…and even higher. All without a magic prince, or a slipper falling from the sky.

Compassion can do the magic...and it has. Let Link Charity help you make that magic happen, in whatever form or direction means the most to you. Contact us today. (And treat yourself to your own kind of ‘soul cake’.)

‘PROGRAMMED TO CARE’

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 16:50:17 GMT

PROGRAMMED TO CARE!!!

And Here's Why...

As someone else has undoubtedly broken the seal on a seasonal taboo, then let it be repeated: Christmas is less than a hundred days away. This means, of course, a majority of us will binge-watch and be moved by all the holiday movies that activate our Nucleus Accumbent and Cingulate cortex…not to mention the Medial Prefrontal Cortex. And how could we ever forget those special moments that are totally ‘Temporoparietal Junction’ material?

That list might sound more like a forensics report off ‘CSI’ than your response to the hundredth viewing of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, but those sections of the brain are precisely the ones triggered when you perform an act of charity, or witness empathy (aka watch Jimmy Stewart in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’). For those of us who hear ‘Amygdala’ and think it’s a Princess from Star Wars, we’ll dispense with the biology and cut to the key questions. Such as,

Why are we wired that way? And why do our senses light up in specific regions when kindness is employed?

It’s telling that ‘anti-social’ is a term that has become so every day, that it’s almost beyond having a meaning. When was the last time you heard of someone displaying ‘pro-social’ behavior? That is the sociological term for empathy, the same one that sets off the neurological pinball machine of our brain’s cingulate cortex, the accumbent…and all those other neurological terms we promise to skip. But their purpose is profound and profoundly necessary.

Infants as young as fourteen months have been observed helping others, by sharing their food voluntarily or reaching for objects that other toddlers could not reach. In controlled observations, the toddlers acted this way without expecting any reward from an adult, or any benefit for themselves. Even before the age of two, humans know that it is in their best interest to care for those around them. (And it’s not just humans. Elephants will rally to care and physically support an elephant who is struggling to stand, or distressed in any way. Dolphins will attempt to free other dolphins trapped in nets.) A majority of living creatures are pre-disposed to engage in helping those around them, at least in their community.

Breaking down such powerful feelings and impulses to clinical sub-neighborhoods of the brain may seem like it takes away the wonder and magic, but it’s the opposite. These neural components are how some of the best aspects of life are conveyed. Say that tonight we promised you that negative and positive charges would be combined at a certain altitude, with a specific temperature and updraft. Sounds like a perfect cozy experience, right? Of course not. So how about if you simply just heard the beginning of a beautiful thunderstorm? (Updraft and negative charges are the recipes, but if you’re not the cook, then just enjoy the experience.)

These different little offices in our brain light up and send off chemicals to different regions when we fall in love, or hear a perfect song, and apparently, also when we realize that we can do something that might make someone else’s life a little less hard. Maybe the earlier image of a pinball machine is apt because when we are experiencing any of those emotions, literally more of our brain is being used.

So how could you fire up and engage that loving side of your brain? You’ll know best. It IS a Wonderful Life. Let Link Charity Canada help you to make someone else’s life just a bit more wonderful. Maybe start considering a year-end gift to your favorite charity.??

And we promise, no more mentions of Christmas. At least until the Halloween sales are over.

HOW DO YOU SPELL LOVE?

Mon, 22 Aug 2022 18:53:11 GMT

Dana...Dharma...Sadaqa...Tzedakah

‘Dana, dharma, sadaqa.tzedakah’…do you notice a common thread in those four words? What, not yet? Well, give us just three minutes...

Imagine if you had the Ultimate GPS, and you could type in a wish, instead of a destination. If you typed in ‘Charity’, what route do you suppose would be suggested? Well, that all depends on where you’re starting from. While it’s almost always a good rule to never discuss religion or politics, it would be a sad omission to not acknowledge the occasions when they do, uncannily, arrive at the same point of Caring.

Buddhists have a required action called ‘Dana’, a fundamental believe of giving and sharing, without anticipating any return or benefit to the giver. Physical labour is ‘sweat dana’, so literally, Anything you can do counts. (Think ‘intention’, because you’ll be seeing that word turn up regularly.)

Let’s continue alphabetically…Christianity adopted concepts of Judaism when it came to charity, as evidenced by the Old Testament, as well as the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Corinthians may sum it up the best as far as generosity and empathy. To paraphrase, ‘As you sew, so shall you reap.’ Just as telling was the idea to ‘give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver’

Hinduism does not disagree. ‘The entire purpose of our life on this earth is to benefit others through one’s life, possessions, thoughts and words’, and that ‘He who saves the life of a troubled person obtains three fruits of charity…’

Is the need to care about others simply a universal truth? In Islam, righteous actions are considered ‘Sadaqa’, which comes from the Arabic word for truth, ‘Sadq’. And, much like other beliefs, charity has an all-encompassing definition Sadaqa (which is voluntary) can take the form of offering time, kindness, insight…even a smile. Sharing a physically demanding job , volunteering…a single thoughtful act meets the definition of sadaqa. The Quaran says, Those who spend in charity will be richly rewarded.’

One more word that may have been typed into the spiritual GPS: ‘Tzedakah’. While it is the closest Hebrew word to ‘philanthropy’, its full meaning in Judaism refers to a belief in social justice, and describes not only the generous donor, but anyone helping to distribute the gift, as well as the people needing it. The service is never done To someone; tzedakah is done with someone. In Hebrew, the word to give is ‘natan’, so it reads the same, backwards and forwards. To give and to receive is all part of the same concept.

It seems fitting to finish with the beliefs of the peoples who have lived here for millenia. With over six hundred First Nations and Inuit communities across Canada, there are understandably differing customs and beliefs. But, just as with all the other belief systems already listed, there is a remarkable commonality. Traditional concepts of sharing and respect are crucial, and all based on the seven natural laws, or Seven Sacred Teachings.

Wherever humanity occurs, Goodness seems to be an idea that is reinvented, or rediscovered..along with the idea that society as a whole can advance when we think about those who are somehow being left behind.

Let Link Charity help you direct your desire to care in the most effective and efficient way. Because, Kindness, by any other name, is just as sweet. And neededThe body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 17:44:06 GMT

How Caring Created Community???

Good ideas have the best kind of momentum. They don’t send an advance text announcing themselves, or launch with a multimedia ‘blast’. Good ideas just organically spread and appear, here and there.

Want proof?

Just try driving in any direction for more than ten minutes, without seeing a Little Free Library. Odds are that the first time you saw one, you simply assumed it was a charming ‘one-off’, a thoughtful homeowner with a knack for carpentry and some surplus books.

That was certainly true with the debut of the original Little Free Library. Back in 2009, Tod Bol’s neighbours in Madison, Wisconsin must have been intrigued, perhaps thinking it was a bird feeder or oddly large mailbox – just outside his front gate. Fashioning a wooden container to resemble a rustic wooden schoolhouse, he filled it with books instead of model desks. The concept was beautifully simple: Help Yourself. Some inspiration came from earlier community gift-sharing networks, as well as the ‘leave a book, take a book’ custom in local coffee shops.

The biggest motivation was beautiful as well, if not nearly as simple. Tod’s mother, a schoolteacher and booklover, had recently passed, and he combined the two as an affectionate summation of her spirit. The initial Little Free Library was enough of a success that Tod and his partner Rick Brooks started to construct and install more Libraries throughout the American Midwest.

What was that we said about momentum? In 2012, the Little Free Library officially acquired status as a non-profit entity. One year later, they received the Innovations in Reading Prize from the National Book Foundation, with Bol and Brooks garnering the ‘Movers and Shakers’ Award from the American Library Association. Todl and Richard had another, very specific goal in their sights, though…2,510 Little Free Libraries. That number didn’t come from their favourite lottery guesses - 2,510 would surpass the number of brick-and-mortar libraries Andrew Carnegie had bankrolled in the early Twentieth Century. Later that year, the Little Free Library was Number One.

It turns out that Momentum doesn’t really understand borders. By late 2019,, there were 90,000 Little Free Libraries across 91 countries. Pancreatic cancer would takeTod Bol in 2018, but in the days before he passed, he remained passionate about making a difference.

‘I really believe in a Little Free Library on every block and a book in every hand. I believe people can fix their neighborhoods, fix their communities, develop systems of sharing, learn from each other and see that they have a better place on this planet to live.’ .

Whether it’s sharing a single book, or building a library the size of a mailbox, or Whatever positive gesture has significance, don’t ever discount how far that one kind concept can go. Tod and Richard’s caring started as a box outside their front gate, and literally circled the globe.

Now That’s Momentum. If you’d like to see how far your kindness can go, Link Charity has the people and the skills to get you going. Contact us today.

Shine On!

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 17:34:49 GMT

How Charity Makes a Sad Song Better

‘Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways, men can be immortal.’ - Ernest Hemingway.

It’s never a painless or uncomplicated thing to lose a loved one. One of the toughest aspects of the ongoing struggle with the pandemic has been the inability for so many people to say goodbye to loved ones, much less comfort them.

Maybe that is why Hemingway’s quote is actually reassuring. Suppose that you could still feel and appreciate the spirit and the positivity of a recently departed loved one? The concept is universal enough to have surfaced in everything from ancient Egyptian texts, to a novel by a French contemporary of Hemingway’s, writer, and most recently, the anonymous graffiti artist Banksy. (Oh, and also in a much underappreciated Al Pacino’s film, Stand Up Guys.)

If somebody still can generate a smile or a laugh, or leave behind Something that makes a small piece of the world better, then in someway, it feels like they are still with us…and having an impact. Could there be a better way of celebrating the spirit and individuality of that person than a specific charitable gift, or act?

For almost twenty-five years, Link Charity has been doing just that. What is the best definition of what your Father cared deeply about, or sums him up most precisely? That spirit can live on, and help any number of people. They will never meet him physically, but he can still be making a positive impact. Was there more than one important cause that moved them? By using our Gift Annuities, multiple charities can be supported under the umbrella of one annuity. That saves time, money, and effort…which means more of the money goes to the thing they cared about most. (Likewise, Link Charity’s experience in estate planning can save hundreds of dollars in fees and taxes.)

Another popular option is creating a Family Foundation, through a Donor Advised Funds program. Again, by saving on the costs of and legalities of a family creating their own, that means you are maximizing the giving power of the person whose spirit you want to celebrate and honour.

As another Fathers Day and Mothers Day have just passed, it’s an especially poignant time for those who no longer have that person in their life to celebrate, to buy a card for, or even just call on the phone. Celebrating the legacy and spirit not only helps keep the essence of the person who has passed ‘alive’, it also gives the people dealing with the loss a constructive and positive outlet. On the surface, yes, it is about legacy. More deeply, if your loved one is somehow doing something good and positive, then Hemingway is right. They Are alive. (Love Is a death-defying act, apparently.)

On a cross-Canada radio show discussing how Father’s Day effected those who had lost their Dad, one woman recounted coming home from the hospital the day her Father passed. His all-time favourite thing in life was Christmas, and she pulled into her driveway to see her normally dormant Christmas lights all fully illuminated, thanks to her husband. She said, for that moment, the sadness and grief were temporarily replaced by remembering her father’s joy, and the essence of how much he appreciated being alive.

If you have lost a loved one, what is their equivalent of ‘Christmas Lights’? Give their memory the gift of living on through kindness, and contact Link Charity. Safe to say - the person who passed would undoubtedly prefer that you balance out any sadness and grief with a bit of celebration of what they brought to the world. And what they Still could be bringing to the world. Turn on those lights.

Get In The Game!

Mon, 16 May 2022 18:13:24 GMT

The Stanley Cup Of Caring!

Allan Fotheriningham, one of Canada’s pre-eminent political writers, once noted that covering sports is an excellent school for learning to write about basically everything. Besides the obvious drama of winners and losers, there are character stories, underdogs, and more life lessons than a years’ worth of Afterschool Specials.. In honour of the ten-week rite of passage that is playoff hockey in Canada, we offer some time-honoured pieces of wisdom that apply just as well to charity, and life, as they do in the locker room…(and, no, no mentioning the Maple Leafs).

1.) ‘We Got off to a Bad Start, and it’s Tough playing from behind…’ Every form of charity is acting like a good coach in a way, because it’s always all about Hope. Now would be an excellent time to go back to our bank of sports-cliches and add in ‘We got nothing but TERRIBLE calls from the refs…’ A crucial component of any charitable cause is letting the people it’s assisting know that, for them, the game is far from over. There probably were some calls that bordered on robbery, unexpected misfortune, etc. It happens on the ice, and also every single day in life. You don’t need a stick or a hockey sweater to make a comeback.

2.) ‘We just have to take it one shift at a time…’ Like all the best cliches, they exist because they keep being True. Undefeated teams who are up five goals in the game aren’t needing that fresh voice of support behind the bench. Charity can be that fresh, authentic voice reminding people dealing with adversity that there is a way to course-correct any successful path they’ve been travelling. The change will come gradually, so be gratified with one Good Day. Do that a few times, somehow there’s been a Good Week. No team wins a season in one game.

3.) Leave it to the Great One to have one of the greatest motivational hockey quotes. According to Wayne Gretzky, ‘You Miss 100% of the shots you Don’t Take.’ Circle back to productive Charities being in the business of coaching Hope. That means removing Discouragement. It’s support that says, we’re going to give you what you need so You can take Your shot…and get back in Your game. (Honourable Mention goes to ‘Good Things Happen When You Put the Puck On the Net.)

4.) ‘Who SAYS you can’t Win?’ How many coaches have referred back to the recent Cinderella story of David Ayres, a Leafs’ practice goalie and occasional Zamboni driver who was pressed into service when the visiting Carolina Hurricanes saw both their goaltenders injured. While some between-period pundits predicted the Leafs would feast on the 42-year-old neophyte, Ayres became the first emergency backup goalie to record a win. Coach Charity reminds people in need to be Available to Great Things Happening…well, sometimes they do.

5.) Best to finish with the Sixth Man. Originally, the sixth man referred to the first basketball player to come off the bench, the spare who brought an intangible boost to the whole team. More recently, the Sixth Man has been used to describe the strength and energy a team gets from its home supporters, cheering on every attempt, and starting rally cries when they may have begun to doubt themselves. Basically, that collective intangible encouragement is as good as having an extra player in the game.

Why not be the Sixth Man (or Woman) with a charity or cause you truly believe in? Contact Link Charity today, and they will get you in the biggest game of all. Caring.

Oh…and keep your stick on the ice, eh?

Here Comes The Sun

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 18:28:52 GMT

Bring The Sun Back Into Someone's Life This Easter!

Just like Christmas, Easter has evolved from an occasion commemorating Christ’s resurrection, into also serving as a date on the calendar that somehow invokes rabbits, coloured eggs, chocolate and of course, greeting cards. Culture has a way of blending different elements into a new whole - Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol launched a number of customs that are not part of the Christmas tradition. The best theories regarding our current hybrid Easter suggest that it originates with the large number of German immigrants who arrived in America in the 1700s, primarily in Pennsylvania. One of the things they brought across the Atlantic was ‘Osterhase’, or Oschter Haws’, a Germanic folklore about a hare who would lay coloured eggs. Children were encouraged to make nests for these mythical bunnies. As well, the pagan festival of Eostre, honoured a goddess of fertility symbolized by…what else? – the typical prolific bunny. (While some cultures actually associate the Easter/spring season with foxes or cuckoo birds, we’ll go with traditional rabbit for now.)

Bunnies aren’t the animal traditionally associated with Easter in every country. Some identify the holiday with other types of animals like foxes or cuckoo birds. Similarly, egg decorating can be traced back to the thirteenth century, when some churches instructed their followers to abstain from eggs as a way of observing Lent. Easter was the signpost when they were once again allowed. Even the legendary appreciation of ornately jewelled eggs amongst Russian royalty was linked to the Easter season.

Some of the other secondary ‘messages’ bundled into the commercial Easter messages do resonate, because they involve universal emotions and ideals, like sacrifice, community, and rebirth. Cultures around the world can be as varied as their belief systems, but Everyone experiences some kind of winter. There’s a season when farmer’s fields go into an extended state of slumber and regeneration, and historically, all cultures have had to be aware of possible adversity through a lack of food or adequate shelter from harsh elements. And sometimes…those harsh elements are not always visible. It’s only in the last fourty years that the ‘winter blahs’ has been scientifically confirmed to be a very real and sometimes very lethal thing called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Whatever triggers the feeling of futility, hopelessness is the result.

Futility and discouragement are the opposite of Hope, and there is no more elemental symbol of that discouragement than the grey, unavoidable winter. Hope reminds us that there is Always a spring on the way, and that life will literally bloom and grow again. Charity provides thousands of ways to deliver that feeling and message of spring to anyone who is trapped in their own personal winter. For some families, that can be a cycle of futility and hopelessness that goes back for generations, due to substance abuse, mental illness, or the tragic combination of both. For others, a recent misfortune with their livelihood or health could have plunged them into a prolonged state of feeling like they could never expect to appreciate life, and have their own personal spring.

Link Charity invites you to use this Easter as a chance to help someone make it through their toughest season, with a variety of options to maximize your caring in whatever direction you choose. When in doubt, it’s never a bad idea to cite the Beatles. As George Harrison sang, in one of his own times of despair, ‘It’s Been a Long Cold Lonely Winter…’ Let Link Charity help you bring the sun back into someone else’s lives.

Pay It Forward

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 14:43:23 GMT

PAY IT FORWARD...

According to Google, at least a million people must have invented kindness.

Well, give or take. If a preliminary search about the origins of the “Pay It Forward’ philosophy are any example, given a few hours digging, we would break at least six digits with different originators cited.

For most of us, the phrase, and the idea, first appeared with the 2000 Helen Hunt movie, or the novel of the same title on which the film was based. But dig (or google) just a bit further, and you’ll find acclaimed science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein employing ‘Pay It Forward’ in 1951’s Between Planets. His humanitarian society, named after him, emphasized the concept of performing charitable acts in hopes that others would ‘re-invest’ by doing the same in the near-future. Heinlein may have indulged in a bit of time-travel, though, because…there was a novel from 1916, called Garden of Delight. Author Lily Hardy Hammond offers this insight: ‘ You don’t pay love back; you pay it forward.’

Apparently, this impulse isn’t just a 20th-century fad, or even some antidote to the Industrial Revolution. Yet another digital search confidently reports that the Pay It Forward concept can be found in an acclaimed play first performed…in 317 BC. In Athens, no less. The title was ‘Dyskolos’, which in English, becomes ‘The Grouch’. Incredibly, this idea of performing an act of kindness, with the only repayment required being a promise of a subsequent act of generosity…has been reinvented in different cultures, on different continents, and in different millenia. From Ralph Waldo Emerson, to Benjamin Franklin, all the way up to college football coach Woody Hayes have at one point echoed roughly the same sentiment. So, how did the seeds of this one concept travel so far, and last so long?

A likely answer is that ‘Pay It Forward’ didn’t travel or get transmitted…because it didn’t have to. The impulse of charity seems to be a built-in part of all of us, in different degrees. Caring and empathy are hard-wired. Perhaps on one level, it’s because we have evolved to a level of understanding that we all are in this together…and it’s in our best interest as a community to ‘Pay It Forward’, and keep the kindness going.

The author of the 1999 novel honestly seemed to believe that. After ‘Pay It Forward’ succeeded as a novel and movie, Catherine Ryan Hyde established a foundation named after her creation, designed to encourage various acts of charity and caring throughout the world. Since 2007, Pay It Forward Day has been celebrated each April 28th.

There are more academic, ‘drier’ ways to elaborate on the philosophy. Scholars have dubbed it the ‘gift economy’, with some theoretical papers suggesting that the spread of philanthropic acts through the Pay It Forward game-plan could result in roughly three good things being done as a result of each single gesture of initial kindness. Spreadsheets and graphs can say it in one way. Margaret Mead seemed much more succinct, and relatable when she suggested ‘Never underestimate the power of a small group to change the world. In fact, it is the only way it ever has…’

For the same, beautifully simple idea to keep occurring, and reoccurring in different times and civilizations, indicates that, deep down, we all know that caring is crucial…and benefits us all, individually and collectively. Let us help you make the best and most effective difference. Call Link Charity Canada today.

Caring, With Cost Benefits

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 14:51:43 GMT

Your 'Eureka' Moment...

Eureka!’ Supposedly, that was the exclamation of Greek notable Euripides, when he suddenly realized the answer to a pressing scientific question whilst lowering himself into a bath. The genius revelation: that he could measure his own volume (weight), by how much water he displaced…which meant the same theory would work for weighing gold. Modern analytic theory has realized that a similar ‘Eureka’ can be achieved by reversing the process - how does an overall value decrease when you take OUT a certain specific thing…like say, Charity?

The much-abbreviated name for that equation is SROI. Just like any for-profit business enterprise wants to be able to point to its Return on Investment, non-profit organizations wanted to be able to point to an easy-to-understand way of explaining the benefit of exactly what they supplied to the community. Enter ‘Social Return on Investment’...which we will definitely shorten to SROI from hereon in. There is a standard mathematical equation, with items like ‘Inputs’, ‘Outputs’, ‘Outcomes’ (that better life we described), and ‘Impact’ (guesstimating the net benefit - how many recipients of the charity would have statistically been alright, even without the help?)

The thumbnail explanation of SROI is more accessible than a formula on a chalkboard. ‘Charity A’ was created to tackle a specific problem. How much does that particular problem cost society? We can easily imagine all the good provided by a shelter for women and children escaping abusive relationships. SROI amplifies the achievements of Charity A’s shelter by calculating the dollars society saves by not having to shoulder the costs of not providing shelter. Where else would they have lived, and who would have paid for that? What’s the cost of those children eventually dropping out of school, and the mother not being able to step back into the work-force, and be a contributing tax-payer?

Even with the best of intentions, it would be unreasonable not to anticipate some ‘charity fatigue’ occurring in the public at large, especially at stressful times (like say, during the third year of a pandemic). Social Return on Investment is an excellent additional argument for support, because it provides a new, fresh lens for potential donors to grasp just how much they could be helping. In a way, we all find it a lot easier to focus on a binary choice.

To put in a very basic analogy, suppose you’re told you need to spend…a thousand dollars on house repairs. Instinctively, you’re immediately thinking you really don’t want to, that’s not fair after I already spent x dollars on another repair, etc., etc. Now, instead you hear, you have a choice. You have the opportunity to invest a thousand dollars now, and do this specific maintenance work. OR, you can spend eight thousand dollars in a year, because of the very predictable outcomes that came out of your choosing to not act. Stories and pictures can help to motivate hearts; SROI can appeal for compassion and charity, on a rational level. (There’s a reason the phrase ‘the bottom line’ refers to both accounting and facing life’s more challenging realities.) As well, being able to demonstrate to donors that your non-profit understands how to manage money and gauge the effectiveness of its own work is an invaluable sales tool in attracting new donors. Get THEM to say ‘Eureka’.

However you want to make a difference, Link Charity helps you make the MOST difference. Since 1998, we have been assisting individuals and charities to maximize their best intentions into tangible results, whether it’s through a charitable annuity, a gift of securities, or any number of Gifting Options. At Link Charity, helping you make a better world is OUR Bottom Line. Contact us today.

Choosing Charity

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 14:41:52 GMT

A Smart Shopper’s Guide

Charity starts with only the Best Intentions. But, just like any other transaction involving money, you want to know that you’re spending it as wisely as possible. And, if you are working for a non-profit organization, you want prospective donors to know that your charity is worthy of their money and consideration.

Since we’ve established that the act of choosing a charity is very similar to any sales transaction, what are the key aspects to look for, or, what are we looking for ‘under the proverbial hood’? And for the charities, what are the ‘sales features’ they want to highlight?

Trust is always a major factor, but even more so when it comes to a non-profit cause. Since charity is often a reflection of the donor’s personal values and what they strongly believe in, they want to know that their contributions are only being used with the best possible intent.

The easiest way to gain trust is to earn it. Financial transparency is just what it says: an organization lets potential donors have a clear view of its financial structures. How available and straightforward are the accounting procedures? And how much of the charity’s revenues are going towards the actual stated cause (and how much to the ‘operational’ costs.)

One respected non-profit arbiter suggests that 5 to 35% for overhead costs is reasonable. If more than 35% is being spent on just maintaining the operation’s day-to-day costs, it may indicate inefficient business practices; over 50% could well suggest a definite imbalance towards the fundraising and administrative aspect. That is precisely why financial transparency is so helpful in choosing, and operating, a quality non-profit. (There are any number of reputable online resources that monitor the performance of non-profits in Canada, among them charitydata.ca, which displays up to eighteen years’ worth of financial background. A solid charity not only believes in financial transparency, it relies on it, as an crucial way of assuring current and future donors.)

Back to our smart shopper analogy…whether it’s a household staple, a new car, or charity, Choice is a major consideration. What are the options, when it comes to giving?

In 2018, there were roughly 86,000 registered charities in Canada. Donors can choose from an amazing variety, as an outlet for their generosity and social concern. As they narrow down the possible recipients of their kindness, certain factors will be primary. Is this Charity the only one addressing the issue I’m particularly focused on? Or are there multiple organizations, perhaps with some overlap? Conversely, there may be a ‘growth’ area, for lack of a better term, where a non-profit is addressing a new or under-served issue warranting the attention of potential contributors. Charity is attempting to be the best kind of informed kindness, targeting an area of need.

One term that has recently come into play is ‘tractability’, or whether the issue has a short-term likelihood of being successfully resolved. Perhaps the focus is on a very specialized medical situation, and the goal is a possible cure or remedy. Or the charity is about preserving a special heritage home. If you want your good intentions to have an ‘end-date’ and the resolution that comes with it, then that will obviously factor into your choices.

Whatever your decisions, choosing to care and have empathy is always a wise choice. Let us help you make your generous gift go the furthest, whether it’s through a charitable annuity, Donor-advised Funds, or any number of other financial instruments. At Link Charity, we know how to make Your caring do the most good. Call us today.

Gifts of Securities & Year End Giving

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 16:44:15 GMT

Link Charity Is Here To Assist!

You can easily gift your appreciated stocks to charity. The very knowledgeable staff at Link Charity Canada will gladly assist you.

What does Gifting Securities mean?

Donating securities, such as publicly traded stocks or mutual funds, to charity is a tax saving alternative to making a cash donation.

If your wish is to donate your securities or mutual funds to charity, the assistance of Link Charity Canada will be invaluable. The kind gesture of donating your publicly traded securities or mutual funds will provide the means to make a substantial donation to your cherished charity or charities. By donating securities directly to a charity, the capital gain will be no longer taxable. You can donate any appreciated security or mutual fund and then direct them to as many charities of your choice, all in one transfer.

What are the advantages of Gifting Securities?

Significant tax savings on donated shares.
Excellent tax planning strategy when considering downsizing, retirement or at estate time.
You receive a tax receipt for the market value of the gift of securities.
If your donation exceeds that year’s eligible amount, the extra amount can be carried forward up to five years.
If you leave securities in your Will, your Estate will receive the tax benefits.
The satisfaction of seeing your gift being put to good use.

- All while eliminating the capital gains!

Keep in mind that publicly traded stocks, bonds and mutual funds are the types of gifts that qualify when gifting securities. When you sell a publicly traded security, you are subject to the income tax on the capital gain. By choosing to donate the investment today, or bequest it in your Will, you will reduce the real cost of your giving by the amount of capital gains tax that is saved. You can even decide to increase the amount of the gift to be received to the recipient for this reason.

Also remember that you have already paid for your securities, therefore your present cash flow won’t be affected. Let the knowledgeable staff at Link Charity Canada explain your options in a manner that you will understand. They work with both donors and charities and will provide you with the knowledge and tools to make the donation decisions that you will feel good about.

Circumstances change so be rest assured that you can update your planned gifts when you feel it’s necessary. You should really consider a Gift of Security to look after your charities. Link Charity will help you with this planning.

Let Link Charity Help You Help Others This Holiday Season – End Of The Year Giving!

Did you know that many charities receive the bulk of their donations at year-end? In fact, roughly one-third of annual donations from individuals come in during December alone.

The federal and provincial governments reduce the income tax you pay in proportion to the donations you make, through a tax credit, to encourage Canadians to support charities of their choosing. If you donate securities or mutual funds before December 31 ^st , 2021, you not only eliminate capital gains for the year, but you’ll also receive a tax receipt and rest assured knowing your favourite charities aren’t spending the 2022 scrambling for additional funds!

Traditionally, charities mailed paper tax receipts early in the year, just ahead of income tax time, others send electronic receipts when you make an online donation (make sure to check your spam or junk folder!) or issue a paper receipt on the spot for an in-person donation.

No matter how or where you want to give, Link Charity Canada has various Gifting Options and professional advisors to provide you with the right planning resources to assist you in reaching all of your charitable goals before December 31 ^st ! Contact us today.

Gift planning…Simplified!

LINK CHARITY 1-800-387-8146

RRSP or RRIF Donations - What You Need To Know...

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 19:44:13 GMT

When you’re making out your Will, consideration can be made to donate a portion of your investments to your favourite charity or charities....

A lot of us have RRSPs and RRIFs that can be used to benefit charities. While you are naming a person to leave your investments to, why not choose a charity or two? You can choose to leave a small amount to a charity close to your heart and the rest can be left to the people of your choosing.

You are probably are using your investments to fund your retirement, but if you name a charity or two and your loved ones as beneficiaries, you will have the knowledge that a portion of your hard work will go to a charity near and dear to you.

Did you know that your remaining RRSP/RRIF is one of the highest taxed portions of your estate?

What you may not know is that if you name a charity or charities as a beneficiary to your investments, a charitable tax return will be applied to your final tax return. The beneficiaries of your Estate will be grateful for your generosity.

Maclean’s Magazine stated that on average, Canadian’s die still having $100,000 remaining in their RRSP or RRIF.

You have probably supported a charity throughout your life but a gift of naming your favourites through a RRSP or RRIF donation after you have passed will give you peace mind that you will have continued to support them in the future. You can leave a much larger donation if you leave a small portion to your charity. Even a small portion of 5% can do a world of good.

The knowledgeable staff at Link Charity can help you set up the gifting so that you will have no worries that your Will be executed in the manner you wish. Your loved ones will be thankful that you have specified your donation wants ahead of time so that they can take the time to celebrate your life without thinking about how they should direct any of your investments.

Link Charity will provide easy and cost-effective solutions that will give all involved in your Estate peace of mind in knowing that all donation decisions have been made. A point you should keep in mind, is that you are using your investments now as they were meant to be used for your retirement but by name charitable beneficiaries you will know that your charities will benefit from your saving. Again, remember that a portion of your investments can be specified to be used for donations, if you’re worried about upsetting your loved ones. With proper planning, your beloved causes and your loved ones will benefit from your hard work.

Naming your charities is easy to do. The charity you name just has to have a Charity Registration Number, or you can name Link Charity Canada and they will follow your letter of direction. Link Charity will assist you in your decision and your ultimate wants. Tapping into the knowledge of Link Charity will help you in making sure your wishes are spelled out as you would like. They can answer your questions will accommodate your wishes with respect. They have made gift giving, simplified. Reach out at 1-800-387-8146.

What is a Bequest

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 14:34:24 GMT

Link Charity Is Here To Assist You With Charitable Bequests

When you’re drawing up your Will, no doubt the word bequest will come up. According to Miriam-Webster, the definition of bequest is the act of giving or leaving something by will.

A bequest can be simple like “I give my niece $1000.00 upon my death.” The bequest could also be a material object, such as leaving a car to a loved one or a bequest may be more complex with the gift to be given with conditions on how the bequest should be used. This should be discussed with your Estate Planner and clearly spelled out in your Last Will and Testament.

You may want to go the route of planned giving which is actually a charitable bequest. This act takes place when you decide that a part of your Estate is to be bequeathed (given, donated) to a charity of your choice. You will know that your favourite charities will benefit from your kindness. Let Link Charity Canada assist you with this important planning. Your charitable bequest may include a beloved university, college, hospital, high school or your church. Make your charitable bequest as specific as you like. Perhaps a family member or close friend has a charity that means something to them and you would like to honour that person with a planned gift through your estate planning. Let your donations speak for you and your continued support of the charities that have meaning to you. Your Executor will appreciate that you have planned your charitable giving.

Some people specify an amount of money that should be used towards charitable donations. Link Charity Canada can strategically allocate your donation as per your wishes. Let them help you for your peace of mind and channel your estate’s funds to the charities of your choice. Link Charity Canada will teach you about reducing Estate Tax through the use charitable donation bequests. All you have to do is decide the security you would like to gift as a charitable donation and your Estate will receive a tax receipt to be used against the tax on Capital Gains.

This is a win-win situation that your Executor and beneficiaries will thank you for. If you like, you can change the charities you have named in your planned gifts. Circumstances change so be rest assured that you can update your planned gifts when you feel it’s necessary. You should really consider a donor-advised fund to look after your charities. Link Charity will help you with this planning,

You have worked hard, so you should be sure that Estate will be your voice for the future. Link Charity’s advisors will help with your charitable donation bequests and make your life fondly remembered. Reach out to them, they will understand your needs and wants. They will use their estate planning knowledge to your benefit and will respect your wishes.

LINK CHARITY 1-800-387-8146

All About Donor Advised funds

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 18:15:52 GMT

If you’re thinking about your charitable donations, there’s no need to make your donation/s decisions right now. A Donor-advised fund (DAF) contribution will enable you to donate without being specific where your money will go at that moment. You can send the money to a specific charity or charities at a later date while having peace of mind that your funds have already been set aside and that you have already received a tax receipt. Your Donor-advised fund may continue to grow tax-free, and when you are ready disperse the funds how you wish. Let Link Charity Canada help you with this.

Donor-advised funds are gaining popularity due to their flexibility and the ease of processing the donation. Talk to an Advisor at Link Charity Canada or look at their website to find out what the minimum contribution amount is to start a Donor Advised Fund. Having a Donor-advised fund will make your life less stressful because you would only have one receipt to manage. Also keep in mind that you can fund your fund with cash or even appreciated securities for further tax savings, and note you can add to your account anytime.

Donor-advised funds have been around for several years. They have gained popularity recently because people have learned about their tax advantages and flexibility. Link Charity Canada will work on your behalf to handle your requested distribution, saving you time and effort. Make one donation to fund your DAF, then have them do the rest for you. Some donors have received gifts of money through an inheritance and feel that contributing to a Donor-advised fund is the perfect outlet to honour their loved one’s legacy.

Any charities you would like to consider, Link Charity Canada will manage the process and have your gifts sent according to your wishes, even anonymously.

Contributing to a Donor Advised Fund has its advantages:

· An efficient way to give

· Flexible giving options

· Tax-free growth

Let Link Charity Canada help you with contributing to a Donor-advised Fund. They can use their experience to your advantage. You can reach out to one of their Advisors at 1-800-387-8146.

Planning Your Gift

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 15:26:51 GMT

Bring more meaning to your life....

After your death, you can be assured that you are still giving and your memory will live on. Link Charity Canada is here to help your planning now. There are positive effects to giving. Donating will actually give you pleasure knowing that part of your Estate will be looked after. Even if the giving is a one-time occurrence and administered through your Estate. You help others in need monthly and annually and you can contribute to a charity close to your heart. You are bringing more meaning to your life.

There are a few methods of giving you should consider and they are:

RRSP/RRIF Gifts

You should consider what will happen to your retirement funds when you’ve passed away.
You can consider naming a charity or charities as the beneficiary of your RRSP/RRIF

Donor Advised Funds

Allows the donor to set up an account to direct funds to their favourite charities
You could make this a Legacy of sorts. Talk to Link Charity Canada to help you do this.

Charitable Loan Agreements

Putting money in a charitable loan has benefits for both you, and possibly your charities.
Link Charity will pay you a good rate of return, and both the interest and principal are guaranteed. Again, Link Charity Canada will help you.

Life Insurance

More and more large donations are coming in the form of life insurance policies.
You can name the Beneficiary and Owner of policy now. You can even name a charity or two as the Beneficiary for a portion or the whole policy.
There will be tax benefits when your estate is administered. The expert knowledge of Link Charity Canada will be of assistance and will answer any questions you may have.

Charitable Annuities

You place money into a charitable annuity which will be invested during your lifetime, then those funds are invested, and you will begin to receive a guaranteed life income for life.
When you invest, you will receive a charitable tax receipt for a portion of your gift. Link Charity Canada can help you set annuity purchase and answer any questions you may have.

Link Charity Canada have been helping people like you with these types of decisions since the mid 90’s. They have assisted many in navigating the process of planned donations, and will understand your needs. Reach out to them at 1-800-387-8146 or online at www.linkcharity. ca. Your loved ones will be grateful that your wants are looked after.

Message (Of Caring) In A Bottle

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 18:59:52 GMT

It’s always easier to think of why something won’t work out, rather than why it will. Assuming the negative is an effective safeguard against failure, and to be honest, not trying certainly requires less effort. But doing nothing guarantees a net benefit of Nothing.

Putting out a gesture, or a positive thought doesn’t come with an official ‘MESSAGE SENT!’ confirmation of Success at the end...but sometimes a gesture of caring does get through. And occasionally, with amazing timing.

Jennifer Dowker can attest to that. While cleaning her boat in Michigan’s Cheboygan River, Jennifer spotted what appeared to be a vintage green bottle bobbing nearby. And, Yes, there actually was a message inside:

"Will the person who finds this bottle return this paper to George Morrow Cheboygan, Michigan and tell where it was found?" The message was posted on Facebook, and soon enough was relayed to a woman named Michele Primeau, a non-Facebook user. Michele confirmed that the handwriting belonged to her father, who had passed away in 1995. Actually connecting Michele with a message sent adrift almost seventy years ago wasn’t even the most unexpected aspect of the story. The timing was: Michele received the note (and all the wonderful memories it evoked) on Father’s Day weekend.

In our lifetimes, has there been a better time to actually send out a positive, helping message? In December of 2020, roughly seventy per cent of charity donors who gave less that year, reported that the pandemic as their reason for doing so. There was even a noticeable decline in charities’ human capital, with a serious decline in the number of hours provided by volunteers. Likewise, 68% of charities reported a decrease in donations in the first nine months of COVID, while half of them say demand for their services is rising. Paradoxically, the healthiest response to limited resources may be to become more giving than ever.

Just a few years after George Morrow stowed a message in a bottle and launched it into the Cheboygan River, the Great Depression brought a similar challenge. With the stock-market crash, there was unprecedented need; due to the crisis, it also seemed like the absolute worst time to justify spending money on the assistance that was desperately required.

So people advocating for financial action started the suggestion to ‘Prime the Pump’ - which, originally was how to revive a pump which had stopped performing. Basically, the idea was (and is) to over-invest during a troubled period, knowing that any outlay of money (or energy) during a tenuous time would provide the necessary extra energy to power out of the crisis.

Will you know exactly who you are helping? Almost certainly, No. But, during a time when the ‘leg-up’ they needed was harder than ever to find, due to COVID, your message of caring got through.

While it (hopefully) looks like the COVID phenomenon is in its last stages, it will take some time for charity organizations to regain their footing...all the more reason to ‘prime the pump’ and become part of the recovery. Think of it as momentum. Now is when your support will have the absolute maximum effect.

There will always feel like there are reasons ‘not to bother’, but that involves not considering all the amazing possibilities that occur when you Do care. Put some kindness and a hopeful message out into the world. Just like George Morrow’s message in the bottle, it could arrive at precisely the right time.

Link Charity is here to help your generosity achieve the maximum benefit. Get in touch today.

The Love You Take = The Love You Make

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 14:18:58 GMT

It may not top Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, ‘E=Mc, etc.’, but noted mathematicians Lennon and McCartney did capture a universal truth with the musical equation they slipped onto the close of Abbey Road. Some fifty-plus years later, it still adds up. Any charity and goodwill that you put out into society actually does come back to benefit you. And medical science has the proof. Call it altruism, empathy or charity. But, as counterintuitive as it may seem, thinking about the goodwill of others has shown benefits to any number of people, in all walks of life….even some who could have used those kind thoughts themselves. A study involving dialysis and transplant patients who volunteered as support for other patients reported a greater feeling of well-being and personal growth. Another experiment followed multiple sclerosis patients offering similar support to their fellow patients, and made a similar discovery: notable improvements in mood, confidence and even day-to-day functioning in the test group. While this may at first blush seem to be a temporal ‘feel-good’ kind of scenario, the physiology behind it is revealing, and multi-levelled. The patients getting to exercise their ‘empathy’ or caring muscle, displayed a quantifiable boost of activity in the region of the brain that regulates pleasure and reward...so, Yes, Doctors Lennon and McCartney were absolutely correct. Doing good Does feel good, not only throughout the body’s entire nervous system, but also triggering a secondary period of calm following the initial pleasure associated with the acts of charity. One last example: another experiment split up volunteers into two groups - one that would take part in a workshop emphasizing the practice of empathy and kind thoughts involving other people, with the second group being told they were on the waiting list for the same workshop. The researchers then tested one specific factor in each of the two groups, something called the vagus nerve. This is an amazingly complex nerve, regulating not just how your heartbeat accelerates or slows in relation to breathing, but also how the heart protects itself from cardiovascular illness in general. (Meanwhile, the same nerve is also managing your glucose levels and other immune responses.) Oddly enough (or maybe not that odd at all), the vagus nerve is also a neural regulator in how we ‘connect’ with other people, through the nerves that help us process speech and eye contact. The majority of the group working on empathy and kindness registered a significantly higher score involving the vagus nerve ( also reporting higher levels of emotions like hope, amusement and joy when compared with the test-group still on the waiting list. The ultimate kicker is that the improved health scores (and vagal tone) only occurred in the participants who reported an uptick in their feelings of charity and caring for others. Maybe empathy should be marketed as a health supplement. Mortality rates are found to be superior among volunteer charity workers, compared to people whose profiles scored lower when it came to feeling personal empathy. In a way, a pandemic may be the perfect time to practice empathy, because it is such a crucial reminder that our own well-being is inextricably tied to the well-being of the rest of our community. The more conscious we are of that interconnectedness, ultimately it will be in our own best interest. Plus, every act of charity tells us that we do actually have some control over our world. We Can make things just that much better, which means we are not entirely powerless. The song possibilities are endless. ‘Give A Little Bit’? Whatever you choose from the playlist, do yourself a favour. And do some good for somebody else.

When Giving Lives On

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:19:28 GMT

WHEN GIVING LIVES ON;

Remembering a Kindness Two Centuries Before

How long can an act of charity last? In Midleton, Ireland, the answer is 170 years, and

counting.

In 1847, the Choctaw Nation heard about the number of Irish families starving during the

potato famine. The Choctaws were the first tribe to be relocated during the Trail of Tears, being

forcibly marched thousands of miles from Mississippi to Oklahoma. Having already lost

thousands of their own during that extended trek, the Choctaw people felt an empathy with those

starving in Ireland, and donated $170 towards their plight, an amount that would be equivalent to

$5000 today.

While there are no records of exactly what that $170 purchased in immediate relief, the long-

term ‘return on investment’ is undeniably stunning. In 2020, hundreds of Irish people

contributed to a charity fund for two Native American tribes that were especially hard hit by the

Covid-19 pandemic. At last report, hundreds of thousands of dollars had been donated from

Ireland, with many contributors citing the historic generosity of the Choctaw as motivation. (The

current fund-raising sent to the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Reservation will be targeted towards

securing clean water, food and health supplies.)

While the coronavirus has been a worldwide phenomenon, the Navajo Nation was one of the

worst hotspots in the United States. At the time of the donation, there had been more than 2,700

cases and 70 deaths. (A scarcity of running water, high cases of diseases such as diabetes, and

several multigenerational households all contributed to the virus spreading so quickly throughout

the community.)

One donor, an Apple administrator in Cork City explained his feelings succinctly. “I’d already

known what the Choctaw did in the famine, so short a time after they’d been through the Trail of

Tears. It always struck me for its kindness and generosity and I see that too in the Irish people. It

seemed the right time to try and pay it back’

The GoFundMe organizers response was swift and heartfelt. One post said simply, “Thank

you, IRELAND, for showing solidarity and being here for us.” Another cited just how

remarkable it was to have these “acts of kindness from indigenous ancestors passed being

reciprocated nearly 200 years later through blood memory and interconnectedness.”

The chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Gary Batton summed it up by saying that the

tribe was “gratified — and perhaps not at all surprised — to learn of the assistance our special

friends, the Irish, are giving to the Navajo and Hopi Nations...We have become kindred spirits

with the Irish in the years since the Irish potato famine,” he said.

As in so many cases, it was a single organic spark that ignited the wave of charity. A

communications director for the fundraiser believes that the nearly half a million dollars from

\Ireland began with a single post on Twitter describing the plight of the Choctaw Nation, and

their historical connection to Ireland.

In one way, it may not be surprising that the suffering of a disadvantaged people in Oklahoma

might resonate in Ireland: one million Irish people, mostly poor tenant farmers, died of hunger or

disease from 1845 to 1849, while another million or so emigrated. But the basis of charity is to

care even when you are not directly affected; the Choctaw were not the only community to care.

Donations reportedly came in from a prison ship in London, former slaves in the Caribbean and

prisoners in Sing Sing.

Does the spirit of generosity and caring actually give life to a future spirit of charity? The

communications director for the fundraiser answers with an emphatic Yes. “The Choctaw

ancestors planted that seed a long time ago, based off the same fundamental belief of helping

someone else.” Consider how your current act of kindness and caring could likewise inspire

somebody to do the same, nearly two hundred years in the future. We know for a fact that it can,

and has, happened.

Charitable Gift Annuities: Get Paid To Give

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 16:42:38 GMT

Would you like to receive an income stream for life just by giving?

A charitable gift annuity might be something to consider. At Link Charity Canada, you can place a sum of money into an annuity to be invested and managed through your lifetime, then benefit the charitable organization(s) of your choice upon your passing. In turn, you receive an income stream for life. This is such a creative way to give – what could be better?

Link Charity is one of the best financial charities in Canada when it comes to taking a charitable gift annuity because it allows you to give to all your favourite charities of your choosing.

Here’s How It Works

When you take out a charitable gift annuity:

• All or most of your gift annuity income is tax free.

• You will receive an immediate tax receipt of 20-25% of the capital amount. This can be carried over for up to five years.

• For extra tax benefits, you can use securities tax exempt equal to the receipt amount.

• Your extremely attractive payments rates will never change.

• Best of all, you will receive a guaranteed income for the rest of your life! You can receive these payments monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. You choose!

The Benefits Of Charitable Gift Annuities Are Many!

When Does A Charitable Gift Annuity Make Sense? Who Benefits?

A gift annuity is like a pension. When you donate a capital sum to Link Charity, Link Charity in turn guarantees you regular payments at an attractive rate for life. This planned giving tool isn’t for everyone, but it could be an ideal solution if;

• You are 65 or older.

• You want to make sure your charities are looked after upon your death.

• You are seeking a guaranteed income stream for life.

• You don’t want to watch interest rates, investments, maturity dates, and so on.

What Happens At Death?

At the end of life, when you no longer require payments, the remainder of the gift annuity capital becomes a gift for your favourite charities. The gift annuity is more efficient than a bequest because it is not part of your estate. There are no probate fees (or taxes), no executor fees, no legal fees, and no delays. All of this can save 8%-10% in estate settlement costs.

Types of Charitable Gift Annuities You Need to Know

• Immediate Charitable gift annuity : This is where your payment starts immediately. The payments can be made monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.

• Deferred gift annuity : You can receive payments at a later date, depending on the dates you choose. Allowing you to get one in motion before you are 65 years of age but wait to trigger it until later on.

That brings us to the three payment options for charitable gift annuities you might want to consider depending on your situation. They include:

• Single life : Paid to only one person for life

• Two lives in succession : Payment is made to one annuitant and then to a second annuitant if he or she outlives the initial annuitant.

• Joint and survivor : This is where two people (ie, husband & wife) take out a joint annuity and even if one passes away, the other will receive payments until they pass away.

The Bottom Line

If you are planning to leave a legacy gift to a charity you care about in your will, it would be a win-win for you and for your favourite charity to contact Link Charity today. Get a free no-obligation quote and find out if a charitable gift annuity could work for you.

Don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook , Linkedin and Twitter .

How To Give More To MORE Of Your Favourite Charities!

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 15:20:01 GMT

Helping charities couldn’t be simpler when you partner with Link Charity Canada. With a competitive fee structure and access to multiple discount brokerage accounts, Link Charity helps you give more to your favourite charities.

What does this mean?

Since 2006, Canadian donors have had opportunity to donate publicly traded securities such as shares or mutual funds directly to a charity. This cost-effective way to make a donation will reduce your income taxes by eliminating the capital gains tax and providing a donation receipt for the fair market value. You can use this receipt in the year of your gift or carry it forward for up to five years. Most charities do not have a brokerage account to receive your in-kind gifts of securities, which can often deter people from giving securities altogether. Link Charity is equipped to handle these gifts and will donate the proceeds to any charity of your choice within Canada. Donating in this manner has become the most tax efficient way to support your favourite charities.

By donating securities, donors pay no tax on the capital gains, receive a tax receipt for the fair market value of the securities, and reduce their taxes.

Why Choose Link Charity To Help You With Your Gift of Securities?

Simple. Our low flat fees compared to those who typically charge a percentage of donation amount make the choice clear. Easily donate to all your preferred charities in one uncomplicated transaction.

With Link Charity, your fees are as follows:

Brokerage Fee (not a Link charity charge): As low as $9.99*

Link Charity Disbursement Fee: $25.00 for the first cheque $10.00 for each additional.

With other facilitating charities, you will notice higher flat fees and percentages (estimated examples only):

Brokerage Fee: Varies

Donations less than $10,000: $250 flat fee or 3%

Donations of: $10,000-$49,999 2.5%

Donations of: $50,000-$99,000 2.25%

Donations of: $100,000 or greater 2%

How do you keep your donation costs down? That’s easy! You provide one lump sum and designate it to as many charities as you like; this way, you only pay the brokerage fee once, our disbursement fee of $25.00 for the first cheque, and just $10.00 for each additional cheque. That’s giving wisely.

Here are two examples to break it down:

Example 1: One named charity

Through Link Charity, John donates $10,000.00 of securities to one named charity.

Cost: $9.99* brokerage fee + $25.00 disbursement fee = $34.99.

The charity will receive $9,965.01!

Example 2: Multiple named charities

Through Link Charity, Sally donates $100,000.00 of securities to four different named charities.

Cost: $9.99* brokerage fee + $25.00 disbursement fee + $10.00 x 3 each additional cheque = $64.99

Each charity will receive $24,983.72!

The choice is clear, don’t you think? Link Charity puts you and your charities first by keeping more money in your pocket while getting more money in the hands of your charities to help them accomplish the valuable work they are doing. If you typically donate directly to your favourite charity, we encourage you to inquire next time you want to donate to find out what costs you can avoid by going through Link Charity. Experience the difference for yourself and pass on the benefits to the charities you support.

In our current fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, Link Charity has provided $16.5 million to over 700 charities in Canada. Our staff would love to help you give to your favourite charities in the most beneficial ways possible for the both of you! Call us today at 1-800-387-8146 to schedule your free, no obligation consultation. We are eager for you to experience the Link Charity difference!

Don’t forget to follow and like us on LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook . for up-to-date information on our charity members , industry news, positive stories of giving, how else we can help, and so much more.

*Brokerage fees may vary depending on the brokerage that is chosen. Please call us to find out where the best place to send your donated securities. Please note there is no brokerage charge for transferring mutual funds at anytime.

Link Charity's Commitment To Growth & A Better Online Experience In 2020!

Fri, 08 May 2020 14:33:23 GMT

Link Charity Canada’s Commitment To Growth & A Better Online Experience For Users In 2020!

It is with great pleasure and anticipation that we would like to announce Link Charity Canada’s brand-new website and social media channels – that are NOW live! The new website will be an important resource for anyone looking to donate with our unique Gifting Options, as well as provide valuable information for our valued members. It is current, relevant and designed to be attractive to both the individual and the charity. In short, our new website is so much easier to use (and look at)!

Some great benefits our donors and members are sure to appreciate include:

Better navigation and user experience for our clients and partners. This equates to faster load times and improved mobile and tablet experience.
Improved communication of our brand with a fresh design and streamlined layout to give our website visitors users what they want, when they are searching for it.
An advanced platform allows us to gather more analytics and intelligence, which in turn will help us make better decisions to serve our end users more effectively.
Incorporating more calls to action with our products in both the site’s design and content.
Advanced website content management system which allows us to update relevant content more frequently to our clients and partners.
Optimizing performance and integrating with other channels such as LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook .

Coupled with our commitment to better online exposure for Link Charity Canada Inc., we are now also available and active on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. We invite you to Like or Follow us on these channels to show your support and stay up-to-date with the latest in industry news and events, as well as great information on what our charities are up to.

We sincerely thank you for your continued support and are VERY excited about this new journey we are embarking on! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.