Malcolm Burrows

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Malcolm is a philanthropic advisor with over 30 years of experience. He is head, philanthropic advisory services at Scotia Wealth Management and founder of Aqueduct Foundation. Views are his own. malcolm.burrows@scotiawealth.com

Charity Governance and Estate Donations

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[caption id="attachment_20630" align="aligncenter" width="333"] Richard Serra, Band, 2006[/caption] The headline is not intended to scare you off.  Admittedly, governance is a notoriously dull topic, made worse by the enthusiasm of governance wonks.  Charity governance is rarely a matter considered, at least overtly, by an estate donor when planning a gift by will. But strong governance is essential to good charities. Governance helps determine the current and future health of a charity.  Will….

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Estate Donations, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

Nuns and Money with Purpose

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[caption id="attachment_20570" align="aligncenter" width="421"] Booth Residence, Cornerstone Housing for Women, Ottawa[/caption] It’s the holidays.  A time for giving, family, and tradition.  The holiday mood inspired me to think about “money with purpose” that passes from one generation to the next – a bit like holiday traditions. Seeing my mother last weekend triggered these thoughts.  She reminded me of a story of how she led a campaign in Ottawa over a decade ago to….

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Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

Scholarships and Other Educational Awards

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[caption id="attachment_20501" align="aligncenter" width="413"] CHRIS MEYER/INDIANA UNIVERSITY — Wikipedia[/caption] Student awards are one of the most popular charitable purposes, especially in estates.  Donors often strongly identify with the life changing benefit of direct educational funding to students.  Named scholarship funds are often named and constitute part of the donor’s legacy. Educational awards are such a popular purpose that there are numerous providers.  Of course, there are schools, colleges and universities….

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Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

Testamentary Charitable Trusts

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[caption id="attachment_20431" align="aligncenter" width="517"] Morris Minor 1000, 1963  (Source: Wikipedia commons)[/caption] From the 19th century to about 1990, the testamentary charitable trust was an important estate planning structure.  These trusts are part of the will and are funded after death from estate assets.  At one time, testamentary trusts were the primary way for an individual to support one or more charities or charitable purposes after death.  But they have been….

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Estate Donations, Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Uncategorized

Family Foundations & the Promise of Harmony

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One of the most common philanthropic clichés is that family foundations produce family harmony.  I was recently at a forum of advisors to ultra high net worth clients.  In a moment of candour, someone asked “has anyone used family foundations to promote family harmony, and has it ever worked?”  The answers from the room were uniformly, “yes” and “no”.  Despite the myth of philanthropy as a domestic panacea, the reality….

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Estate Planning, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving

AMT and Donations

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Changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) rates and rules are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024.  For the first time AMT will apply to charitable donations from high-income individuals, which is worrying for charities and donors. Simply, targeting donations is poor tax policy that will produce unintended community harm. There is now a wealth of information on these changes from the charitable and planning community. I have….

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Philanthropy/Charitable Giving
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