This section is by PBY Capital

This month on Canadian Family Offices: The changing face of philanthropy in Canada

In February, our first special report of 2025 will take a closer look at evolving trends in charitable giving

Astute readers may have noticed a recent addition to the top navigation bar on the Canadian Family Offices website: Special Reports. This is, of course, no accident, but rather the product of our (by-no-means-innovative) editorial notion that readers might from time to time appreciate it if we bundled together stories on topics of particular interest and presented them as a package. 

Story continues below

You can already find all our Outlook 2025 articles, which ran in December 2024, in the newly established Special Reports section. In February, those will be joined by our first special report of 2025, which takes a look at the changing face of philanthropy in Canada.

How is philanthropy changing? One reality is that as fewer and fewer Canadians are giving to charitable organizations every year, an increasing share of donations is accounted for by wealthy—and older—donors. Will the next generation step up to the philanthropic plate? And if so, how might their priorities differ? That is one area we’ll examine in our special report.

Another will be on the shifting gender dynamics of philanthropy. As women gradually assume a bigger share of wealth—they are pursuing more lucrative careers, and they tend to outlive their husbands—charitable organizations stand to benefit for one simple reason: women are more likely to give than men are. But they also give differently, and that could have profound effects going forward.

Philanthropy is also responding to drearier—or perhaps the dreariest of—forces: tax policy. How are donors and charitable organizations adapting to the changes to the alternative minimum tax that came into effect last year, and to potential changes in (and plenty of confusion over) the capital gains tax inclusion rate? We will look at that, too.

As well, our special report will feature a list of the largest family-based charitable foundations in Canada; profiles of notable Canadian philanthropists; and an engaging video interview with Bruce MacDonald, CEO of Imagine Canada, about trends he sees in the space. We are also planning an online panel discussion that will invite experts to share their insights into the evolving world of philanthropy.

Finally, we have launched an online survey of family offices and donors that we hope will develop a clearer picture of how, why and where they are giving. We encourage participation, of course. You can take the survey here.

Story continues below

The February philanthropy special report is the first in a series of similar initiatives we have planned to launch throughout the year, covering topics ranging from alternative investments and real estate to intergenerational dynamics in family offices.

As we roll out these new editorial reports, feedback from our readers will be both accepted and appreciated. Let us know how we are doing, what you think of our coverage, and if there are areas of interest that we should be covering but aren’t.

You can reach the Canadian Family Offices newsroom, suitably enough, at newsroom@canadianfamilyoffices.com.

The Canadian Family Offices newsletter comes out on Sundays and Wednesdays. If you are interested in stories about Canadian enterprising families, family offices and the professionals who work with them, but like your content aggregated, you can sign up for our free newsletter here.

Please visit here to see information about our standards of journalistic excellence.