Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm Malcolm Burrows, and I'm head of philanthropic advisory services at Scotia Private Client Group, which is the arm of Scotiabank that deals with affluent clients. I'm a charitable planner. I'm also a charitable tax policy wonk, which I've been happy to

Finance committee  I think social finance impact investing represents a really important new trend and an opportunity for the sector. I personally believe it's going to take many years to develop. There have always been elements within society. For example, co-ops are a form of social finance. They

Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  No, I'll let it go. It's all right.

Finance committee  That's correct, yes.

Finance committee  I have worked extensively with private foundations. First, the 3.5% is a minimum. Many spend much more. The endowment system is for long-term benefit. To give you an example, we had a foundation that was set up in 1950 with $13 million. It's now $110 million. It has given out o

Finance committee  I think in a number of crucial measures we have a more generous regime, contribution limits being one. Their contribution limits are a maximum of gifts equal to up to 20% of their annual income, and up to 50%, depending on which charity it goes to. We have up to 100%. So that's s

Finance committee  I think many parts of the sector struggle with severe resource constraints. But the philanthropic spirit is actually very large and strong in Canada. We're one of the leaders in the world in that as well. We compare ourselves to big brother America, but they set a very high stand

Finance committee  I think that has changed significantly over the last 15 to 20 years. Professional fundraising groups that appear before this committee did not exist 20 years ago, for example. There's a whole culture and professionalism to ensure that support is there for the charitable sector.

Finance committee  No. According to the long-term trend for Canadian giving over a 15-year period, giving has actually gone up by 120% from 1995 to 2010.

Finance committee  It's individual giving. Individual giving is four times corporate giving in the system. So we focus on corporations, but the individuals are the lifeblood of the charitable sector in donations.

Finance committee  I think in most cases the system captures direct corporate transfers, as opposed to community fundraising that goes out in the name of the corporation.

Finance committee  I don't believe so. It would be captured in the individual tax numbers if those taxpayers were reporting their donations.

Finance committee  I absolutely agree that getting the balance right.... There is a danger of overemphasizing the tax benefits. I think our system, for the most part, is appropriate. The question is, how much do we enrich it and at what cost to the government? Will it actually turn into greater ben

Finance committee  Very much so. These were proposals I was involved with. We need safeguards. There are existing safeguards in the system that date from 1997, which say that when there is a donation of essentially private company shares and the donor is not at arm's length from the charity, there