More Money Podcast - 369 Making a Difference with Your Dollars - Shannon Craig, CMO at CanadaHelps

Episode Date: May 24, 2023

One topic I don’t talk enough about on this podcast is giving back, specifically by donating to charities and making room for those donations in our budgets. That’s why I’m so happy to have Shannon Craig, Chief Marketing Officer at CanadaHelps, on the show today to talk about how easy, fun, and fulfilling giving back to our communities can actually be. Shannon is a seasoned marketer with nearly 25 years of experience. In her current role as Chief Marketing Officer at CanadaHelps, she recently lead the launch of UniteforChange.com, a site targeted towards younger Canadians where they can donate to Cause Funds, a new and innovative way to give where a single donation supports a group of registered charities working towards the same cause. In this episode, Shannon shares what obstacles Canadian charities are currently facing post-pandemic and how we as individuals can help going forward. Shannon also shares how Unite for Change is changing the way we donate and the many benefits donating to Canadian charities offers to improve our environment and society now and into the future. For full episode show notes visit: https://jessicamoorhouse.com/369 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, and welcome back to the More Money Podcast. This is episode 369 of the show. And I, of course, am your host, Jessica Morehouse. Welcome back to the podcast. Today, we're going to be talking about a very important topic that doesn't get as much attention as it should when we're talking about money management and personal finance, which is really how can we use money not just as a way to make sure that we're okay, but others are okay. How can we use money as a force for good. And to discuss this really important topic, I've got Shannon Craig on the show. She's the Chief Marketing Officer at Canada Helps, which is an organization that's been around for 22 years now. And basically is a great place to go to find more information about different charities,

how you can get involved, and, you know, fundraise or donate funds. And they also make it really easy for you to connect with those charities to do so. Now a little bit more about Shannon and her role. So she is a seasoned marketer with nearly 25 plus years of experience and brings experience from, you know, working at leading brands and technology innovators, including Eastside Eyewear, Kobo, Wind Mobile, FedEx, and Lego. And she's the chief marketing officer at Canada Helps. And she's been there for seven years now. And she continues to be an innovative thinker when it comes to the charitable sector. And most recently, she led the launch of Unite4Change.com, which is a website targeted towards younger Canadians where they can donate to cause funds, which is a new and

innovative way to give where a single donation supports a group of registered charities working towards the same cause. So we're going to dive in and discuss all the things that you probably are wondering about how you can be more involved, a more active participant, because as we'll share, the stats are showing that less people are donating. There are less donations likely because of the effects of COVID and what we're dealing with the high cost of living and things like that. But these charities, you know, really do need help. And so hopefully this will inspire you just to, you know, get a little bit more involved and engaged. So with that, let's get to that interview with Shannon.

Welcome, Shannon, to the More Money Podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. You're so welcome. You're so welcome. I'm excited. I don't have, you know, this is bad, but I really should have more episodes that talk about, you know, this other really important element of personal finance, which is giving back, which is being charitable, which is, you know, using your dollars to, you know, improve the world, whether it's, you know, by a small means or a big means, because often we really just focus on what money can do for us. But it's important to talk about what can money do for others in the greater community. So thank

you so much for coming on this show. To give people just a little background about yourself on what you do with Canada Helps, do you want to kind of share a little bit about what your role is and then also what Canada Helps does as well? Great, absolutely. So I'm the Chief Marketing Officer at Canada Helps and through my role here, it's just a privilege to absolutely, our role at Canada Helps is really to inspire Canadians to be generous and to engage in all things charitable and we do that by offering a one-stop shop where Canadians can donate or fundraise for any charity in Canada but we also do a lot of work which is to support charities through digital technology ensuring they have the tools they need to succeed.

And so really what we do is we work with small to medium-sized charities primarily, the ones that really count on us to ensure that they can succeed in today's digital world. And so, yeah, I feel like when we think about charities, often what we do think about is those big charities. And it's so interesting because I feel like over the think about charities, often what we do think about is those big charities. And it's so interesting because I feel like over the years, every single year, I try to make a lump sum donation. And I like to do my research to make sure it's going to have the biggest impact. And sometimes when you look at those big charities and you see where that money goes, it's going to like high salaries and all these other things besides the actual cause. And that's why I do in particular like and prefer to work with, you know, small to medium sized charities where there's just, you know, there's less staff and you can kind of see more specifically, there's more transparency. So I wanted to kind of first, I mean, we have so much to talk about. But first,

one thing I definitely want to talk about, I know there's a report that kind of helps put out, but I also feel like I read an article recently through the Globe and Mail, and it really hit home for me because this affected me too, was that young people, millennials, Gen Z have been donating less over the past few years, really because of COVID. And now we're in this time of high interest rates and just high costs of living. Our priorities may have shifted. And this is something that I realized I've been really good and consistent for like the past decade of making it. And it's something that I enjoy, look forward to every year to make a lump sum donation to a charity that I want to support. And last year in 2022, I didn't. And it's not that I was, I honestly kind of forgot because honestly,

I was so focused on, oh gosh, our mortgage and all these other things. And we just moved. And I feel like that's probably pretty common with a lot of other Canadians that they either kind of forgot or just, you know, there's so many other things that they needed to focus on and prioritize. Do you want to kind of share some of the, you know, information that you were able to gather in your report to kind of expand on this? Oh, I would love to. So this was our sixth annual giving report, and it is by far the hardest hitting report we've ever done. What we see is that, you know, Canada's charities are really struggling. It is a tough time. So what we see is that we did a panel in late October. And at that time,

we found that two in 10 Canadians are turning to charities to meet their basic needs. That's everything from food, clothing, shelter. That's an enormous increase that we're seeing. And it's really coming through to charities. So this year's Giving Report included a survey of almost 3,000 Canadian charity professionals representing charities large and small from coast to coast. And really what we're seeing is that demand spiked with the pandemic. But for 40% of Canada's charities, it never went back to pre-pandemic levels. A new normal or increasing level has hit. And the rising cost of living is just increasing that to the point that today, 57% of Canada's charities

are unable to meet current level of demand. Wow. So that means that they have to turn people away and just say, sorry, we can't support you because we just don't have the resources. I'm curious, what are some of those elements that are really hitting those charities? Is it, you know, the rise in cost of food? Because I know a lot of charities have that in line with what they support. And yeah, I mean, I was just at the grocery store the other day, looking, you know, looking at cans of soup and, you know, one can of just regular Campbell's chicken soup was like $3.50. And I'm like, I swear it used to be like a dollar, like a few years ago. And if I'm recognizing this, and that's, you know, canned goods are such a, you know, big thing with those charities,

because they're easy to transport, and they have a, you know, long shelf life. I can't imagine how many people this is affecting. Yeah, and it's everything. So food costs are enormous. And that's really why 22% of Canadians are really at risk of turning to charity right now. We're actually continuing to track this. We think it's really important to keep a pulse just on what's going on. So we'll be back with more information throughout the year. But it's everything for charities. They're like any other organization. So, you know, we talk about staff and oftentimes it's hard to think, oh, I don't want to, I don't want my donation. I want it to go right to the individuals or community in need. But, you know, we are, charities are solving the most important issues that society

faces and we really need skill and we need capacity. And I think really what we're seeing is that charities are really at that point where you can't get leaner. So two of the things that we found in this year's report is that inflation is affecting all of the costs that charities incur. So we know that if you donate food, it's a wonderful, generous way to give. But we know that so many charities, between three to five times lift if you donate food, it's a wonderful, generous way to give. But we know that so many charities, between three to five times lift if you actually donate funds and they're able to purchase

through their buying power. And they're also facing increases on the cost of that food, their salaries in order to retain. Because individuals, if they're not able to meet needs, they're going to be looking around for new employment. We've, we've also found, so, so when we look at charities, their second highest concern out of 24 challenges that we probed on, their second highest was staff burnout. Yeah. And they're also very high was volunteerism. So what we found is that 55% of charities that had volunteer programs before the pandemic, they do not have the same level of active volunteers they had prior, before the pandemic started. So, you know, one of the things is that you can't give, can you volunteer?

Yeah. I wonder if, I mean, I, I, I'm assuming this is probably true. Why, you know, a lot of volunteerism had to cease because we couldn't meet in person. And I feel like, cause now we're in this weird new normal, but we haven't gone back to everything that we used to do. It's, it's true. I knew a lot of people that would volunteer physically and then they weren't able to do that. And then they moved on to something else and then they don't have the capacity to do that anymore. Or they'd have to end whatever they started and do that again. But like you said, I think that's so important. And for a lot of people who want to be able to give back, I mean, sometimes giving your time can be more valuable than giving, you know, money, if that's, you know, something that you can do, because time is very, you know, not everyone's busy. Everyone has no time. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, but it is, yeah, it is, it is really key to how so many charities operate. And so I think this

is this year's giving report is a real call. If you're able, there's many ways to give. And if you're able, that was one of absolutely one of the calls on the Canadian side that we suggested. Another one that we really suggest, you know, earlier you said you almost forgot this year because so much was going on in the headlines and so forth. We really recommend, you know, we live in a subscription generation and we pay for our entertainment each month through our credit card, our mobile phones, even our food. We're increasingly getting delivered to our homes and so forth. And so it's so easy to set up a monthly gift to the charity that you care about. And it's really a fantastic way. Your gift actually can go farther because

the charity can get to know and predict the kind of revenue they'll be able to see and then more cost effectively spend it. And so highly recommend, you know, really getting on a monthly gift. Yeah. No, that's definitely something I've actually been considering because for me, it became kind of like a little kind of tradition that I do like, you know, kind of at the end of the year, decided on charity. It was a really kind of a fun thing because also being self-employed, I never knew how much I was going to earn until the end of the year. Then I can kind of determine, okay, this is how much I can afford to give. But like you said, I mean, I've got a lot of subscriptions and I'm always making those payments. Why can't I do an equivalent payment or a little bit more to a charity that – and that's what I've heard a lot from talking to different charities is they can depend on that money more. They can, you know, create a lot more, you know, just certainty within, you know, what they think they can bring in if you can donate on a monthly

basis. And very well, too, if there's a point in your life where you're like, I can no longer afford this, it's very easy to hit pause on that or to cancel it until you, you know, get into a place where it is more affordable. You mentioned earlier, though, that the report was able to distinguish a lot of different challenges. Now, we kind of touched on a few. What are some other big challenges that, you know, people like us should be aware of? mentioned about smaller organizations. So the trends that we're finding are really across the board affecting all charities. But one of the things I'll just highlight is we do see that it's harder on smaller charities to respond. So charities with less than $500,000 in revenue, we wanted to go beyond the Canada Helps online data and really delve in. So we use the charity tax return data to do this analysis that I'll just speak to.

So it's a little bit older because there is a lag in getting those filing information. But it's the most current data that we have. And what we see is that, you know, when it comes to bottom line revenue, less expenses for charities, small charities, they saw a decline in 2020 of 8%. Whereas larger charities, the larger they were, the lower the decline, but even still there, they saw a 4% decline. That just means it's really showing like there's just a certain point where you can't decrease, right? And it's really hard. And like as a charity, we really don't save money. It's a very different way of doing it. For me, coming from the for-profit world initially, this was, it's really different. You're really meant to put dollars received to hard work where they're meant to go. And so, you know, we can't have that type of declines. Charities don't have the backing to sustain that. I'm curious too, especially when we think about the different

charities that are out there, is part of the reason a lot of these smaller charities are struggling is because, I mean, it just comes down to marketing and awareness. And a lot of people just aren't aware of some of these smaller charities. Like for me, again, I always like to do that research, look on lots of websites and see what's out there. But again, unless I do that research, I will never see an advertisement, you know, because some of these big charities have a lot of dollars that they spend on like subway ads or, you know, people, you know, that are collecting donations at the mall and things like that. Do you think that's a kind of a big problem as well? Absolutely.

It does. You know, like many of us, like it's 58% of chair users are actually fully volunteer run. So, you know, and, and, uh, we work with so many small charities, um, but like many of them, they may have a fundraiser, but more likely than not, it's somebody that's, you know, is a hand raiser that's come and just care so much. They're very, very mission based and they're hand raising. We need to do this. We need to bring this in because this work has to happen. And so, you know, it is a little bit different situation that happens there.

I would say that, you know, it is fun. If you can make the time, it's actually really fun to get to know this actor. Like I consider it amongst my greatest privilege that I get to do this daily. But you know, if at CanadaHealth.org, we have all of the charities listed, you can go in there, even just reading, we categorize charities into 10 different categories. And just thinking about the scope, international world work, right through to charities, helping animals, the environment, seniors. And so we have 10 key categories and just reading the descriptions on those categories really informs just the critical work that the sector is doing. And then you can go deeper into the subcategories, filter by your

local area, because what's really amazing is a lot of times people will say, oh my goodness, I hadn't actually known, but there's like three organizations right in my community. And all of a sudden it's really an invitation for you to get involved. And I tell you, it really gives back. I'm curious too, with some of the research you've done getting all that data, are there certain categories of charities that have been more impacted than others? Like, I feel like for me, especially when we've been in this time of, oh gosh, you know, us humans are having a really hard time. Maybe we're shifting our focus more to, you know, making those donations to, you know, shelters and things like that instead of

maybe animals with their environment. Is that kind of what you've seen or? It is. Environment is always under, you know, we say it's the most important concern. It's one of the least funded categories. I don't have my math right here with me, but it's definitely, I think, under 4% of donations going to the environment. Here we are at a time when that's where we're talking about. So just that would be one. I would suggest that international is a group

that this past year, the international category raised 9% of total donations raised through Canada Helps. And if we look at those dollars, 90% went to individuals really wanting to help the humanitarian relief efforts around the Ukraine war. So a tremendous outpouring. The one thing I'd suggest though is, you know, 100% we need to be there. So, but that said, those donations went to 0.15% of Canada's charities, and that's a huge percentage of the donations. And so, you know, you can just see, that's why we're seeing in the report, 31% of charities saying that they've seen a decline in donations. And so, you know, it's not even, it's never even across the board. And then I think in other scenarios you have, you know, those, like the services you were mentioning, shelters,

and the ones that we're thinking are so top of mind, especially like the services you were mentioning, shelters and the ones that we're thinking are so top of mind, especially during the pandemic, food banks and so forth. You see that their funds aren't so much down, but the demand, it's they're just funds are not keeping pace with the level of demand. So that that's really where we're at there. I would like to say that one quick thing, if I know I'm going along, but, but, but, you know, overall, what we're seeing is that like, it's just slowing growth. So like our population grows, things like this happen. And the real trend that we're seeing is that the larger gifts are coming from a smaller aging population. And so really coming back to your earlier comments about really engaging younger donors,

starting with Gen X, to be frank. Right, okay. Yeah, it goes right down from there, but it really is quite critical to increase the giving participation rates for those that are able. Yeah, and I feel like, I mean, this is just my personal take, but I feel like, I mean, this is just my

personal take, but I feel like especially when I see people talking about money just in general on social media, online, a lot of it is, it just goes back to the individual. How can this help you and you reach your goals, which there's nothing wrong with that, but there really isn't that much attention on, like, I don't see any big influencers talking about charitable donations and, I'm like, what a great platform. You have so many followers, you should be talking about this more. So I'm curious, what do you think would help get more younger people, you know, involved? I mean, I think part of it can be like, for me, it was always integrated into my family. It was something that, you know, we did consistently. So it just was kind of a natural thing that I would pick up. But again, I still also have to make sure, you know, I'm on top of it, which I clearly wasn't last year. So it's something that you have to kind of actively be a part of. But yeah, what do you think are some ways that we can encourage more people to replace some of the people that have stopped or, you know, we can't just leave it all up to the boomers to donate because they're not always be around. We have to take on, you know, take that baton from

them. Absolutely. So I think one of the things that I'm super excited about is one of the initiatives that Canada Helps is launched. We've actually launched a new brand. It's called Unite for Change. And what we do is we do giving a little bit different on the site. So the site is around cause funds. So what we've done is we've said, OK, you know, when you start financial giving, do you start by going on the stock market? Is that a typical path or do you start with a mutual fund or an EFT? Probably the latter. And so we kind of took that same philosophy to giving so you care about you know addressing poverty you care about um you know stopping racism or fighting violence whatever your cause may be you start with the cause not the organization so what we've done

is we curated a number of different charities that are collectively doing work to address the cause into one fund. You can make one simple donation. You can come learn about the cause, lots of stats, facts, and so forth. And then you can make one simple donation that supports the collective work of the charities doing work to address that cause. really simplifies giving and makes it different. And also what this allows us to do is to really say we want to innovate. We think that there's a shift in how younger Canadians want to engage charitably. We see like, I just love to say we see so many socially minded young Canadians standing up every day some of the most phenomenal change makers are very young individuals um I think I think I've seen it um that there's more young people like under the age of 18 than any other

generation coming out of Zed that are making change today. So that's so exciting. So we know, and we know it's across the generations. And so it's, but we think what's changed is the way we need to engage. And so one of the things on Unite for Change, yes, we've got cause funds you can come donate to, but that's not necessarily our starting point. What we're starting to do is launch activations where you can come learn, take a quiz, share it with your friends. You know, there's a number of different kind of soft actions like that. So to really get engaged and use your voice to help spread. And then when you're ready, make that donation. We think we have to figure it out. And because of our role at Canada Helps, we're here to inspire generosity. What we'll be doing is sharing our learnings so

that charities across the board can leverage our learnings and integrate it into their own programs. Because one of the things that really concerned us in the Giving Report is that just 22% of Canadians actually have programs designed to engage younger Canadians. And we do see a number of charities, I can't remember the exact number, but a number of charities talked about they actually lost ground with younger Canadians since the pandemic. And so we also need younger Canadians to start going back to volunteering. That's stats across the generations. But we think we need to figure out how to better engage younger Canadians. And so that's what our work is, is designed to do with Unite for Change. That's amazing. I feel like, yeah, we need to, I think part of it is, yeah, we need to

shift kind of how our mindset is and integrate this as just part of our kind of, you know, normal money management, manage your own money, and then also think about kind of more external. For me, too, especially coming out of this pandemic where we were so isolated. Yes, we were connected digitally, but it's just not the same as being in a room with people. This is a great way to kind of reenter society and, you know, feel like you're more part of your community if you feel really disconnected. Is to, you know, volunteer or participate in some way. And I've been doing some reading and researching, and there's some great, you know, podcasts dedicated to this topic of just how giving back, whether that's with your time or money, can really influence your own personal

happiness. And it's actually the like using your money for positive change or to help someone where it does not really, you know, have anything to do with you, you were just giving out of your your own kind of heart has the biggest positive impact when you use money as opposed to spending money on yourself on a thing that you maybe wanted for a long time, then you buy it and that happiness dissipates really quickly. If you give back that happiness, it lingers for a lot longer, right? It does. It's the generosity loop. It certainly comes right around. And, you know, one of the things we noticed, so like as we have a lot of data, given that, you know, we have almost a million Canadians donating through the platform this past year.

And really, what I'd like to say is I think the first gift is the hardest. And that it only just gets easier because you realize it isn't as hard for many of us. I am not, I want to say it's not across the board. And then I think once you get addicted, it's, it is, it actually is, it feels so good. The more you give, the more you realize you have to give. And I feel that, especially in Canada, we have such generous tax incentives. So I think strategically about that, I think, okay, I'm actually giving this. And so I can give this much more. And, you know, I'm actually giving this and so I can give this much more. And, you know, I think it's quite interesting. So like those like it forgives over $200.

It's up to 49% back in a tax credit. It's dramatic how much comes back. And if you make a gift of securities for those that have securities that have grown in value, it's even more because you actually can give, if you donate the securities directly through Canada Helps, you can do it. You can actually just simply donate the full security. You can choose to have it spread between one or many charities. But anything that is capital gains from when you bought the security to when you sold it is not taxed. So you get a larger tax receipt, the charity gets a larger gift, more work is done to help. Absolutely. And just

like another thought to kind of on a totally different tangent, but just thinking about like estate planning, I think often people think about leaving, you know, funds and gifts to their family and independence and things like that, which is great. But this is also something that I feel like should be more normalized is also setting aside some of your estate for a charity. And again, there's lots of great tax incentives for you to do that to make a really big impact. So you know, if you don't understand how that all works, again, you know, a professional can definitely rock you through that. But it's, you know, something that I think most people may not be aware of or think about. Absolutely. I know I remember seeing this one study out of the UK and it was several years back, but it was just the, when asked at the time you're making your will, if you're asked,

would you like to make a charitable gift? The number of people that made a bequest in their will went from like five to 17% just by being asked at that moment. Because at the time you're making your will, you really are thinking of your loved ones and also just getting the paperwork done. But it's probably the easiest time in life that we can give, right? No, I completely agree. So yeah, this is just a really reiterate, especially during this really important time in our world, how we do need to shift. And I know things are expensive, but even I look back to when I was in my early 20s, earning very little, working two jobs, I was still able to either volunteer my time or to make very small donations. But even if you can

just like give 50 bucks, I'm telling you, just like you said, sometimes it's the first gift that does seem like the hardest, especially if it's not, you know, muscle memory, it's not a habit that you've ever had. It seems like difficult because you're kind of giving away your money and not getting anything tangible in return. But I promise you, you make that donation, you feel so good. And I'll make you want to do again, and then, you know, explore other options on how can I, you know, impact other people, because you may not realize any, if you take a real, you know, time to think about it, you may not realize how you are impacted by either other people giving their time or, you know, any, you just never know. And so why not try to kind of put a

little more goodness into this world of chaos sometimes, where sometimes it just feels so dark and hard. This is one way to make that shift and to focus on the light and the goodness that really does exist in the world. So before I let you go, is there anything else that you want listeners to know about, you know, really stepping up, being more proactive and engaged when it comes to giving back? There's, well, I think that there's some simple ways also, like, especially when you think about when, if you're new to giving, just come learn. It's fun. It's actually really interesting and engaging and fun. You know, I think there's, there's so many resources to have.

And there's small ways that you can give. So, you know, it's really easy. You can create a fundraiser and Canada Helps. And if you're having your birthday party, invite people to, rather than wine or what have you, you know, make a donation. And that could be really fun. I've seen so many clever ones, 29 bucks for 29 years, that kind of idea. It's really fun and easy. Another one is like charity gift cards. So it's really easy to purchase a Canada House charity gift card and whatever value you want, you choose the creative,

it gets delivered to the recipient and then they get to choose what charity benefits from it. So you as the individual who purchases the gift card, you get the charitable tax receipt, your friend or loved one receives the donation. And it's just such an easy way because so often I think, when I look back at my personal finances, I'm amazed at how much is giving gifts

to friends and loved ones. And it's a really simple one. And then my favorite thing that I do that I think is the easiest thing I do every giving Tuesday, it's like a day I celebrate. I think it's, it's so for, for any listeners that don't know, it's the Tuesday right after Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a day for giving back and in whatever way you can. And I think a fabulous way, I may be biased since it's the way I choose to celebrate, is I give, each year I choose

a few different people in my life and provide them with charity gift cards. Oh, I love that. And so that they can share the day. They can get a Giving Tuesday charity gift card and they can spread the love as well. Absolutely. And one thing that just popped in my mind

because I remember looking at this recently, a lot of rewards programs that you might be a part of, you can actually donate those points and rewards to a charity. So if you feel like I just, I can't afford to, look at some of those programs. If you have rewards just sitting there and you have no plans for it, that might be one opportunity to also give back. That's an awesome idea. Donate a car is another one. Sometimes you have an old vehicle there. You can donate a car, get a tax receipt. If you're renovating your kitchen, Habitat for Humanity will come pick it up and reuse it if it's able to. There are so many great programs like that.

And honestly, the more of these steps you take, the more contagious it is. Yeah. Well, yeah, just like the other week, I was going through my wardrobe. There was a bunch of kind of more formal office wear that I really use more of my kind of prior corporate life. I'm like, these are great dresses. There's nothing wrong with them. I'm never going to wear these again because it's just not my vibe anymore. And I'm like, what is a charity that I can make sure that this goes to someone who would really need it? And there was an address for success. And I'm like, great, I can donate this. I know where it's going. I know it's going to be used and made me feel amazing. And so you really, I guess the point is there's so many options out there. So definitely

check out Canada helps. Is there any specific resources on the website? I know you've mentioned a few, but where can people find more information so they can get started after listening to this episode? Oh, well, CanadaHelps.org. It's pretty easy to navigate. You can search for the charities. There's tons of blogs, just blogs about how to choose a charity to give to. You'll find it all there. You'll also see at the top of the site right now,

there's a link to the giving report if you're interested in going deeper on some of the data we discussed. There's so much. And our team's always here. So you can always reach out to Canada Outs. We have an amazing team that loves to engage with Canadians and charities. Amazing. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Shannon, for coming on the show and educating all of us more on how we can be more proactive and engaged when it comes to charitable giving. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure having you on the show. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And that was Episode 369 with Shannon Craig from Canada Helps.

Make sure to check out, I mean, I'm going to include all these links in the show notes for this episode, but go to CanadaHelps.org or UniteForChange.com. You can also follow them on Twitter at CanadaHelps or at UniteForChange underscore. And you can also find them on Instagram as well. I will include all of these links so you can easily find them in the show notes for this episode. Just go to JessicaMorehouse.com slash 369. And if you wanted to do, you know know a little action item after this episode you know take a look at the website or whatever resources that you want to see how can I support a charity maybe you haven't made any you know donations or you want to volunteer or you want to fundraise you want to get involved and you just haven't really had the time to do it. You know, you're busy, you've got a life, I get it. But maybe this could be your little push to do one little thing,

whether that's donating 20 bucks somewhere or signing up for one of those kind of automatic every month donation things, or looking into how you can fundraise or get involved by volunteering. I will say after recording this episode, that is exactly what I did. Because obviously, I'm not going to tell you to do something and not do it myself. So yeah, that's just giving you a little extra push because I'm doing it. So why don't you do it too? So I hope you enjoyed this episode. A little few things to share with you as always. Number one, because we're in spring cleaning time, if you want to get ahead of your money and organize your finances, I've got a number of budget spreadsheets on my website, jessicamorehouse.com slash shop. I also have a bunch of free resources that you can find in my

free resource library at jessicamorehouse.com slash resources. And what else do I have? Oh, of course, I've got my investing course, Wealth Building Blueprint for Canadians. We're getting close to 400 students, which is very exciting. So you can find all the information about how to invest not only as a Canadian, but also in that passive investing strategy that I talk about all the time on this show. Again, you can find more information on my website at jessicamoorehouse.com slash course. And just to remind you a few other things. Number one, I'm giving away a ton of books, and I'm going to be wrapping up this contest in the next month or so. So if you want to go to

jessicamoorehouse.com slash contest, you will see all the books that have been featured on this season of the podcast. They are there. You can enter to win a free copy. So make sure you do that before it is too late. And lastly, like I've shared in the past couple episodes, but in case you missed it, I myself am writing a book. I am a soon to be author. And I'm really in the thick of it, guys. I am in the thick of it because I've got a deadline and I need to make sure that I meet it. So part of the writing process is honestly gathering stories from people like you. And so if you want to participate, if you want to be involved, I would encourage you to go to jessicamorehouse.com slash interview. That is where you can put in some of your details. I can learn a little bit more about you. And then if

you're a good fit, if I want to kind of move forward and interview you for my book, I will reach out. I'm gathering just a bunch of people or you know, I'm gathering all the submissions right now. So don't expect to get like a reply from me right away. Basically, what I'm hoping to do is kind of continue to write this book. And then where I see some, you know, perfect slots for stories, then I'll take a look at all the submissions and try to see who would be a great fit for this section. So apply, I may reach out to you in a few months from now or sooner than that. But just, you know, submit anyway. And again, you may be hearing from me. But yeah, very exciting times, very exciting times. But yeah, that really kind of sums it up for me at the minute. So thank you so much for listening. And as always, supporting this podcast, a big

shout out to my podcast editor, Matt Rideout. And I will see you back here next Wednesday. Do you want a little tease of who I have on the show? I'll give you a little tease. Let me see. Let's see who is going to be on the show next week. Oh, we got a good episode. So I have talked about SPIVA, I think a few times over the years on this podcast. I finally have two representatives from SPIVA. And if you have no idea what the hell SPIVA is and their scorecard, well, they have been around for 20 years now. It's part of the S&P Down Jones Indices company. And basically, they do research to measure actively managed funds against their index benchmarks worldwide. And typically what they find is passive investments do better than active. So we're going to talk to, you know, a few people from that organization to really dive into, you know, some of the pros and cons of passive versus active investing. What are some of the stats saying is good. It is a good episode. You're not going to want to miss it. So anyways, that is it for me. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you back here next Wednesday. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.