Chair: Isidora G. Sidorovska, University of Waterloo

Donor-Advised Funds: A Boon to Charity or to Donors?
Eric Miller, George Mason University

Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) have become immensely popular in recent years, rising both in the number of funds accumulated, and in number of accounts created. DAFs undeniably offer extreme attractiveness for donors, who can dispose of complex assets, reap huge tax savings, and yet retain de-facto control over the use of these funds. Yet questions remain about the potential for abuse, the delay in charities receiving funds, and potential for DAFs to substitute other charitable giving. This paper conducts a scoping to review to understand the emerging landscape of DAFs and outline the key issues as stake for donors, the government, and the social economy.

Are charities ready for social finance? A survey of Canadian registered charities’ investment readiness
Adam Jog, Imagine Canada; David Lasby, Imagine Canada

Social finance is receiving significant attention from government policymakers as a means for scaling socially innovative solutions to complex social and environmental issues. Recent investments by the federal government in Canada’s social finance market has revealed the need for data on the investment readiness of social purpose organizations – the lack of readiness has been identified as a major impediment to the sustainable growth of the social finance market. This study addresses that gap by surveying Canadian registered charities to determine their current readiness for social finance investments.

Strategies and Paradigms in Toronto’s Jewish Lending Societies
Joshua Goldschmidt, University of Waterloo

The strategies of Jewish loan societies and their evolution have been understudied and absent from discussions on the social economy. This article explores the inner workings within this aspect of Toronto’s Jewish community, analyses their historical basis and its transformation to a singular practice of the Ultra-Orthodox. By interviewing the society’s operators, this study surveys the strategies they use and codifies their experiences. It is hoped that this exploratory study will foster interest in the historic impact and future development of interest-free ethnic lending organizations across the world as they share mutual resources to enhance their collective standard of living.