On Charitable Donations...

On Saturday November 5 2008, I attended a University of Manitoba Medical College function where one of my classmates, namely Dr. George Yee made a substantial donation to his alma mater. The funds were earmarked for innovated teaching methods for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The purpose of this blog is not to comment on the details of this financial donation, which is well documented U of M website. Rather I want to mention that Crown corporations, and other " not for profit" organizations, seem to have overlooked the fact that there are other types of charitable donations which are not monetary. To use the words of the MasterCard commercial - "priceless". For example, the donation of ideas, or the reference to personal experience and/or the gift of ones collection of scientific articles, books, etc. Such donations may also be considered as charitable. We also see examples of this "priceless " category where retired employees volunteer to sit on Charitable Boards to offer their advice.