SERVICES

With Janice Loomer Margolis, you can count on professional, impartial and credible guidance regarding your philanthropy. The fees for her services are based on the time she spends with you and your family. She does not advocate for any organization or cause and she does not receive commissions based on how funds are invested or distributed.

Having practiced as a lawyer and armed with a thorough understanding of not-for-profit governance, Janice is first and foremost a philanthropy advisor, helping you get the most out of your giving. Where financial, wealth or legal advice are required with respect to gifts, she is able to refer you to qualified professionals if you are not already working with advisors.

Janice consults with clients in four customized stages. While some funders only require her assistance in the first stage, others elect to work with her for many years as they execute and adapt their giving strategies.

STAGE 1 - EXPLORE INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY VALUES 

Approximately 20 hours for up to eight family members 

This crucial step in the philanthropy process builds a foundational set of shared values that serve as a touchstone for all future giving decisions. 

CONFIDENTIAL PERSONAL MEETINGS WITH EACH FAMILY MEMBER

  • Explore personal values
  • Discuss areas of interest
  • Understand desired level of personal commitment and involvement
  • Outline hopes and concerns about the philanthropic process

FACILITATED GROUP FAMILY MEETING

  • Open discussion in a healthy, safe and supportive environment 
  • Dialogue about points of consensus and differentiation 
  • Establish highest level shared values and outcomes and a healthy respect for diverse opinions

STAGE 2 - DEVELOP A VISION AND MISSION 

Approximately 15 hours for up to eight family members 

This deeper examination of values leads to vision and mission statements that form the roadmap for the philanthropy journey.

TOOLS AND EXERCISES THAT ALLOW FOR: 

  • Sharing of motivational values
  • Discussion of desired impact of giving
  • Promote cross-generational understanding and respect
  • Explore money messages and beliefs

DEVELOP FOUNDATION VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS 

  • Vision - what we strive to be and do
  • Mission - what we need to do to fulfill our vision

STAGE 3 - CREATE A WORKING PLAN

Approximately 15 hours for up to eight family members

Move from vision to action with practical tools. Create a customized, comprehensive and straightforward philanthropy granting plan and process.

  • Itemize and prioritize areas of interest.
  • Review various types of grants and determine how each aligns with the foundation mission. This can include specific projects, general operations, multi-year grants, capacity building, bricks-and-mortar or seed funding.
  • Explore the importance of supporting financial gifts in other ways, such as offering time and expertise to projects or organizations.
  • Determine grant-making criteria and strategy.
  • Create a customized proposal form to streamline the decision-making process and ensure giving decisions reflect the mission.
  • Include opportunities for family members to be as involved as they want.
  • Generate tactics to ensure recipient organizations clearly understand expected outcomes of the gift and expected modes of reporting.
  • Develop execution and monitoring process for grants relative to desired impacts.

STAGE 4 - SUPPORT YOUR GIVING WITH ONGOING GUIDANCE 

Hourly 

Receive optional ongoing philanthropy consulting for your foundation, donor-advised fund and/or philanthropy decisions.

  • Help identify organizations and projects that align with your interests, desired impacts, vision and mission.
  • Assess grant applications.
  • Consult with your advisors to complement their services with respect to your giving strategy.
  • Advise on gift design and negotiation with recipient organizations.
  • Identify and apply metrics to determine whether desired impacts have been achieved.
 

STRATEGIC IMPACT FOR A FUND IN HONOUR OR IN MEMORY OF A LOVED ONE

Approximately 15 hours 

Where a fund has been established in honour or memory of a loved one, it is important to ensure that the money is used effectively to support the values and interests of the honouree.  Janice will guide you through a process to:

  • Articulate your loved one’s perceived motivational values, areas of interest and how you believe he or she would want to make a positive difference in the world
  • Develop a mission statement for the fund that guides you in developing a giving plan for the fund 
  • Identify the criteria and strategy for distributing funds (i.e. a few larger distributions or more smaller distributions; timeframe; types of projects)
  • Explore and partner with causes to ensure that expectations are communicated and regular updates will be provided in order to evaluate the impact of the distributions 
  • Develop a plan to communicate the realized outcomes and impact to contributors to the fund.

 

““Janice Loomer Margolis is an icon in planned giving.
Nobody even comes close to her knowledge.””
— Susanne Dubé, Senior Manager, Philanthropy and Legacy Giving, Pearson College
““I have found that among its other benefits,
giving liberates the soul of the giver.””
— Maya Angelou
““I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely
more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.””
— Andrew Carnegie
““Wealth is not new. Neither is charity. But the idea of using private
wealth imaginatively, constructively, and systematically to attack
the fundamental problems of mankind is new.””
— John Gardner
““My father used to say, ‘You can spend a lot of time making money.
The tough time comes when you have to give it away properly’
How to give something back, that’s the tough part in life.””
— Lee Iacocca
““Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.””
— Margaret Mead
““Think of giving not only as a duty but as a privilege.”

”
— John D. Rockefeller
““What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have
done for others and the world remains and is immortal.””
— Albert Pike
““You make a living by what you get. You
make a life by what you give.””
— Winston Churchill
“Phil-lan-thro-py – the practice of giving money and
time to help make life better for other people”
— Merriam-Webster Dictionary
““The process that you led was very important to me and we certainly came to a good outcome. We all enjoyed your company and you fit well into our situation.””
— EP - Client