Yashin and Philanthropy

[Alastair M. Wallis Jarvis]

Hello all,

I am anxious to hear the Yashin family's side of all this. From the
media reports it sounds as though the reason behind the donation
was at least partially in order to funnel much of the cash to his family
avoiding taxation. If that is the case... well I'll be very disillusioned.
;)

I know that the arts community has been lobbying for years to make
charitable donations more appealing to the private sector and that the
federal government have made some efforts in the last couple of budgets to
that end, but it seems as though more needs to be done. I am by no means
an expert in economics but I wonder if there might not be a way
to make charitable donations as attractive or as 'profitable' as, or,
better, more so than the tax loopholes which exist at present. It seems
to me as though we need to nurture a community of philanthropists.
(Although not at the expense of public support as was proposed around '95,
I believe). Relying on the public's good will and belief in the 'public
good' brought about by the presence of art in our society, doesn't seem to
be meeting the needs of the arts community.

I am wondering if any of the list members have given some thought to this
and would be willing to share some ideas or enlighten me as to whether the
notion that contributing to a small theatre could ever be more attractive
than an account in the Virgin Islands is just a silly pipe dream (!).

Best,

Alastair Jarvis
Contemporary Studies and Theatre
University of King's College
Halifax, Nova Scotia