Governor General's Conference on Giving

His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, hosted Working Together for the Common Good: Governor General’s Conference on Giving at Rideau Hall, on April 27, 2017.

Scott Haldane, President and CEO, and Teresa Marques, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Rideau Hall Foundation launched the Giving Behaviour Project, which is the continuity of the My Giving Moment campaign.

In the afternoon, Mike Pedersen, Group Head U.S. Banking, TD Bank Group and Board of Directors, IMAGINE Canada (featured in this photo); Michèle Benoit, Manager of the Personal Philanthropy Project, IMAGINE Canada, and Bruce MacDonald, President and CEO, IMAGINE Canada, presented "The Personal Philanthropy Project: The Untapped Potential of Affluent Canadians" to participants.

The third presentation on "The Journey of My Giving Moment: A Social Marketing Campaign" featured His Excellency and Annabelle Cloutier, Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, who talked about the successes of this four-year national initiative that encouraged Canadians to give back to their community.

The second panel on "Millenials, Values and Giving Behaviour" featured Kirk Kristofferson, Assistant Professor, Marketing, Arizona State University (featured in this photo); Krishan Mehta, Executive Director, Campaign, Ryerson University, Sarah Roberton, Senior Research Associate, Environics Research Group, and Ilona Dougherty, Managing Director, Youth & Innovation Research Project, University of Waterloo.

Canadians from coast to coast to coast were also invited to follow the conference live online at www.gg.ca/commongood and submit questions to the panellists via Twitter by using #GGCommonGood.

The Governor General listened attentively throughout the day to the discussions and presentations.

Panelists answered questions from participants, who were non-profit sector leaders, fund development professionals, representatives of corporate and government charitable initiatives, and members of academia focused on giving behaviour.

This one-day, national conference, delivered in partnership with the Rideau Hall Foundation, focussed on three major themes: State of the Nation on Giving; Millennials, Values and Giving Behaviour; and Behavioural Science Principles to Encourage Giving.

Hosted by Governor General David Johnston—whose strong desire is for Canadians to build a smarter, more caring Canada—the objectives of the conference were to share views on current trends in giving and how this behaviour can best be encouraged; to increase connectivity among sectors; and to explore and inform on the development of a national approach to encourage giving behaviour through the Giving Behaviour Project, an initiative of the Rideau Hall Foundation.

The first panel on the "State of the Nation on Giving" featured Nicole Nakoneshny, Vice President of KCI – Ketchum Canada, Marina Glogovac, President and CEO of CanadaHelps, Lili-Anna Pereša, President and Executive Director of Centraide of Greater Montréal, and Conrad Sauvé, President and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross.

The discussion was moderated by Tim Brodhead, Former President and CEO of The J. W. McConnell Family Foundation.

"We’re here during National Volunteer Week to discuss and share ideas of where giving is headed, how we can encourage Canadians to give and how we can build sustainable giving in the long term. For me, this day is very personal. Almost seven years ago, in October 2010, I said in my installation speech that volunteerism and philanthropy are essential to a smart and caring nation. Since that day, I have travelled to every province and every territory. And what I’ve seen is truly a smart and caring nation."

The day closed with the workshop "Behavioural Insights & Giving" presented by Elspeth Kirkman, Head of Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) North America, and Michael Sanders, Chief Scientist and Head of Research, Evaluation and Social Action, BIT.