The St. Vincent de Paul society has issued a call to stop the illegal dumping at its 35 bins. It’s a problem that costs the charity more than $5,000 last year.

General manager Alexis Strahl said she often finds — and is grateful for — usable donations. But she also finds garbage in the bins.

Read the full article here.

Statistics Canada data released Monday show that tax filers claimed just under $8.3-billion in 2010, up 6.5 per cent from 2009. At the same time, the number of donors increased 2.2 per cent to just over 5.7 million Canadians.

While the percentage of Canadians claiming donations has been steadily dropping since 1997, the figure also climbed back slightly to 23.4 per up from the all-time low of 23.1 per cent.

The national median donation was $260 in 2010, which was also $10 more than the median in 2009.

Read the full article here.

When Tana Silverland landed in Canada in June 2010 from the United Kingdom, she immediately set out on a cross-country odyssey to visit as many Canadian communities as possible.

Read the full article here.

Furtado said in February she would donate the money from a 2007 show in Italy for members of Gadhafi’s family.

She made this latest announcement Tuesday at a youth empowerment day organized by Canadian co-founders of Free the Children.

Read the full article here.

The world record challenge started today at 2pm and here is the video!

The first successful climb of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro in 1889 took six weeks.

Italian Bruno Brunod literally ran to the top in five hours, 38 minutes and 20 seconds in 2001. Native guide Simon Mtuy made it up and back in eight hours and 27 minutes in 2004.

Gretta and Garnet Cummings aren’t out to set any records. They just want to reach the top, a trek of 25 to 30 kilometres one way. If all goes according to plan — Garnet’s artificial left hip and right knee hold out, and altitude sickness doesn’t stop them — the Edmonton couple will be standing on the snow-capped summit of the world’s tallest free-standing volcano and the highest point of Africa 5,895 metres (19,344 feet) above sea level on Aug. 17, seven days after starting the climb, slightly longer than the five or six days it takes the average climber.

Read the full article here.

Standard Auto Wreckers in Toronto, Ontario in partnership with OARA (Ontario Automotive Recyclers Assosciation) will be participating in the collection of used tires in the greater Toronto area.  All tire fees associated with each tire dropped off will be donated by participating members to The Sunshine Foundation of Canada.  OARA will then match the donation made from all tires collected.

Keep an eye out for next years event!!

CARSTAR is asking you to help support our 8th Annual Soaps It Up for Cystic Fibrosis National Car Wash Fundraiser.

We are trying to break our Guinness World Record for the Largest Car Wash and we need your help to do it! On Saturday, June 11, we want to wash over 5000 cars and raise $125,000! Visit our location to purchase a ticket for $5 and you’ll receive a car wash from our volunteers! The proceeds will go to the fight against cystic fibrosis and to Sick Kids Foundation.

We are holding our event at CARSTAR Scarborough North East, 127 Select Ave, Unit 6,  on Saturday June 11, 2011, Come down between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to let us soap up your car for cystic fibrosis and Sick Kids Foundation!

Together, we can make cystic fibrosis unhappen.

Great event!  Hope to see you there!

Also please note, if you are not close to this particular car wash event or even if  you are  in a different province, check-out the CARSTAR website for a charity event close to you!

Standard Auto Wreckers in Toronto, Ontario in partnership with OARA (Ontario Automotive Recyclers Assosciation) will be participating in the collection of used tires in the greater Toronto area.  All tire fees associated with each tire dropped off will be donated by participating members to The Sunshine Foundation of Canada.  OARA will then match the donation made from all tires collected.

Bring your old tires down to 1216 Sewells Road in Scarborough on May 27 & 28 to help those less fortunate in your community.  If you have any questions or need more details please call Standard Auto Wreckers directly at 416-286-8686 or visit their website to learn more about this charity event.

Ottawa, Ontario and British Columbia have recently indicated they are looking for ways to bolster so-called social financing – essentially, what happens when money is invested to generate both a social and a financial return.

The willingness to explore the co-mingling of business and charity, and ways to use investor capital and capital markets for the social good, comes as governments look to cut expenses with minimal damage, and as charities face a decline in financing.

In its budget on Tuesday, the Ontario government said it will look for opportunities to use social venture financing through partnerships that will save the government money while maintaining or enhancing service levels. It noted that in some cases, social enterprises may be able to deliver services more efficiently and effectively than government, and that they may also be able to offer new products and services that help reduce fiscal pressure on government.

In last week’s federal budget, the Conservatives indicated they want to push forward on the issue (although those plans will hinge on the results of the May election). “All across Canada, citizens, businesses, charities and other groups, such as the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance, are working together to develop innovative ways to address local challenges,” the budget declared. “The government will take steps to complement community efforts by encouraging the development of government/community partnerships …”

This month, Human Resources and Skills Development hosted an event with other federal departments to look at social finance and related issues. Public Safety Canada also held a meeting this month to examine the idea.

Influential voices, including former prime minister Paul Martin, Macquarie Capital Markets Canada chairman Stanley Hartt and a variety of think tanks, are calling for governments to explore social financing.

“The financial reality is that governments … must respond to growing societal problems and the best way forward is to do that in partnership with the community and private sector,” Mr. Hartt said in an e-mail this week. “The old mentality of business making profit, while government funds social services is no longer tenable.”

A new report by the Toronto-based Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation recommends that the federal government change the Income Tax Act so charities and not-for-profit groups have more flexibility to generate money, as they do in the United Kingdom. The report notes that charities and non-profits rely on three core sources of revenue: government financing, philanthropy and earned income, and argues that only the last item offers any prospect for growth in the long term.

The Canadian non-profit sector is one of the largest in the world, with more than 161,000 charities and not-for-profit organizations. It accounts for 7.1 per cent of the national economy, the report notes. The sector is already doing work that might otherwise be done by government, the report said; for example, carrying out more than $3-billion worth of federal programs in 2009.