Idealist entrepreneurs
fuel best kind of charitable giving
Last Thursday I joined three others at Eastview Secondary
School to sit on a judges’ panel of a very different kind. Usually
judges are choosing the 'best' at something: art, music, speech-making,
sports.
But we were participating in Youth Philanthropic Initiatives, a unique
program borne out of earned wealth by visionary Canadians.
Let's back up a bit. In 1985 Frank Angelo, Frank Toskan and his sister
Julie Toskan, and chemist/business grad Victor Casale developed ingredients
and production methods that launched their kitchen-sink cosmetics business.
They worked hard. They blended their business with charitable efforts
–particularly AIDS (in 1985, AIDS was a relatively new phenomenon).
Their company? M.A.C. Cosmetics. By 1998 the company was a $400-million
international effort.
The owners sold to Estée Lauder, making them very, very wealthy.
With money, business acumen, and youth on their side, the Toskan-Casale
team of three developed this unique charity, a philanthropic initiative
that involves young people researching charities and presenting background
and initiatives about the charity to a group of peers.
Lots of presenters get narrowed down to semi finalists and that's who
we were meeting last week ... eight semifinalist student groups who
had learned a tremendous amount about eight different charities and
were bidding to have 'their' charity chosen as the most deserving.
Deserving of what?
Each school with a winning team and a winning charity gets $5,000 to
present to that charity. The $5,000 comes from Frank, Julie and Victor,
three of the original M.A.C. founders.
It's the Toskan Casale Foundation and it's a unique initiative.
This brilliant concept engages Grades 9 and 10 students, local charities,
local leaders and youth ... everybody wins.
Twenty-seven students presented eight stories and the judges heard about
charities for Tourette Syndrome, Child Find, Out of the Cold, Epilepsy,
Women & Children's Shelter, Youth Haven, Deaf Access Simcoe and
the Chase McEachern Foundation. There's a long list of criteria, a numbered
judging system and each charity in its interview with the presenters
indicates what they would do with the $5,000.
It was a tough call ... great students doing a great job. After much
negotiation we settled on Youth Haven ... home and hearth for homeless
teenagers in Barrie since 1987.
Just as M.A.C. was building its formulae, its marketing strategy, its
brand, Youth Haven was culling out a couple of rooms, finding used furniture,
some cooking equipment, bedding and a place to for kids to eat. Youth
Haven's 10 beds are always full and the charity will use its $5,000
towards down payment for purchase of a second home for street youth.
It doesn't stop there.
May 29, all 200 schools from across Canada will send their winning teams
(and their charities) to the Elgin Theatre in Toronto for a day of philanthropic
celebration. Entertainment. And each student team will present a $5,000
cheque to 'its' charity.
Julie Toskan-Casale, Victor and Frank all celebrate this incredible
initiative ... their foundation will give out $1 million on that day
alone and charities and the people they help will benefit enormously.
Who else benefits? The students who decide on a charity, do the research,
develop the video, power point, slide show presentation, share the microphone
and tell the story. They win big time.
The whole community wins as high schools involve their youngest students
in this kind of research.
Awareness has no price tag.
And the judges win big time ... why? They are forced to make a difficult
decision, easily applauding the efforts of a great teacher, Bill McPherson,
and 27 students who made it to the finals.
Talk about win-win-win.
Thanks, Julie and Frank and Victor. Thanks, Bill McPherson for blending
this into your Civics class. And thanks to every student who headed
out to find out more!
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