Trudeau announces COVID-19-related direct financial support for seniors aged 65 and over | Page 5 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

semi-retired said

I figured it would be included with todays pension payouts. It wasn't. Went to Govt webpage & it simply says payment will be sent out ASAP. If you have direct deposit it will go there, otherwise a check will be sent.  

Yup, that's ⬆ pretty much what I figured ... no actual time-frame, or date ... they'll send it out, when they 'Get-Around-To-It' (i.e. print more money) ... LOL

I was just curious, as I'm not really 'in need' of it. When it does finally arrive (via DD), my wife and I are thinking of donating ours to a charity ... preferably one that helps low-income seniors.

I can't find anything about a specific date for this payment. However on this page, where it says the payment will be received as soon as possible, it also defines the eligibility as "individuals who are eligible to receive the Old Age Security pension or the Guaranteed Income Supplement in June 2020".

https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/notice-covid-19/one-time-payment.html

Therefore I doubt any payment will be made this month. Too bad. I was so looking forward to starting the 12 month trek towards earning $ 6- in interest.

I believe each United Way has its own set-up. they are local organizations, although large in many cases. So, the percentage required for admin, the goaals,the methodology, etc., will be different.

I sat on the board of a multi-million dollar charity for quite a few years and one bone of contention was the rules that United Way imposes on their charities. The major one was that the charity couldn't ask for donations from the same donors that donated to the United Way - especially significant with corporate donors. That is consistent with the idea that the charity doesn't have access to United Way donor info. The United Way invested a lot in gaining those donors. They build those relationships and work with them to get future donations. They are professionals at what they do and they have the structure with which to do it. It would be silly to squander that valuable information on groups who won't have that capacity or relationship. One of the reasons United Way does so well with large corporate donors is because there is a good relationship developed over many years. Corporations like to deal with them as there is a relationship of trust and reliability that makes the donors look good.

This, and the cost of maintaining United Way may seem to be bigger problems than they are. The United Way, because of its size and its oversight of the distribution of donations is able to raise way more money than these individual charities can do by themselves. The 15%, not at all unusual in fund raising, is what it costs to accomplish that. You could take away the exclusivity clause, but, overall, not as much money would be raised, so that's why it's still there and that's why charities agree to it. If they really believed they could do as well or better, net, without it, then they would. Most are glad to be able to receive United Way funds, however, because they can't get that kind of money any other way with the same efficiency. The United Way also provides a lot of other added value to the charitable sector.

i'm not for it or against it, but it has its place among the options. There are other ways of raising money but if you are serious about it, you are going to have either costs in the range of 15% or you are going to have no controls over where the money goes or whether the org is legitimate (gofundme, street begging etc.). Unitd Way does put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that their donations go to good programmes that are evaluated for effectiveness. The application forms are quite demanding. That kind of scrutiny does cost money. If you don't like it, donate through another means.

Personally, I don't go the United Way route. This is because I know a lot about the particular charities I want to support and I give generously to them. However, if I knew less, just wanted to give to a "good cause" or just wanted to get a slice of pizza in the subway station during a United Way campaign, I'd go that route.

Bill said
Any money I might get from Trudeau is mine, keeping it. I'm confident all 3 levels of government will give me ample opportunities in the years to come to return it (and more!) to them in future new taxes, tax increases, licence fee increases, etc, etc, etc.  

I will second your post Bill.He is just temporarily returning some of our own money that he hasn't foolishly sent abroad yet for some BS agenda.

Dean said

Yup, that's ⬆ pretty much what I figured ... no actual time-frame, or date ... they'll send it out, when they 'Get-Around-To-It' (i.e. print more money) ... LOL

I was just curious, as I'm not really 'in need' of it. When it does finally arrive (via DD), my wife and I are thinking of donating ours to a charity ... preferably one that helps low-income seniors.  

Loonie said

Great idea, Dean! There is money being given out now in "broad strokes" as many have urgent need and it would take forever to sort out a more targeted system, especially with employees in isolation.
So it makes sense to pass it on if you don't need it. If nothing else comes to mind, your local food bank would appreciate it, and they do serve a lot of seniors.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/ is a convenient route through which you can donate online to any registered charity in Canada, and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes. There is an administrative charge deducted of 3% but this includes what the receiving charity would have had to pay the credit card company if you had donated to them directly.
I use this service.

P.S. I read somewhere on the govt website that the amount will be added to the June OAS payment. So, stay healthy!  

Thanks for the idea, Loonie ❗

Donating 'directly' to our local Food Bank (via cheque) will help our local low-income seniors ... and other's too.

And to the *&^%$# 'Scrooges' that Lurk here on these forms ... Think Again ❗

I would recommend that you check with your chosen charity first to find out whether they find the PayPal route works well for them. Ask them what they prefer.

I see some people justifying the payment as somehow compensating for stock market losses seniors have suffered. Does anyone seriously believe the $300 per OAS recipient would even make a dent in any losses suffered? Most people could come up with a larger amount to compensate by cancelling their cable bill for the past three months under the various lockdowns. Meanwhile given the large number of recipients, it's just another $2.5 billion being blown, further deepening the hole being dug that will need to be filled later through tax increases or service cuts. Is no one concerned that the debt being rung up over the next 1-2 years time frame could equal the amount we've managed to pile up in the previous 150 years? While I sympathize with people who have lost their jobs and whose incomes have been cut 50-80% (I know many) and support the various programs to replace some of that lost income, I can't support spending billions on a program when OAS recipients have suffered comparatively little (any?) loss of income from government or private pensions, have homes largely mortgage free and no families to support. We are mortgaging our country's collective financial future by trying to pay off every group, no matter how much or little they've been affected. This may not be a popular opinion here but I think more people should be raising concerns regarding the quality of spending going on right now with no oversight and the long term ramifications.

Bill said
I agree, capnukr, as a senior I've suffered zero loss in pension income but, in Trudeau's defence, no sooner has he announced a help program and the media and vocal interest groups (e.g. CARP in the case of seniors) pounce and say it's not enough, or what about this group, etc. So he's happy to comply, he's not going to refuse any sizeable voting block, so there you go. I don't see that tax increases or service cuts will be required, the debt apparently is still within ok ratios, and anyway in my long life the national debt has never been an important issue to the vast majority of Canadians at voting time.

Dean, c'mon, lurking scrooges, conspicuous virtue-signallers, surely there's room for all of us on this site.  

Yes its about buying votes being a powerful collateral benefit, on top of actually helping the few that may indeed need the help.
Basically there will always be a group that will say too little, got neglected, not fair, blah blah. If one is truly a leader and draw the line clearly between good vs bad policy, will have no issue saying a stern NO. Unfortunately Trudeau is in the camp of "Please all approach" and try to be "most likeable" PM, not necessarily the most "useful", be it economy or leading the country.

Dean said

Update ... It looks like it's going to happen, early next month.

BNN Link ▶ https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/special-payments-to-seniors-to-arrive-in-early-july-liberals-say-1.1445665  

Makes sense: July payments will be based on 2019 tax reports. If these payments were scheduled for June, government would have had to use 2018 tax reports from individuals.