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Lawrence Solomon is the author of "The Deniers: The World Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria . . .

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Why Our Independence Matters to You

1. No Government Funding

Because we seek to comment objectively on public policy, FCPP is the only registered Prairie-based think tank which declines government grants.

2. Diversified Funding Base

We diversify our funding base as much as possible to ensure that we are not beholden to any particular industry, interest or persons. Individuals and businesses that see value in exploring better policy support FCPP. The bulk of our funding comes from charitable foundations that support public policy work in Canada.

3. Board/Staff Firewall

A respected Board of Research Advisors guarantees the independence and integrity of our work. The Centre has a formal policy, embodied in a Board of Directors resolution, that forbids any direct Board involvement or influence in the Centre's education efforts.

For an objective, arm's length take on public policy you can trust the very independent . . . Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Why You Should Invest Today in the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent, non-profit research and education institute that works to support economic growth and an enhanced quality of life on the Prairies. The organization was founded in 1997 by a group of community-minded individuals who share a common interest in making the Prairies a better place to live, work, and prosper. The Centre is an educational charity devoted to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and information. It is not affiliated with any political party and is strictly non-partisan.

The Frontier's work examines high-performance government, social policy renewal, and the open economy. Practical, innovative solutions to economic and social challenges are its specialty. During its short life, the Frontier Centre has become a prominent source of new policy thinking in the Prairies. Its writings receive wide coverage through weekly and daily newspapers and reach an estimated 500,000 people on a regular basis. Its material has been profiled in national media as well as prestigious international newspapers. Our state of the art website experiences thousands of visitors monthly.

Uninfluenced by special interests, partisan politics, or government funding, the Centre exercises policy leadership to advance cutting edge ideas that often challenges conventional thinking. The Centre profiles pioneering reforms in areas such as healthcare, education, welfare services, and tax and regulatory policy. Even when they go against entrenched policy fashions, Centre policy recommendations always reflect a respect for sound economic principles.

Raising awareness of the positive benefits that will accrue from a more effective, performance-based public policy is an important task. Accomplishing it requires research and education projects by a strong, credible team of professional communicators. Until recently, both Manitoba and Saskatchewan have lacked independent organizations that popularize productive new ideas and market-based solutions to public policy conundrums.

Your support directly funds a number of important outreach programs. These include:

• Studies, reports and books
• Frequent commentaries on current events
• Meetings for policy experts
• Speaking engagements
• Media interviews/news conferences
• Educational conferences and seminars
• Requests for information

Benefits of Support

Results-oriented: The Frontier Centre is results-oriented and produces work which offers positive, practical solutions for Canada's public policy challenges.

Regional Focus: The Centre exclusively focuses its work on issues of interest to the Prairie Provinces.

Clear Focus: A Manitoba-based research and education institute that delivers. The Frontier Centre limits its area of interest to the following:

• High-Performance Government - creating high-productivity public institutions by applying the principles of transparency, neutrality and separation to their operations; exploring competitive versus monopolistic service provision
• Social Policy Renewal - competitive, consumer-sensitive health care and education systems; alternatives to the welfare state; aboriginal policy based on empowerment, not dependency.
• The Open Economy - achieving the optimum size of government; studying the impacts of technological change and globablization; creating the value-added ag economy.

Relevant: The Frontier Centre addresses immediate, pressing issues that have short-term impact, while also conducting educational projects for students and others which have long-term impact.

Economic Focus: The Frontier Centre's work focuses on market-oriented economic and social issues. It does not address concerns which have a highly moral or political dimension like abortion, censorship, gun control, capital punishment, or national unity.

Independent and Non-Partisan: Committed to its independence, the Center neither solicits nor accepts any government funding, relying instead on voluntary contributions from those who care about public issues and believe that sound public policy is vital to a successful and prosperous society.

Clearly, investing in a public policy institute is a long-term investment. Still, the return can be every bit as tangible as any other investment in charitable work. The return on that investment is a stronger and more prosperous community.

Alternative Giving Methods

There are many different ways to help the Frontier Centre ranging from a simple cash gift and pledges over a number of years, to a gift of real or personal property (eg. stocks or real estate) to naming the Centre as a beneficiary in your will or life insurance plan to more complicated estate planning devices. Some of these variations are discussed in more detail below.

Please remember that the Frontier Centre is not in a position to offer legal or financial advice. When considering the tax or other effects of a gift to the Centre, please consider consulting your own accountant or financial advisor. However, FCPP is happy to assist you in any way it can. To request a copy of the Centre's Planned Giving Program, or for any questions about donating to the Frontier Centre, please contact:

Director of Business Development
Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Suite 25 Lombard Concourse
One Lombard Place
Winnipeg, MB R3B 0X3
(204) 957-1567
fax (204) 957-1570
mailto: tremblay@fcpp.org

1. Matching Gifts
2. Gifts of Appreciated Financial Assets (i.e. stocks) or real property.
3. Remembering Frontier In Your Will
4. Charitable Gift Annuity
5. Charitable Remainder Trust
6. Charitable Lead Trust

Matching Gifts

Keep in mind that many employers will match your gift dollar-for-dollar (or more), providing additional support for the Frontier Centre. Often, these programs are also extended to retirees. Please check to see if you qualify for a matching gift program.

Gifts of Appreciated Stock

If you have owned stock for more than one year, and it has appreciated in value, you will be able to use the current value of the stock as your charitable deduction. (If you sell appreciated stock, rather than donating it, you will be required to pay substantially higher capital gains tax on the appreciated value. Donating the stock to the Centre will let you avoid this result in addition to the tax saving benefits of your donation.) Call us and we will work with you and your financial advisor to facilitate a hassle free transfer. Phone, fax or email us with your intentions.

Remembering Frontier In Your Will

A simple, commonly used method to ensure the Frontier Centre's legacy is naming the Centre as a beneficiary in your will. You can do this in one of three ways:

• First, you can leave FCPP a specific amount of cash or specific property.
  Example: "I give the sum of $50,000 to the Frontier Centre" or "I give 500 shares of XYZ Corporation stock to the Frontier Centre.
• Second, you can leave the Centre a fixed percentage of your estate.
  Example: "I give 30 percent of the residue of my estate to the Frontier Centre."
• Third, you can leave FCPP all or part of the residue of the estate after bequests to other beneficiaries have been made.
  Example: "I give the residue of my real and personal estate to the Frontier Centre."

Remember that the estate tax charitable deduction is unlimited.

Alternatively, you may consider naming the Centre as a beneficiary in your living trust, life insurance or pension plan, and the like.

Charitable Gift Annuity

You can transfer cash or marketable securities to the Frontier Centre, and in return, the Centre will issue an annuity contract which will pay you or your designated beneficiary a guaranteed annuity for life. This transfer is part gift and part purchase of an annuity.

The annuity rate depends on your or your beneficiary's age, and the type of annuity you choose.

With a present gift annuity, annuity payments begin immediately.

With a deferred gift annuity, annuity payments are deferred to some future date.

With either type of annuity, at your or your beneficiary's death, the Frontier Centre retains the remaining principal.

A charitable gift annuity can benefit you in several ways. You will receive a guaranteed income stream for life (or a specified term of years), and an immediate income tax charitable deduction for the gift portion of the transfer. If you establish the gift annuity with appreciated securities, you can defer your capital gains tax.

Finally, you can accomplish two important goals at once: Providing for your or your beneficiary's future needs while at the same time helping the Frontier Centre.

Example: The deferred gift annuity may be used to fund a college plan for a young child or grandchild, with income payments going to the child during his or her college years. After the child's education is completed, the remaining principal will go to fund the Centre's important work.

Note that certain age and minimum donation restrictions apply.

Charitable Remainder Trust

This device allows you to transfer property irrevocably to a trust, which then pays you or your designated beneficiary a set annuity or percentage of the trust assets for life or for a term of years up to twenty years.

When the trust terminates, the remaining assets pass to the Frontier Centre.

There are two ways to structure the remainder trust.

With a unitrust, your annual payment varies each year, and is determined by multiplying a fixed percentage (at least 5%) set at the establishment of the trust by the fair market value of the trust's assets in a given year.

With an annuity trust, your annual payment is a fixed percentage (at least 5%) of the initial trust principal, and thus unlike the unitrust, does not vary from year-to-year with the subsequent actual value of the trust.

The charitable remainder trust allows you to make an irrevocable commitment to contribute a significant sum to assist the Centre with its important work, while retaining a payment stream for you or your beneficiary for a period of time or life. You will receive a current federal income tax charitable deduction (calculated based on your age) for the value of the Centre's remainder interest in the trust. Depending on your personal financial situation, there are many other tax and estate benefits as well.

Note that certain age and minimum donation restrictions apply.

Charitable Lead Trust

The charitable lead trust is the mirror image of a charitable remainder trust. You fund an irrevocable trust which then pays a certain percentage to the Frontier Centre for a specified period of time. After that time, the principal is paid to a remainder beneficiary-typically, children, grandchildren, or other family members.

With a charitable lead trust, you can pass an income-producing and potentially appreciating asset to your heirs while also helping the Centre. The value of the assets placed in the trust are frozen for gift- and estate-tax purposes on the date of transfer, meaning that any future appreciation of the assets is free of gift and estate taxes.

In addition, a charitable gift-tax deduction is earned for the actuarial value of income paid to the Centre during the term of the trust. The greater the amount paid to FCPP, and the longer the term, the greater the deduction. Depending on your personal financial situation, there are many other tax and estate benefits as well.

Note that certain age and minimum donation restrictions apply.

Watch for more appearances soon - to book a Frontier speaker for your community club or organization contact newideas@fcpp.org

2008-06-30
More Global Warming Nonsense
Anyone truly worried about malaria in impoverished countries would do well to focus on improving human living conditions, not the weather, say Paul Reiter, director of the Insects and Infectious Diseases Unit of the Institute Pasteur, Paris, and Roger Bate, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

The globalization of vectors and pathogens is a serious problem, but it is not new, say Reiter and Bate:

o The Yellow Fever mosquito and virus were imported into North America from Africa during the slave trade.

o The dengue virus is distributed throughout the tropics and regularly jumps continents inside air passengers.

o West Nile virus likely arrived in the United States in shipments of wild birds.

The concept of malaria as a "tropical" infection is nonsense, says Rieter and Bate, it is a disease of the poor. Meanwhile, malaria has been increasing at an alarming rate in parts of Africa and elsewhere in the world:

o Scientists ascribe this increase to many factors, including population growth, deforestation, rice cultivation in previously uncultivated upland marshes, clustering of populations around these marshes, and large numbers of people who have fled their homes because of civil strife.

o The evolution of drug-resistant parasites and insecticide-resistant mosquitoes, and the cessation of mosquito-control operations are also factors.

Of course, temperature is a factor in the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases, and future incidence may be affected if the world's climate continues to warm. But throughout history the most critical factors in the spread or eradication of disease has been human behavior and living standards. Poverty has been and remains the world's greatest killer, say Reiter and Bate.

Source: Paul Reiter and Roger Bate, "More Global Warming Nonsense," Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2008.