David Baines, a columnist for the Vancouver Sun, has written a number of articles critical of the Canadian registered charity Givemeaning which describes itself as “an online fundraising site emphasizing creative fundraising ideas and other unique forms of charity donation.”.  The articles and discussion cover issues such as public trust, appropriate compensation for employees of a “start-up” charity, media/marketing/hype and charities, appropriateness of high overhead, CRA oversight of the area, financial transactions between charities, what is charitable, foreign operations of a Canadian charity, appropriate transparency and accountability.

Mr. Baines articles can be found at the Vancouver Sun website:

Giving sounds good (January 19, 2008)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=b76ff000-c8e8-4789-9ed8-806df2c2945a

‘Whiz kid’ tale runs up against some hard numbers (Jan 26, 2008)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=7c506725-ef5d-429f-a6ae-8a4cb8b60dc4

Carefully cultivated image masks money woes (Jan 30, 2008)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=70700a18-9a1f-4949-ac63-83d208c75b7e

Taxpayers end up funding circles of money (Feb 2, 2008)
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=40c97404-2157-47fc-8edb-63e499354804

‘Whiz Kid’s’ charity scheme loses momentum as donations plunge (June 27, 2009)
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Whiz+charity+scheme+loses+momentum+donations+plunge/1738698/story.html

Givemeaning and Tom Williams’ response and vigorous denials can be found at:

GiveMeaning Blog
http://www.givemeaning.com/blog/index.html