'Guerrilla Giving' in Canada

A family in Vancouver is taking an innovative approach to philanthropy that they call “guerrilla giving.” The middle-class family of four, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been distributing 10 percent of their annual income in unmarked parcels of money and goods to strangers around the city since the beginning of the school year. Almost every day, family members leave parcels in unexpected places—bicycles, bus stops, crosswalks. “The challenge is to trust that our needs will be meet...and trust the universe will find the person who needs this,” says the mother of the family. The family is chronicling the social experiment, which they hope will spark a larger dialogue about philanthropy, in a blog featuring photos of each dropoff location and an explanation of what brought them to give that day. The last entry, logged on October 18, depicts a photograph of the sign for a local chocolate factory, adorned with a festively decorated bag of money. They plan to continue the current until next September, when they hope to begin giving more money.