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John Thomson  

Here and there

The World Junior Hockey Championship has become a phenomenal TV sporting event for Canadians. It surpassed even the dreams of the TV presenters and Canadian Hockey.

The media have made it happen. Canada’s loss to Russia drew record ratings for TSN. The game drew viewers in great numbers and when it ended the BBN Canada survey clocked an average of 6.23 million. The audience peaked at 9.3 million, late in the third period. Last year in the game against the Americans the numbers were 5.4 million viewers.

Overall 14.2 million viewers overall. Those are giant numbers in this country and big bucks in the bank for the network and hockey.

6.04 million football fans saw this past year’s 99th Grey Cup game from Edmonton.

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Canadians spend more time online than users in any other country, and while they’re surfing the web, many visit Facebook.

ComScore numbers show about 68 percent of the Canadian population is online, compared to 62 percent in France and the U.K., 60 percent in Germany, 59 percent in the U.S. and 57 percent in Japan.

Canadians were some of the early users of Faceboook, according to The Globe and Mail, and at one point trailed just behind the U.S. in overall numbers of users.

Facebook had been the most trafficked site in all of Canada in 2007 according to Alexa, although though there was speculation that something might have been wrong with Alexa’s tracking numbers.

Canada is no longer dominating Facebook. The country has more than 17 million users on the site and is coming in 9th to 10th place, either in front of or behind India.

More impressive and relevant: 51.2 percent of Canada’s total population, or 65.9 percent of the country’s online population, uses Facebook, which makes it one of the most significant demographic groups on the social network.

What insights do these statistics offer for marketing on Facebook?

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This month, why not start your commitment to fitness with something more
than a simple gym pass. Take advantage of the free week of classes being
offered by Moksha Yoga Kelowna, starting January 14th. Moksha hot yoga
strengthens, tones and loosens the muscles, while calming the mind and reducing stress. Just what you need after the busy holiday season.

“We are delighted to be opening your doors on January 14th at our new studio on Pandosy at West Avenue,” says studio owner and certified Yoga
Instructor Kylie Crick. “As a special welcome, and to help introduce
Moksha Yoga, we are offering free classes for the first week, so come and
enjoy all the yoga you want.

After the first week, you can take classes for your first 30 days for just
$60.” Moksha hot yoga is a unique form of yoga that combines the precision
of therapeutic yoga and the foundations of traditional yoga in a specially
heated room. The 'hot' in hot yoga allows for deep, safe stretching and
promotes detoxification of the skin, blood and muscles through sweat.

Classes are suitable for all levels of ability, even absolute beginners with
limited flexibility. “We have people of all ages at our studios,” says Crick.
“In Edmonton, we have regular customers who are as young as 13 and as
old as 65. Our yoga classes are taught to enable each person to meet their
goals for health and fitness.” The results are better cardio, stronger muscles, improved flexibility and peace of mind. Moksha yoga also helps heal those aches and pains that many take for granted.

“Simply put on some light shorts and a top, grab some friends, start hydrating and join us for a class in our brand new studio, designed
especially for hot yoga,” adds Crick.

Moksha Yoga is located on the second floor at 2900 Pandosy, across
from Blenz Coffee. Or simply call them at 250-864-­9664.

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Although we’re a giving nation, we could help even more if we used our heads as much as our hearts. Unfortunately, a lot of charities aren’t what they claim to be – some spend too much on administration and overhead costs instead of fulfilling their stated purpose, while others are outright scams. Avoiding unworthy charities requires giving a little time along with our money.

So the next time you feel charitable, run a check before you write one. It won’t take long, it will make your gift that much more valuable – and you will feel better knowing the money is in good hands.

Be skeptical of any group that isn’t clear about its goals and make sure they align with yours.

Make sure they’ve got a goal. But how are they at following through? Make sure your charities produce results. Doing this means either looking at their financial statements yourself, or relying on a watchdog organization that you trust to evaluate things like administrative costs, CEO salaries, and fund-raising expenses.

To see exactly what a charity takes in and pays out, just look at their tax return. Unlike personal or most other income tax returns, most charity returns are public information. Among the interesting things you can learn by looking at them is how much the officers of the non-profit get paid.

Another thing to look for is overhead and fund-raising costs, especially relative to the amount spent on program services. A rule of thumb used by the Better Business Bureau is that charities should spend at least two-thirds of their budget on programs. According to Charity Navigator, they should spend more than 75 percent on program services. In other words, if they take in a dollar, at least 75 cents of it should go to their charitable purpose, with no more than 25 cents going for things like salaries, fundraising expenses and administrative costs.

If you don’t have the time or inclination to pore over the financial statements of a charity, there are plenty of organizations that do it for you.

Be careful whom you’re handing money to. Always be wary of solicitations, and never be pressured into donating over the phone or at the door. If the group is legit, it shouldn’t mind waiting for you to do some research before donating.

Example: You have noticed spare change collection boxes on several local merchants’ counters that supposedly benefited the orphans of 9/11. He called the charity and within minutes found out that the charity existed but it didn’t collect money that way. In fact, it wasn’t collecting money in Canada at all. The change collection boxes were counterfeit, and they’d been sitting on various counters for months and were being periodically emptied by a thief.

Moral of the story? Don’t ever hand over money – even pocket change – without verifying whom you’re donating to, even if they claim to represent a legitimate charity. If you want to donate, send a check directly to the charity.

Follow these steps and you’ll have a good picture of a charity – why they exist, who they benefit and how they spend their money. Because the last thing you want to do is take your hard-earned money and waste it, especially when there are so many worthy causes that can use the help.


More John Thomson articles

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About the Author

John Thomson is the Okanagan's pre-eminent business columnist writing his column, Rumours and Things, for over 24 years. Plugged in to the valley's who's who, John keeps his readers coming back for more with his straight talk and optimistic perspective on where we are headed next.

When John is not writing his column, he runs a sixteen year old think tank called the Executive Roundtable and holds his popular "Thomson Presents" quarterly business speaker seminars.

Have a comment, question, or tip for John? 

E-mail John at
[email protected]
or send him a fax at 250-764-8255.

 



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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