For three decades, Harvey McKinnon has been one of Canada’s premier charitable fundraisers. The Vancouver author, documentary filmmaker, and motivational speaker has helped generate hundreds of millions of dollars for many nonprofit groups ranging from Amnesty International to the Marmot Recovery Foundation to UNICEF.

One would expect that McKinnon would be familiar with all aspects of philanthropy. But after he and a friend, Vancouver business consultant and long-time volunteer Azim Jamal, decided to cowrite a book on the subject, he was surprised to learn of new ways of giving back to the community.

“I have always been interested in why people give and how they give,” McKinnon told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “I decided to do a lot of research about five years ago, and realized to some extent that my definition of giving was fairly narrow. I was just thinking of time and money.”

The new edition of their book, The Power of Giving: How Giving Back Enriches Us All (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, $25), cites research showing that...

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