The Icelandic Canadian - 01.05.2008, Blaðsíða 12

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 61 #2
and contributors. Both Carnegie and
Donald K understood the nature of philan-
thropy.
In this spirit of philanthropy, Donald
K contributed financially to the Valuing
the Icelandic Presence campaign at the
University of Manitoba. This helped
ensure the future of the Chair of Icelandic
founded in 1951 and the Icelandic
Collection in the Elizabeth Dafoe Library.
As well, he supported the Future Fund
Capital Campaign for Logberg-
Heimskringla (1888 and 1886), the oldest
continually published ethnic newspaper in
North America. Recently, he established
the Donald K. Johnson Student Leadership
Award in Engineering at the University of
Manitoba, providing financial support for
the Senior Stick and Vice-Sticks, and the
Donald K. Johnson Student Centre.
Now, Donald is poised for his greatest
challenge: to have the federal government
remove tax barriers for gifts of publicly
listed securities to registered charities. The
Globe and Mail quotes Donald, “I realized
if you changed the policy you would open
the door to all kinds of donations from
entrepreneurs, whose wealth was tied up in
the companies they owned.” Many are
involved in this twelve year lobbying cam-
paign. In 1997, Finance Minister Paul
Martin cut the capital gains tax by 50 per-
cent and, finally, in 2006, Finance Minister
Paul B. and Fjola Johnson
Jim Flaherty made them totally exempt.
Canada’s charities are the beneficiaries. For
this achievement, Donald was named the
Globe and Mail’s Nation Builder for 2007.
Donald has received many awards over
the years: Outstanding Volunteer Award,
National Society of Fundraising Executives
(1997), Friends of the Association of Gift
Planners (1997), Richard Ivey School of
Business Distinguished Service (1998), and
Arbor Award for Outstanding Volunteer
Service to the University of Toronto
(1999), the Edmund C. Bovey Award
(2007) for outstanding and longtime sup-
port of the arts, Honorary Doctor of Laws
Degree from the University of Western
Ontario (June, 2007), and the forthcoming
Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from
the University of Manitoba (May, 2008).
He is a Member of the Order of Canada
(2005) for philanthropy.
THE LEGACY
Legacy is defined as something trans-
mitted by or received from an ancestor or
predecessor or from the past. Donald K is
of 100 percent Icelandic ancestry and can
trace his family back more than 1100 years.
He embodies the characteristics of the saga
heroes, but with the tenacity and optimism
Margret Reykdal