Karen Holland — Co-Founder

I am the Founder of GiftingSense.org, an award-winning nonprofit that makes learning about money immediately helpful to school-aged youth. Thinking before buying is an easy-to-learn yet powerful (and therefore, sticky) life skill. We teach 10-18-year-olds how to ask and answer simple questions about typical childhood, tween, or teen purchases before spending their money or anyone else's. We do this in free, interactive, hands-on, in-classroom workshops at schools and community centers, in person or online. Workshop participants experience firsthand how anyone can get and use (at first basic) financial information to help shape their future. It only takes minutes to avoid disappointment, reduce waste, improve family harmony, and protect the planet when you're in the habit of spending with a plan. After a career at the Royal Bank of Canada (in Human Resources, Sovereign Risk, Financial Institutions, and Corporate Treasury), I became a mother and witnessed unintentional but nevertheless terrible waste in the form of underappreciated birthday and holiday gifts for children. At the same time, news headlines were increasingly focused on rising household debt-to-income ratios, and I was simultaneously often in the presence of adults who were openly vocal about how they wished they had been taught more about money when they were young. Working with digital development professionals, teachers, parents, and kids, I created Gifting Sense® and the DIMS - DOES IT MAKE SENSE?® Score Calculator - to turn shopping (back-to-school, birthday or holiday gift shopping, even answering the question "What should we have for dinner?") into natural but structured opportunities to learn about money - during the time in young lives when our money personalities are still being developed. The timing is key because the unconscious habits and beliefs we develop about money during childhood inform how we think and act with money our entire lives. Instead of having to work to uncover and then re-engineer less-than-productive money habits as adults, why not just create circumstances under which young people develop productive money habits in the first place? Parents, teachers, and personal finance experts say we are changing the conversations families are having about money. But don't take anyone else's word for it - the next time your kids or students want something, ask them to calculate the DIMS - DOES IT MAKE SENSE?® Score, and see if we can’t help you give them the habit of thinking before buying - otherwise known as one of the best gifts ever! #GiveMoneySmartz

Stackforce AI infers this person is a leader in nonprofit financial education, specializing in youth engagement and financial literacy.

Location: Greater Toronto Area, Canada

Experience: 0 mo