Giving Season starts now

We must be getting near to "Giving Season." Formerly confined to the weeks between American Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, giving season is starting earlier and earlier in the year.

Proof: Retailers are offering Christmas shopping specials even as you procrastinate on your Halloween costume. And the second major philanthropy celebration of giving season 2007 (CGI was first) the Slate 60, starts on Monday.

By November, major newspapers and magazines will fill with special sections on charity and giving, the ad pages fill with heart-warming cross generational images urging you to attend to your family's estate planning needs (call your lawyer, community foundation, or money manager now), and your mail box (real and electronic) will fill with direct solicitations to give, give, give.

Tags: philanthropy, cgi, givingseason, slate