Every year people all over the world donate money to charity or volunteer their time to help the needy. These selfless acts are wonderful and their donations are highly valued. As charitable giving evolves, it moves from well-intentioned involvement to commitment and that commitment becomes philanthropy. You may be asking yourself, “What’s the difference? I give money and I lend a hand.”…but that is just the beginning of the philanthropic journey. Philanthropy; an INSPIRED Process is an important guide for those seeking to grow from their involved giving to truly committed philanthropy. My goal in writing the book was to convince just one more executive or business leader to take that step and impact the world in a great way. Through my research for the book, I found that philanthropy, like most anything that is worth accomplishing in life, is a process. It is an inspired, step by step, personal journey to an unknown yet extremely rewarding end. Research for this book was conducted through a series of interviews with some of Canada’s business leaders as well as great philanthropists worldwide. In the book we discuss what sets the great contemporary philanthropists apart from their former business counterparts and what the inflection point was for them. Icons such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, Bono, Bob Geldoff and Richard Branson made a conscious choice to give back to our world. Their decision became the turning point in their transformation from great leaders to icons. -Mike Skypnek