The CRA has revoked its first two registered charities in over a year. Actually, over 13 months not one charity has been revoked. Some think that if the CRA is not revoking any charities that is a good news story. …
The CRA has updated their guidance CG-027, Public policy dialogue and development activities by charities. There were only minor changes to the guidance to provide greater clarity. The CRA notes that “This guidance explains how the CRA will administer…
CRA released today the updated guidance CG-002, Canadian registered charities carrying on activities outside Canada. Essentially, this guidance deals with Canadian charities conducting foreign activities. About 5000 Canadian registered charities conduct foreign activities every year. Over the next 10 years…
Here is a description of the presentation on November 24, 2020: Lunch ’N Learn Panel: WE Have a Problem Jaya Mootoo , Ann Rosenfield, MBA, CFRE , Hawa Y. Mire, MA , Mark Blumberg, LLB, LLM, TEP Description:…
The Canada Gazette on October 17, 2020 published the names of over 170 Canadian registered charities that had requested voluntary revocation. Here is the list. The last voluntary revocations that happened were on March 28, 2020. The last “failure to file”…
A lot has happened since we originally published this article on September 4th so here is an updated version below. The WE Charity scandal has now been going on for over 3 months. It has caused the Minister…
While restrictions are easing up and businesses are getting back to work, now is still a good time for registered charities to get on to CRA’s new Digital Services for Charities. CRA launched this new online services a year ago…
The Charities Directorate of CRA sent out an email today to their electronic mailing list. The full text is below and our comments are in [brackets and italics]. If you want the boring stuff from CRA then you should definitely…
For almost a year now (long before COVID) CRA has not revoked one single charity as a result of audit! Admittedly CRA typically in a year revokes only 20-30 charities for all sorts of problems from inappropriate receipting, terrorism, lack…
The WE Charity scandal has now been going on for over 2 months. A few weeks ago the Minister of Finance resigned and parliament was prorogued. Some will say this has nothing to do with WE Charity. I will leave…
Recently, the CBC published an article entitled Charity Gospel for Asia files for creditor protection after $170M lawsuit. It is interesting that people have not heard of Gospel for Asia including those who have worked in the international development sector for…
When CRA audits charities they typically send a long questionnaire to be filled in by the charity on many different issues. With some questionnaires, it is clear that they have a particular interest in a certain area such as foreign…
With the current focus on WE Charity and the CSSG program, there is a lot that can be learned about transparency in the charity sector. I will now discuss directors’ changes and the importance of notifying Corporations Canada if you…
Every year we do a 3-hour course on transparency and the T3010. This year there has been a lot of interest in transparency around charities. On August 5, 2020, at 1 PM we will have our course Transparency in the…
Here is my Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget on Transparency and Accountability in the Non-profit and Charity Sector. I provide 10 recommendations and the top two are: Recommendation 1: That the Federal…
We have recently added 2 new full-day courses namely Fundamentals of Running a Canadian Charitable Organization/Operating Charity and Fundamentals of Running a Private or Public Foundation in Canada. These are in-depth courses which will help those who run operating charities…
CRA has just published its plan for the resumption of full activities. Here is one pertaining to the Legislation and Policy Branch (Charities). My comments and concerns are below. Highlights are: “Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs Branch (LPRAB) (July –…
A qualified donee is an organization that can issue official donation receipts for gifts it receives from individuals and corporations. It can also receive gifts from registered charities. A qualified donee can be: a registered charity (including a registered national…
Here is our Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Legal Checklist for Working with Intermediaries in Canada 2020. It will be of help to Canadian registered charities that work with/hire non-charities such as businesses, non-profits or individuals to carry out work for the…
We have just prepared a new course on Canadian Charities Working with Non-Charities in Canada. Here is information on the new course and how to register. I was quite disappointed that certain organizations have misrepresented the ability of Canadian charities…
The Guardian recently had an article “UK charity failed to safeguard aid worker killed in Syria – report“. The article deals with Alan Henning, a UK volunteer who went to Syria and was captured and beheaded by ISIS. Here is the…
It has been over 4 weeks that many businesses, non-profits and charities in Canada have either been shut down or are trying hard to adjust to the frequently changing environment. The initial adrenaline has worn off, the days are melting…
Finance today, April 1, 2020, released further information on wage subsidies for business, non-profits and charities. The wage subsidy is about $71 billion in total so it is quite important and we are now getting a better idea of what…
The Ontario Public Guardian and Trustee has issued a “Statement on Accessing Restricted Purpose Trust Funds Prior to Obtaining a Court Order During the COVID19 Pandemic“. Thank you to the CCCC for putting up the statement. The statement will…