How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead? June 2010 by Mark Blumberg
Here is a copy of my article “How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead?” which was just published in the Canadian Donor’s Guide.
Avoiding ‘Charity’ Scams
With generous tax benefits and 86,000 charities, it’s not surprising that some people try to abuse the system. Blumberg’s SmartGiving.ca helps Canadians understand how to avoid being duped by a charity scam. We also help foundations, philanthropists and corporations with grantmaking and due diligence on charities.
Air India Flight 182 Report – discusses terrorist financing and Canadian charities
The long anticipated report by Commissioner John C Major entitled “Air India Flight 182: A Canadian Tragedy” was released today. The report is located at: http://www.majorcomm.ca/en/reports/finalreport/ Furthermore, Volume 5 deals with terrorist financing at and specifically there is a…
CRA discusses Third-Party Civil Penalties in letter to Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners
CRA in a letter discusses certain issues that were posed at the 2008 STEP National Conference. Question 12 dealt with Third-Party Civil Penalties and it noted that as of April 21, 2008 12 such cases existed of which “2 relate…
Charity Gifting Tax Shelters in Canada – another side
I frequently receive e-mails from people, or relatives of people, who have been involved in an abusive charity gifting tax shelter. I thought I would share one of those e-mails and also my response. Abusive charity tax shelters – it…
CRA issues news release entitled “Protecting the money you give to charity”
This press release from CRA reminds donors that they can use CRA’s database of charities to check whether a charity is registered and also that CRA deregisters charities who are seriously non-compliant. News release Protecting the money you give…
CRA announces funding to help Canadian charities on fundraising, transparency and false receipting
The Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue, announced today contribution funding for seven new projects dealing with fundraising, transparency and false receipting under the Charities Partnership and Outreach Program (CPOP) of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). One of the…
Kossow case -CRA wins motion to stop delay in Ideas Canada Foundation tax shelter scheme
Many people have quite rightly asked “why does it take so long for a charity tax shelter scheme to ever make it to court?”. “Why does a 2001 donation only get to court in 2010?”. For example, we recently had…
Another class action lawsuit against abusive charity tax shelter scheme – more lawyers are sued
Another class action lawsuit has been launched in Canada with respect to a charity donation tax shelter arrangement. The class action law suit concerns Donations Canada Charitable Donation program which was a program marketed by Parklane Financial Group Limited. According…
The CRA revokes the registered status of the Canadian Lacrosse Association
The CRA revoked the registered status of the Canadian Lacrosse Association “For issuing more than $60.7 million in donation receipts for abusive transactions arising from its role as a participant in tax shelter arrangements that, in the opinion of the…
Free Archived Webinars 24/7 on Canadian charity law and compliance issues – by Mark Blumberg
Here are some archived webinars on charity compliance issues for Canadian registered charities. These webinars which are now archived were prepared as part of the Charity Law Information Program (CLIP). They are available for free. CLIP is supported by a…
CRA presentation “Major Non-Compliance Issues” by Danie Huppé-Cranford for ICFO May 2010
Here is a copy of the powerpoint slides from a presentation delivered by Danie Huppé-Cranford to the International Committee on Fundraising Organizations (ICFO) Annual General Meeting, May 14, 2010 entitled “Compliance Overview – Major Non-Compliance Issues”.
Blumbergs Canadian Charity Law List – May 2010
Here is the Blumbergs Canadian Charity Law List – May 2010. My apologies for the length of this newsletter – it is the March, April and May newsletter in one! As well quite a bit has happened recently and I…
Adomphwe, R.K. v. The Queen (TCC) – Canadian case on purchasing receipts and charity fraud
This case is interesting because it is about a simple scheme that involved people buying from tax preparers charity tax receipts for 10% of the face value of the donation receipts. This is not the usual complicated tax frauds involving…
Winnipeg Police suggestions “Protect Yourself Against Charity Frauds”
Here is a short list of suggestions from the Winnipeg Police “Protect Yourself Against Charity Frauds” Protect Yourself Against Charity Frauds To protect yourself from fraud, follow these tips before you donate. Learn and confirm ?Before donating, confirm that the…
CRA revokes charitable status of Henvey Inlet First Nation Community Support Organization
The Canada Revenue Agency announced the revocation today of the charitable status of Henvey Inlet First Nation Community Support Organization. Apparently issued $44 million in receipts. Apparently transferred 99% of the receipted amount to the tax shelter promoters as fundraising…
CRA revokes the charitable status of Canadian Charity “The Orion Foundation”
The CRA announced today the revocation of charitable status of The Orion Foundation. Receipted $91 million dollars. Spent $70,000 on charitable activities. Who would run a charity like this? The directors were according to the 2008 T3010 information on the…
US lawyer facing 10 years for tax, charity fraud
I thought this short article was interesting. “Karoly had steered a $500,000 donation he made to the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation to his church – which forwarded most of it back to Karoly.” Lawyer facing 10 years for tax, charity…
“Dodging dubious donations – from yachts to barrels of books”
Here is an article entitled “Dodging dubious donations – from yachts to barrels of books” by John Webster Hochstadt who is the editor of Gift Planning in Canada. It discusses the importance of having good policies such as a gift…
CRA publishes Questions and Answers on 2010 Budget and Disbursement Quota changes
The CRA has released a Question & Answer on the Disbursement Quota Reform contained in the Canadian 2010 Federal Budget. You can read the Q&A at Here is the text of the CRA Q&A: 1. Did the 2010 federal…
MANGO’s Top Tips on the Warning Signs of Fraud in Charities
Here is Mango (Management Accounting for Non-governmental Organisations) Top Tips on the Warning Signs of Fraud in Charities – MANGO is a UK organization that provides valuable training and resources in financial management. Top Tips on the Warning Signs of…
Latest Charity Tax Shelter Information from CRA – further decline in charity tax shelters
In Cathy Hawara’s presentation to the Canadian Bar Association on April 30, 2010 in slide 15 she notes the most up to date statistics on charitable gifting tax shelters. “The scope of the problem is significant; the CRA estimates that…
CRA Charities Directorate in 2010 – Cathy Hawara presentation to National Charity Law Symposium
Here is a copy of the presentation by Cathy Hawara to the National Charity Law Symposium in Toronto April 30, 2010. The presentation provides an update and also discussion of number of current and important topics. Here is the presentation…
How does a Canadian charity determine appropriate compensation for an executive of the charity?
There has been some public concern expressed about executive compensation at charities. It is important that charities have appropriate mechanisms to ensure that the charity is neither paying executives too little or too much for the services provided. If you…
Toronto Star article “CRA targets David Singh’s charitable tax shelters”
Here is an article by James Daw on two registered charities that recently lost their charitable status for involvement with tax shelters. Although these charity gifting tax shelter “charities” are being attacked by CRA and falling like flies there are…