I am delighted to be doing my third webinar for Blackbaud’s True North Webinar Series. Here are the details: Compliance and Receipting for Canadian Charities Thursday, January 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET Legal compliance is important for all Canadian organizations.…
The Canadian charity and non-profit sectors are an important part of the Canadian economy and have a huge impact on the lives of Canadians. With the registered charity sector (approximately 86,000 organizations), the public has relatively up-to-date and detailed information.…
As part of CRA’s online services for registered charities through the MyBA system, CRA had previously added an online progress tracker feature for certain online submissions. This feature was mostly inactive last year, but with the new year, it appears…
The list of municipal or public bodies performing a function of government in Canada registered as qualified donees has now increased to 555 entities. These groups, which are largely Indigenous bands but also other organizations, can issue official donation receipts…
Currently the list of “List of foreign charities that have received a gift from Her Majesty in right of Canada” only has two charities, namely: Council for Canadian American Relations and The Canada-UK Foundation. As these groups are qualified donees,…
We recently reviewed for 2018, 2019 and 2020 how much the largest 500 Canadian private foundations spent on charitable activities or gifts to qualified donees according to their T3010 filings. We also noted the amount expended on charitable activities and…
As many know, there were changes to the disbursement quota announced/proposed in the April 7, 2022, Federal Budget. Finance released draft changes on August 9, 2022, which showed that they were basically increasing the DQ from 3.5% on assets over…
Effective January 1, 2023, Blumberg Segal LLP will become Blumbergs Professional Corporation. We will still use our business name “Blumbergs” and will continue to be a law firm committed to focusing on the non-profit and charity sector. For over 38…
As we have noted before in our blog on November 28, 2022, entitled Statement by the Canada’s Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson on CRA examination will be significantly hindered by the confidentiality provisions of the ITA relating to charities, Canada’s Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson will…
The Chair of the Charity Commission of England and Wales, Orlando Fraser, says the UK’s wealthiest people are ‘not covering themselves with glory’ with their giving. In response to numerous challenges facing charities, Mr. Fraser criticized the wealthy in the…
Over the last decade, we have provided to the public CRA letters relating to a number of Canadian registered charity revocations. These letters from CRA cover many different grounds for de-registration. Some relate to relatively minor matters such as an…
The Charities Directorate of CRA has released draft guidance for “Registered charities making grants to non-qualified donees“. (PDF) The CRA is requesting public feedback on the guidance by January 31, 2023. This guidance relates to the Federal Budget 2022 and…
Here is the Blumbergs Snapshot of the Charity Sector in Ontario 2020. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2020 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 30,540 of the…
The Federal government is now providing better information on registered charities on their Open Government Portal website. Here is the description: The List of charities presents data on Canadian charities that are registered under the Income Tax Act and are…
After advocating for over a decade that the confidentiality provisions of the Income Tax Act of Canada need to be updated, Canada’s Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson has noted that the confidentiality provisions relating to registered charities, amongst other matters, will hinder their…
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently heard its first case on donor advised funds in The Joseph Lebovic Charitable Foundation v. Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto. (PDF) This is the first time a court in Canada has discussed donor…
Over the last few months, there have been many newsletters and communications dealing with the recent corporate changes in Ontario that came into effect on October 19, 2021. There is widespread misunderstanding about these changes that have left some groups…
I just reviewed a report from François Brouard, Andrew Webb, and Marc Pilon, dated November 9, 2022, entitled “Registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Association (RCAAA) List of RCAAA and issues on financial information“. They give an introduction to the regulatory requirements…
I recently checked the Advance Search page of the Charities Listing. CRA has now added another search function which divides groups into “Type of Qualified Donee,” and there are now listed namely: 1) Registered Charities (85,842 in total) 2) Registered…
The Globe and Mail on November 1, 2022, had an extensive article reviewing 20 years of financial and other information on Hockey Canada entitled Numbers game – Hockey Canada, under fire for payouts in sexual-assault claims, doesn’t disclose its audited…
Twitter has become a problematic platform with problematic leadership and very little moderation. Consequently, its future is in some doubt. If you want to keep in touch with our firm and stay on top of developments affecting Canadian non-profits and…
In a recent Federal Court of Appeal Decision, Fortius Foundation v. Canada (National Revenue), (PDF) the FCA dismissed a motion for interim relief from the charity that CRA has proposed to revoke. The charity wanted to stop CRA from taking…
Many people are quite worried about the Ontario Government’s use of the notwithstanding clause in the Keeping Students in Class Act that imposes a 4-year collective agreement on a group of workers (educational assistants, custodians and early childhood educators) that…
In our article, How much should a Canadian registered charity spend on administration (2022), we discuss how CRA has not provided guidance as to the acceptable amount that a Canadian registered charity can spend on administrative expenses, but it will…