[Update for OCA corporations at ] The COVID-19 crisis is forcing some non-profit organizations and registered charities to rethink the timing and manner of conducting their annual general meeting of members (AGM). Every organization is different, and a one-size-fits-all…
We have written about 2 recent notices from the Ontario Public Guardian and Trustee (“PGT”) relating to restricted funds and the pandemic. These are Ontario PGT has issued a “Statement on Accessing Restricted Purpose Trust Funds Prior to Obtaining a Court…
Below is the CRA Charities Directorate “What’s New” which discusses the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and how to apply for it. It also reminds people that the Charities Directorate Call Centre has resumed operations. Here is the text of the…
The Ontario Public Guardian and Trustees has circulated today to some charity lawyers some additional information on dealing with restricted gifts during the COVID-19 emergency. You can see the full text below. Here is our original discussion of a notice…
The CRA has announced on their webpage that their call centre is now open: The Charities Directorate call centre has resumed its operations in order to address any questions you may have. The hours of operation are Monday to Friday…
We do regular updates of the portal CharityData.ca. Recently we just added more T3010 data including updated partial 2019 data and all of 2018 data. We are now using 2018 data for searches and there are about 84,000 charities on…
With changes in May 2019 in which CRA removed about 10 years of public information from the Charities Listing, the differences between the CRA’s Charities Listing and the Blumbergs’ CharityData.ca portal have grown. This article will try to show you…
The Canadian Federal government announced today a loosening of the rules relating to journalism subsidies and also the new qualified donee category “Canadian journalism organization”. This will make it easier for some organizations to obtain subsidies. Here is the full…
Most Canadians don’t understand how diverse the Canadian charity sector is. The public sometimes has stereotypes of charities – those helping the poor are viewed as charities or registered charities. This stereotype or misunderstanding of the charity sector often benefits…
The CRA’s Charities Directorate is currently closed, however, registered charities can still access online services through what we affectionately call the CHAMP system but CRA now refers to as “Digital Services for Charities through the MyBA portal”. While registered charities…
[UPDATED ARTICLE] Here is our article COVID-19 and AGMs for Federal non-profit corporation under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act It discusses some of the factors to be considered in determining whether your organization is required to hold an AGM during…
As everyone knows the CRA Charities Directorate is currently closed. I have been getting requests for data on Canadian charities by charities, researchers and others. Typically, I just tell them to contact CRA who can send the data for free…
I have very little formal training in data and statistics. I am a lawyer, but I have always been frustrated that very few people were using the very important data set from the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return that is…
At this point in time, we are recommending that all charities sign up for CRA’s MyBA system, as it allows organizations to submit T3010 filings and to complete other transactions or make changes with CRA via this online tool. This…
Many people at home right now have some time on their hands and some are thinking about updating their wills. Some don’t have wills at all and for others what they have is outdated. While we used to do wills…
Today the Federal government released two documents. One was entitled Government provides further flexibility for employers to access the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and the other Additional Details on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. Essentially the Federal government is making some…
The CRA’s Charities Directorate is currently closed, however, registered charities can still access online services through the new CHAMP system. While registered charities may not have previously accessed this system, which launched June 2019, now may be a good time…
In light of the COVID-19 crisis and the need for social distancing, CRA has announced that it will temporarily be accepting electronic signatures. See the full text of CRA’s announcement below: Electronic signatures: CRA and COVID-19 Effective immediately, CRA will…
This is one of those posts that will probably be of interest to very few people. Many have probably not thought of the issue of electronic signatures (or e-signatures) for filings with Corporations Canada. Others may have thought about it…
Blumbergs will soon be releasing a large number of FAQ pages on our website specifically for common questions and issues affecting Canadian registered charities and non-profit corporations during the COVID-19 crisis. In the meantime, here are some of the FAQs…
On April 1, 2020, the Government of Canada announced that it is extending the deadline for filing annual returns for federal corporations. Annual returns that are typically due between February 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020 can now be filed…
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 government has passed an Emergency Order (PDF) that will allow all corporations under the Ontario Corporations Act (OCA) and Ontario Business Corporations Act (OBCA) to hold meetings of directors, shareholders, and members virtually (i.e., electronically or by telephone). …
On March 28, 2020 we blogged about “There will be an extension for incorporated non-profits to file T2 and all NPOs that need to file T1044″. We noted that there would be an extension of the T2 Corporation Income…