The Government of Canada recently announced that it will now be using the Market Basket Measure (“MBM”) to measure Canada’s poverty line. Previously, Canada did not have an official measure of poverty; rather MBM was used along with Low Income…
On Monday November 19, 2018 I presented to the Special Senate Committee on the Charity Sector in Ottawa. My presentation dealt with a number of areas especially transparency of non-profits and registered charities, good charity regulation, and political activities by…
Here is our article Finance 2018 Fall Economic Statement and its Impact on Canadian Charities, Journalism and Social Finance.
There have been a number of articles in the media on a Catholic school in Toronto called St. Michael’s College School over the last week and a number of recent incidents involving sexual assault and what the National Post describes as…
Here is the new Canadian Charity Legal Checklist. For those who are interested in reviewing legal compliance for their registered charity they may find the checklist helpful.
Canadian registered charities must file their Registered Charity Information Return (Form T3010) on an annual basis within 6 months of their fiscal year end. Generally, CRA will send the T3010 package (which includes the peel-off labels) to the Charity’s mailing…
The Companies Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services (“MGS”) is very heavily backlogged at the moment. Estimated times for processing applications that generally would have taken 6 – 8 weeks are now taking 4 or more months! …
The CBC today covered the issue of Canadian pro sports teams and their fundraising charities in “Pro sports charities hoarding cash, overspending on fundraising, watchdog says“. This is a follow on to the coverage by the Toronto Star from 2010. There…
There have been large changes over the last week in the rules for Canadian registered charities and political activities. Here is our article Finance Changes to Political Activities and Canadian Charities. If you are interested in the issue of Canadian charities…
Even with the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (“ONCA”) looming, we are still seeing recently incorporated non-profits that are set-up under the Ontario Corporations Act (“OCA”). Here is an article on some of the reasons why this is generally not a good…
On October 25, 2018 the Department of Finance posted Legislative Proposals Notice of Ways and Means Motions and Explanatory Notes which among other things change the rules for Canadian charities carrying out political activities. Essentially the Income Tax Act is…
For many reasons a charity may decide that it is beneficial to change its fiscal year. CRA has guidance on how to request such a change and now CRA has published an infographic on the topic.
Here is Blumbergs' submission to the Department of Finance on their recent Draft Legislative Proposals Regarding Political Activities of Charities. For further information on political activities and Canadian registered charities see our directory of blogs and documents.
We launched today at the Blumbergs' Charity Law Institute 2018 the Blumbergs Canadian Charity Sector Snapshot 2016. It has some interesting statistics on the Canadian charitable sector from the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return filings. Some of the highlights of the…
Join us on Tuesday October 16, 2018 in Toronto for a financial capacity building workshop with Gordon Holley from Humanity Financial Management. Gordon will show organization leaders what they can do to increase the financial capacity of their charities and…
The Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency today released guidance on “Charities and public policy advocacy“. This is on the heels of the Finance Department releasing draft legislative proposals recently and requesting comments by October 13, 2018. CRA notes that…
If your Canadian registered charity conducts foreign activities there are rules that apply. If you are having trouble explaining that to foreign groups that you work with you might find our article “Canadian Charities and Foreign Activities – A Very…
CRA is asking for some volunteers to provide feedback on their Charities IT Modernization Project (CHAMP) T3010 system. If you are interested here is the information from CRA. I understand that there is limited space for participants at this point but…
[FURTHER UPDATED ARTICLE: Foreign Universities Applying to be Registered Universities in Canada: What we have learned.] Here is our updated article on Foreign Universities Applying for Prescribed University Status in Canada 2018. If your university or alma mater is outside…
I felt I had to write an article because the myth that low overhead is good is so widespread and pernicious. I originally wrote the article in 2008 and updated it in 2018. When a charity does financial statements that…
The CRA announced today that they are delaying the Charities IT Modernization Project (CHAMP) till June 2019. When CHAMP is launched, charities will no longer be able to make application by paper application and will have to use the CHAMP system.…
Finance has put out a press release that it will be consulting on the new political activity proposals that were released on Friday. Here is the text of the release: Consulting Canadians on Draft Legislative Proposals Regarding Political Activities of…
On Friday, September 14, 2018 at 5:01PM the Department of Finance released the “Legislative Proposals Notice of Ways and Means Motions” and also the “Explanatory Notes” on their website. We will be commenting on these changes to the Income Tax Act over…
Here is our article Ontario rules change for compensation of certain directors of non-profit corporations that are charities.