I will be delivering for the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation a full day workshop entitled “Charity Law Boot Camp: compliance and standards issues for Canadian Charities”. It will be on October 12 at Carleton University. Here is the announcement…
Today Carleton launched the Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership. You can read more about this program on the Carleton website. Here is a description of the program: “The Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership provides a rigorous preparation for…
Recently the Department of Finance requested submissions on “Strengthening Canada’s AML and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime”. I sent in a submission that focussed specifically on the vulnerabilities of charities. Here is a copy of my submission on Strengthening Canada’s AML and…
I will be speaking at the APRA conference on “Transparency in the Canadian Charity Sector – the T3010 and Beyond“ Transparency in the Canadian Charity Sector – the T3010 and Beyond Level: General Interest Presenters: Mark Blumberg, Partner, Blumberg Segal LLP…
In the US, unlike Canada, churches are not required to file the annual Form 990. The Economist just published an article ““The Catholic Church in America: Earthly concerns – The Catholic church is as big as any company in America.…
In July 2011 the CRA imposed a penalty of $174,228.08 on the Reimer Express Foundation Inc, which is a Canadian private foundation based in Winnipeg. The penalties related to certain payments that CRA characterizes as gifts to non-qualified donees. Paul…
The Charities Directorate of the CRA has posted a page on CIDA’s Sahel Crisis Matching Fund. Here is a link to the CRA’s Sahel Crisis Matching Fund page Here is the text of the page: “Sahel Crisis Matching Fund…
The Canadian government is launching a matching program for donations made by Canadians to organizations from August 7 – September 30, 2012. CIDA notes: “An estimated 18.7 million people in the Sahel region in West Africa are affected by a…
The Standing Committee on Finance Pre-Budget submission deadline for the 2013 Canadian Federal Budget has passed. I put in a brief submission with a number of recommendations including: Recommendations: 1) We need better governance in the charity sector through education…
In Edwards v. The Queen, 2012 TCC 264 (July 23, 2012) the Tax Court dealt with whether it would allow a further delay in hearing a test case related to what CRA terms an abusive gifting tax scheme. This case…
If you take a look at a Canadian registered charity on the CRA Charities Directorate database you will note the option to click “Quick View” and it provides a better user interface to review certain information on the T3010. To…
Here is an article in the Globe and Mail entitled “Ontario universities promise funding guide amid Carleton donor backlash” which again discusses strings attached to major gifts. In the article it discusses how some universities will come together to discuss…
Here is a copy of a letter from the Charities Directorate to the Hindu Temple Society of Canada. It is interesting for a number of reasons in that it discusses penalties for making gifts to non-qualified donees and the imposition…
Lord Hodgson has now published the report of his Review, and it has been laid before Parliament. It is entitled “Trusted and Independent: Giving charity back to charities – Review of the Charities Act 2006”. There is also a report…
A UK law firm Farrer & Co recently published an article entitled “Tax reputation for high-profile individuals and corporations – being ‘legal’ is not enough”. Although it is a UK article it provides some important points for Canadians who are…
With the recent release of two Canadian aid workers who were working for the Norwegian Refugee Council there has been discussion about whether Canadian charities or aid workers should work in places that are in the midst of conflict. Humanitarian…
Canada has sanctions against a number of countries. These countries include: Burma / Myanmar, Belarus, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Liberia, North Korea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt and Zimbabwe. Canadian…
Here is some great advice on some of the advantages and dangers of charities using social media as well as what you can do to mitigate such risk. First of all I should admit that I did not even know…
The CRA recently released a press release that “Stéphane Saintonge, one of the promoters of an art-donation scheme to the municipality of Larouche in the Saguenay region, pleaded guilty to a tax evasion charge today before the Court of Quebec…
According to the Globe and Mail “An environmental charity at the centre of controversy surrounding political activism and foreign donations is taking the rare step of releasing a detailed account of grant recipients and international donors in an effort to…
The CBC and various newspapers have articles on abuse of children by volunteers involved with Scouts Canada. CBC notes “A review of how Scouts Canada handled allegations of sexual abuse by its group leaders has found that dozens of cases…
The New York Times discusses the conviction of Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former cardinal’s aide, in Philadelphia and describes it as “becoming the first senior official of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States convicted of covering up…
We have noted for a number of years that almost $500 million in “false” receipts have been issued. These are fraudulent receipts – no complicated scheme is involved and typically is no donation at all to a charity. (These are…
The Charity Finance Group is a group of charity finance managers based in the UK. They prepared recently a “Guide on Charity Fraud: A guide for the trustees and managers of charities”. Canadian charities may find the free guide helpful…