I will be giving a presentation to the CGA-Ontario on The Top Compliance Issues Facing Not For Profit Organizations and How to Deal with Them at the CGAO Not-for-Profit Symposium Flyer. You can obtain more information on the CGA-Ontario Not-for-Profit…
In 2010 the UK government introduced measures dealing with “Payments to overseas bodies” by UK charities. The requirements seem common sense to me and I have reproduced them below. For Canadian charities interested in understanding their obligations when operating abroad…
The UK has introduced in 2010 a “fit and proper persons test” for people involved with the management of charities that apply for Gift Aid. “Factors that may lead to HMRC deciding that a manager is not a fit and…
According to CRA for 2010 there were claims on abusive charity gifting tax schemes of over $320 million. While a lot better than the 2006 numbers of 1.3 billion – it is still a significant problem. According to CRA the…
The Quebec Government has published a draft entitled “Charities – Governance and Best Management Practices”. They are requesting feedback by June 25, 2011. Here is a link to obtaining the document: http://www-es.criq.qc.ca/pls/owa_es/ncw_enquete_publique.liste?p_lang=en&p_type=enquete Here is a reference to the document in…
Here is a copy of Charities Connection 6 from the Charities Directorate of CRA. Charities Connection 6 from the Charities Directorate of CRA
Here are some of the upcoming FREE Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) webinars on appropriate receipting and fundraising with links to the registration pages that I will be delivering. The CLIP program of Capacity Builders is supported by a contribution…
According to an article in the Ottawa Citizen on May 8, 2011 a Canadian charity that was recently revoked, was revoked because of involvement with terrorism. On globalphilanthropy.ca we noted on April 21, 2011 that the WORLD ISLAMIC CALL SOCIETY…
Reporter David Baines of the Vancouver Sun has written another article on Blake Bromley entitled “Vancouver ‘expert’ in charity law says CRA is targeting his clients”. For the full article see: Vancouver ‘expert’ in charity law says CRA is targeting…
While Canadians are debating whether there has been a drop in donations in Canada (I say not when you exclude reductions in abusive schemes) while others say perhaps a 5% drop in donations, there was a shocking article recently in…
It looks like the Vancouver Sun is doing another series on Blake Bromley and his use of charities. The article is entitled “Charitable donation expert says he heeds law, not CRA ‘technical rulings”. I think there are a few concerns…
Here is the Blumbergs Canadian Charity Law List for April 2011 – lots of interesting legal and ethical issues in the Canada charity sector and elsewhere. Blumbergs Newsletter Blumbergs Canadian Charity Law List – April 2011 Misuse of Charity Assets…
Here is a list of Canadian Charities Recently Revoked by CRA for cause -April 2011. The list also has the names of the directors of those charities. Charities that are concerned about their reputations may want to think twice before…
The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy Canada (IRFAN-Canada) has had its registered charity status revoked for failing to keep adequate books and records of its foreign activities. They had their receipting privileges suspended last year because according…
Here are some free archived webinars – each approximately 1 hour in length on Canadian charities and foreign activities. If your charity conducts foreign activities these webinars will help in understanding some of the compliance issues. Free Archived Webinars on…
I will be presenting to The Canadian Institute’s Advanced Forum on Government Relations and Lobbying a presentation on “Charities and Lobbying: Ensuring the Sector’s Views are Heard on Funding and Policy” on June 8, 2011. This is a two day…
The Charity Law Information program has posted various videos at These videos came from a conference entitled “Being Good and Doing Good” which was held in Toronto in 2010. Here is a little blurb on the Charity Law Information…
I have been blogging about C-470 since March of 2010 with many concerns about the process in which the bill was forwarded and the content of the bill. When this current election was called C-470 died on the order paper. …
The New York Times, in an article entitled “Madonna’s Charity Fails in Bid to Finance School”, discusses how Madonna has abandoned her efforts to build an expensive school in Malawi after investing 4 million in the prepatory work to the…
In this 2004 case a BC lawyer is charged with 23 counts of tax evasion and making false or deceptive statements with respect to certain income tax returns and a complicated transaction involving charities. In this decision of the Provincial…
The 2011 Alberta budget has a section in it warning Albertans about abusive charitable gifting schemes that offer a person tax savings that are greater than the “investment” by the taxpayer. The government is very direct and describes these as…
The Civicus World Assembly 2011 will be held in Montreal around September 8-12, 2012. This is a great worldwide gathering of NGOs. For those interested in development as well as civil society this is a great conference to network and…
Here is an interesting press release from the Humanitarian Coalition on “All aid dollars raised support survivors of disaster in Japan”. www.humanitariancoalition.ca PRESS RELEASE HUMANITARIAN COALITION: All aid dollars raised support survivors of disaster in Japan March 18, 2011 –…
There was an article in the Globe and Mail entitled “Are charities taking advantage of the urge to help Japan?” I think that this article misses a number of very important points. I am not sure why the Globe and…