Due Diligence or Die: Investment Committee Governance – A Foundation Investment Forum (London)Oct19
I will be presenting at this conference on “Charity Gifting Tax Shelters: From Tax Avoidance to Tax Evasion and Fraud”.
Ethics and Canadian Charities
It is not good enough the Canadian charities just follow the law but there are important ethical considerations as well as standards that Canadian nonprofits and charities need to be aware of.
Understanding CIDA’s Matching Funds for Pakistan Flood Relief Fund – an article by Mark Blumberg
The recent floods in Pakistan have resulted in CIDA setting up a matching fund and here is my article entitled Understanding CIDA’s Matching Funds for Pakistan Flood Relief Fund.
OCIC Global Citizens Forum in Toronto Oct 14 and 15, 2010 – capacity building for international dev.
Once every three years the Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) organizes its Global Citizens Forum. It promises to be a great two day conference in Toronto on international development, global citizenship and humanitarian assistance. http://www.ocic.on.ca/Page.asp?IdPage=9241&WebAddress=ocic Here is the 4…
CIDA’s advice on ensuring that your donation to flood relief in Pakistan is spent well
In CIDA’s Frequently Asked Questions on the Pakistan flooding here is the CIDA advice on picking a good charity to donate to. Also CIDA correctly discourages in kind gifts in favour of cash. How do I ensure that my donation…
Educaloi Conference on Plain Language in Montreal – October 21-22, 2010
Éducaloi is a Canadian charity whose mission is to “inform Quebecers of their rights and obligations by providing quality legal information in everyday language.” They are having a conference on plain language October 21-22 in Montreal. They have a huge…
Canadian Fundraising & Philanthropy article on GlobalPhilanthropy.ca (TM)
There was an article this week by Janet Gadeski, Editor of Canadian Fundraising & Philanthropy talking about GlobalPhilanthropy.ca (TM), its roots and mission.
Abusive Charity Gifting Schemes in Canada suffer decline in value and numbers in 2009
It is good to see that in 2009 the problem of abusive charity gifting tax shelters has been further reduced. Here are the statistics from CRA: 2009: Number of “Donors”/Investors: 10,813 donors Amount of “donations”: $ 285,946,839 Number of schemes:…
Bill C-470 Canadian salary cap for registered charities – simply the wrong approach
A bill to impose a salary cap on Canadian registered charities has passed 2nd reading and will shortly be reviewed by the Finance Committee of the House of Commons. As they say, there is usually one simple solution to a…
CRA provides information on Pakistani disaster relief for Canadian charities and donors
Here is a link to CRA’s new page “Floods in Pakistan” It also has links to CIDA’s matching program.
CIDA Announces Pakistan Flood Relief matching program for Canadian charities
CIDA has announced that it will have a matching fund for donations raised by Canadian charities for the Pakistan relief from August 2 to September 12. The Pakistan Floods Relief Fund will not be given to each charity that raised…
Assessing the Contribution of Faith-Based Organisations in Development – CIVICUS 2010
Here is a copy of a powerpoint from a workshop at the CIVICUS World Assembly entitled “Assessing the Contribution of Faith-Based Organisations in Development: Mythical or Real?”. The workshop was led by Nida Kirmani and Comfort Davis of the Religions…
Canadian Charities that Operate Abroad listed by Country and Region based on 2008 T3010 information
This document contains a list of countries and regions in which Canadian charities are conducting foreign activities. The information comes from the 2008 T3010 Registered Charity Information Return and specifically Question C5: “For programs the charity managed directly, outside of…
10 Principles of Good Practice for the Intelligent Funder – from SCVO and CIVICUS
Here is an interesting guide for those involved with funding NGOs around the world. Don’t be put off by the title – you may still be intelligent even if you don’t follow all the principles! Here are the ten…
Mark Blumberg on Global TV discussing how to decide if a Canadian charity is worthy of support
Here is the segment (2.5 minutes) with Sean O’Shea, a consumer reporter for Global TV. Mark Blumberg, moi, is being interviewed along with much more serious, important, and influential characters such as Marcel Lauzière of Imagine Canada
Christopher Paterson v. MNR – person loses right to EFILE after filing inflated donation receipts
The case involves the CRA denial of EFILING privileges to Mr. Christopher Paterson, an individual who prepares clients’ returns because he assisted them with a “scheme” in which the applicant “accepted money from taxpayers who wished to “donate” to these…
Canada Revenue Agency deregistering or revoking record number of questionable Canadian charities
Here is a list with the 2008 – 2011 deregistrations with scanned copies of the actual letters sent by CRA to the charities outlining their reasons for revoking or annulling their charitable status. In some cases there are links to…
CRA’s new Guidance on foreign activities by Canadian charities
CRA has recently released a new guidance called “Canadian Registered Charities Carrying out Activities Outside Canada”. Although the name suggests “foreign activities” this document deals with a lot more than foreign activities. It covers the relationship between a Canadian charity…
Alberta Fundraising Registration, Rules and Standards of Practice
Alberta requires some charities to register under its Charitable Fund-raising Act including those who raise $25,000 or more per year, or use a fundraising business to fundraise for the charity. There are exclusions if your charity only fundraises from family…
Advocacy and Political Activities for Canadian International Development Charities
Here is a copy of my presentation to the Ontario Council For International Cooperation (OCIC) on “Advocacy and Political Activities for Canadian International Development Charities: Some Legal and Ethical Perspectives”. Canadian_Charities_and_Political_Activities_-_Presentation_to_OCIC_2010.pdf
Innovative Gifting Inc. v. House of the Good Shepherd et al – be careful who “fundraises” for you
There was recently an interesting case “Innovative Gifting Inc. v. House of the Good Shepherd” that involved charities. This was not a case involving the Federal Court of Appeal or Tax Court – the usual places charity law issues are…
Macleans article “An artful scheme” on use cultural property as part of tax shelter scheme
Chris Sorensen of Macleans recently wrote a piece entitled “An artful scheme: One firm’s pitch to help people use a tax shelter by buying and then donating old photos is raising eyebrows in the art world and words of caution…
Revised Canadian Charity Law Checklist by Mark Blumberg
Here is a revised version of the Canadian Charity Law Checklist by Mark Blumberg The goal of the checklist is to highlight some top Canadian charity compliance concerns.
Charitable Donations and Gifts – Giving Wisely by Revenue Quebec and CRA
It is good to see more Federal and provincial cooperation in the charity area. Here is a pamphlet jointly put out by Revenue Quebec and CRA entitled Charitable Donations and Gifts – Giving Wisely by Revenue Quebec and CRA. It…
Tax preparer in Ontario guilty of charity tax fraud scheme
The CRA is cracking down on tax preparers and others who issue false charitable donation receipts. Canada Revenue Agency News Release Brampton tax preparer guilty of tax fraud scheme Brampton, Ontario, July 15, 2010…On June 29, 2010, Leslie George…