Here are some archived webinars on charity compliance issues for Canadian registered charities. These webinars which are now archived were prepared as part of the Charity Law Information Program (CLIP). They are available for free. CLIP is supported by a…
Here is a copy of the powerpoint slides from a presentation delivered by Danie Huppé-Cranford to the International Committee on Fundraising Organizations (ICFO) Annual General Meeting, May 14, 2010 entitled “Compliance Overview – Major Non-Compliance Issues”.
If you are trying to understand how accountability, transparency and evaluation apply to your Canadian charity this document from One World Trust entitled Pathways to Accountability: A short guide to the GAP Framework may be very helpful. http://oneworldtrust.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=211&tmpl=component&format=raw&Itemid=55
Here is the Blumbergs Canadian Charity Law List – May 2010. My apologies for the length of this newsletter – it is the March, April and May newsletter in one! As well quite a bit has happened recently and I…
This case is interesting because it is about a simple scheme that involved people buying from tax preparers charity tax receipts for 10% of the face value of the donation receipts. This is not the usual complicated tax frauds involving…
Here is an interesting publication from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) entitled “Increasing Public Scrutiny of Not-for-Profit Organizations: questions for directors to ask.” I like this question “Does the organization have a sufficiently robust set of policies related…
Here is a short list of suggestions from the Winnipeg Police “Protect Yourself Against Charity Frauds” Protect Yourself Against Charity Frauds To protect yourself from fraud, follow these tips before you donate. Learn and confirm ?Before donating, confirm that the…
The Canada Revenue Agency announced the revocation today of the charitable status of Henvey Inlet First Nation Community Support Organization. Apparently issued $44 million in receipts. Apparently transferred 99% of the receipted amount to the tax shelter promoters as fundraising…
The CRA announced today the revocation of charitable status of The Orion Foundation. Receipted $91 million dollars. Spent $70,000 on charitable activities. Who would run a charity like this? The directors were according to the 2008 T3010 information on the…
Here is an article entitled “Dodging dubious donations – from yachts to barrels of books” by John Webster Hochstadt who is the editor of Gift Planning in Canada. It discusses the importance of having good policies such as a gift…
Here is Mango (Management Accounting for Non-governmental Organisations) Top Tips on the Warning Signs of Fraud in Charities – MANGO is a UK organization that provides valuable training and resources in financial management. Top Tips on the Warning Signs of…
In Cathy Hawara’s presentation to the Canadian Bar Association on April 30, 2010 in slide 15 she notes the most up to date statistics on charitable gifting tax shelters. “The scope of the problem is significant; the CRA estimates that…
There has been some public concern expressed about executive compensation at charities. It is important that charities have appropriate mechanisms to ensure that the charity is neither paying executives too little or too much for the services provided. If you…
This seminar in Kitchener looks very interesting and I will hopefully be able to make it. It is of the International Committee on Fundraising Organizations (ICFO). Transparency and Effectiveness in the Charitable Sector You and your leadership team are invited…
I was looking at a partial list of Canadian registered charities that have employees being paid 350,000 plus. It is partial because only about 30,000 registered charities by February 2010 had filed their 2009 T3010B return, out of 85,300 charities. …
Here is an article by James Daw on two registered charities that recently lost their charitable status for involvement with tax shelters. Although these charity gifting tax shelter “charities” are being attacked by CRA and falling like flies there are…
The CRA announced today the revocation of another Canadian registered charity called “Destiny Health and Wellness Foundation” which was involved with charity gifting tax shelters. News release The Canada Revenue Agency revokes the charitable status of Destiny Health and Wellness…
The Canada Revenue Agency has just announced that it has revoked the charitable status of the Canadian charity “Liberty Wellness Initiative” for involvement in a charity gifting tax shelter. News release The Canada Revenue Agency revokes the charitable status of…
There have come to light a couple of instances of large expenditures by Canadian charities on legal fees. Canadian registered charities are allowed to spend funds on legal fees. In some cases, say for example a legal clinic, such expenditures…
Here is a list of some of the top 10 workshops I have been delivering around Canada over the last year. If you think that your organization can benefit let me know and maybe we can work something out. 1)…
The New York Times has reported that “The Gates Foundation has withdrawn a $5.2 million grant to a Canadian research center for planned tobacco control work in Africa, after learning that the chairwoman of the center’s board was also a…
Here is an excerpt from a speech recently given by Helen Burstyn, Chairperson of the Ontario Trillium Foundation on the importance of ethical, accountable governance. Challenge 1: Ethical, Accountable Governance I imagine that this challenge more than any other has…
I was recently wondering how many Canadian charities have recently lost their registered charity status for cause? Also for what reasons did they lose their registered charitable status? See my note Canadian Charities Recently Revoked by CRA for Cause. Here…
Here is a copy of a press release from the Canada Revenue Agency entitled “Charges laid in donation tax fraud investigation”. In the press release CRA discusses the charges it has laid against three people who allegedly issued donation receipts…