Here are copies of the handouts for a number of recent presentations that I have delivered for the Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) *Charity Checklist: Managing Legal Compliance Risks; *Charity Compliance: A Primer for Boards; *Foreign Activities Guidance and Dealing…
The Standing Committee on Finance released its Pre-Budget Consultations 2009 and it is located at The Report, tabled in the House on Wednesday, December 9, 2009. Below are excerpts relating to charities. For the full text see below. V.…
I am often asked “When should a Canadian charity not issue a “official donation receipt” (tax receipt)?” First of all Canadian charities do not have to issue tax receipts – however, if they are going to issue official donation receipts,…
I recently attended the Interaction Forum held in Washington, D.C. on July 6-9, 2009. The Interaction Forum is the largest gathering of US ngos involved with development. I met some very interesting people and learned quite a lot. Here are…
Valuation is complicated but don’t rely on the donor to tell you the value or use some optimistic number. If a charity provides an official donation receipt for a donation of pharmaceuticals to a donor that charity is obliged to…
An article entitled Jewish Ethical Perspective to American Taxation by Kenneth H. Ryesky provides a Jewish law perspective on the US tax system. Many of the points made here would be equally applicable to the Canadian tax and registered charity…
Here is an OP ED piece by the finance director of Oxfam UK. There is also a response from the UK TaxPayers’ Alliance in the comments section. From The Times November 27, 2009 “Transparency and accountability are crucial for…
Here is a CIDA press release on food security
Here is an interesting article by Lee Berthiaume in Embassy on CIDA
The first chapter of the online toolkit covers charities and terrorism. The next chapters will deal with Safeguarding charity funds; Safeguarding charities – people, property, reputation; and a case study archive (good practice examples from the sector for all chapters)…
The Ontario Public Guardian and Trustee has produced a charity bulletin entitled Charitable Fundraising: Tips for Directors and Trustees. In that bulletin they discuss fundraising requirements for charities that operate in Ontario. Here is the text of the bulletin: Information…
Here is the 2009 Fall Report of the Auditor General of Canada and Chapter 8—Strengthening Aid Effectiveness—Canadian International Development Agency .
Many Canadian charities are involved with supporting the voluntary sector in Israel. Here is some information on the voluntary sector in Israel. The Israeli Third sector At a Glance Israel Center for Third Sector Research at Ben Gurion University…
In March 2009, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) (www.ncrp.org) released the Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best: Benchmarks to Assess and Enhance Grantmaker Impact. “The Criteria is the first ever set of measurable guidelines that will help foundations…
Here is the Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) CRA’s Foreign Activities Guidance and Dealing with Non-Qualified Donees, prepared by Mark Blumberg — Mark Blumberg is a lawyer at Blumberg Segal LLP in Toronto, Ontario. To find out more about legal…
“Buffett says the rich should give back both in taxes and philanthropy. “They may think they did it all by themselves, but the society has done an awful lot for them,” he says. “So you ought to have a taxation…
The purpose of the proposed “Corporate Accountability of Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations in Developing Countries Act” is to “ensure that corporations engaged in mining, oil or gas activities and receiving support from the Government of Canada act in a…
I will be making a presentation on Legal Structures for Canadian Companies Carrying out CSR Abroad at the Risk Mitigation and CSR in Africa Seminar which will be held in Toronto on Thursday October 22, 2009. This full-day seminar is…
Here is the OECD Money Laundering Awareness Handbook for Tax Examiners and Tax Auditors. As the OECD website notes: “Criminals accumulate significant sums of money by committing crimes such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, theft, investment fraud, extortion, corruption,…
Here is an article entitled “Foreign Contractors of Canadian Registered Charities Carrying Out the Canadian Charity’s Projects – A Very Simplified View of the Process” that I wrote for the Capacity Builders Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) Mark Blumberg…
Here is an article entitled “CRA’s Consultation on Foreign Activities: What is New and Interesting with Canadian Charities Conducting Foreign Activities” that I wrote for the Capacity Builders Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) Mark Blumberg is a lawyer at Blumberg…
Any humanitarian relief organization that will operate in a conflict or post-conflict area should review “The Do No Harm Handbook (The Framework for Analyzing the Impact of Assistance on Conflict) which is located at: “ Mark Blumberg is a lawyer…
The Canadian Council of Christian Charities (CCCC) has provided their submission to the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) on the CRA’s proposed guidance on foreign activities (the “CRA Consultation on the Proposed Guidance on Activities Outside of Canada for Canadian Registered…
A number of NGOs have tried to spotlight the famine in Eastern and Sub-Saharan Africa and CIDA has just committed further funds to the problem. Here is an article by Kevin McCort of CARE Canada “We must make famine…