In a recent CRA document, we obtained that was released through access to information, it provides a good explanation of why CRA cares about charitable purposes and ALSO charitable activities. For most people the point is obvious. If you are…
On Friday, December 11, 2020 I gave testimony to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) on the CSSG and We Charity scandal. Here is the video of the testimony. The part dealing with procurements and…
I wish I did not have to write this article about the Canadian rules around international philanthropy and foreign activities but unfortunately, a small group of people has been constantly complaining about direction and control for 20 years. It is…
CRA released today the updated guidance CG-002, Canadian registered charities carrying on activities outside Canada. Essentially, this guidance deals with Canadian charities conducting foreign activities. About 5000 Canadian registered charities conduct foreign activities every year. Over the next 10 years…
Here is a description of the presentation on November 24, 2020: Lunch ’N Learn Panel: WE Have a Problem Jaya Mootoo , Ann Rosenfield, MBA, CFRE , Hawa Y. Mire, MA , Mark Blumberg, LLB, LLM, TEP Description:…
Our firm has been using online tools for over 10 years – primarily webinars. In 2018, we moved to providing paid online courses dealing with charity and non-profit legal compliance and risk management to the non-profit and charity sector as…
We were pleasantly surprised to see that The Charity Report “your independent source of news in the charity sector” recently published an article Blumberg Snapshot: Taking measurement of the charity sector, 2010 to 2018. It profiles the many years that our…
Here is our Blumbergs Canadian Charity Sector Snapshot 2018. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2018 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 84,323 of the 85,800 registered charities in…
A lot has happened since we originally published this article on September 4th so here is an updated version below. The WE Charity scandal has now been going on for over 3 months. It has caused the Minister…
A recent public opinion poll by Proof Communications, which runs the CanTrust index, dealing with trust shows a 6% decline for the non-profit and charity sector from May to September 2020. Clearly having over 2 months of very negative WE…
The WE Charity scandal has now been going on for over 2 months. A few weeks ago the Minister of Finance resigned and parliament was prorogued. Some will say this has nothing to do with WE Charity. I will leave…
Every year we do a 3-hour course on transparency and the T3010. This year there has been a lot of interest in transparency around charities. On August 5, 2020, at 1 PM we will have our course Transparency in the…
We have recently added 2 new full-day courses namely Fundamentals of Running a Canadian Charitable Organization/Operating Charity and Fundamentals of Running a Private or Public Foundation in Canada. These are in-depth courses which will help those who run operating charities…
In our note Which Canadian charities spent money on foreign activities in 2018 and how much did they spend we recently reviewed the T3010 information for 2018. It provides a list of Canadian charities that spent the most of foreign…
A qualified donee is an organization that can issue official donation receipts for gifts it receives from individuals and corporations. It can also receive gifts from registered charities. A qualified donee can be: a registered charity (including a registered national…
The Guardian recently had an article “UK charity failed to safeguard aid worker killed in Syria – report“. The article deals with Alan Henning, a UK volunteer who went to Syria and was captured and beheaded by ISIS. Here is the…
Global Affairs Canada has recently released a Guidance on eligibility of COVID-19 potential costs It provides that expenses such as repatriating Canadians from projects abroad are eligible project expenses, repatriated staff can continue to receive compensation in Canada, and…
With the Charities Directorate call centre suspended till April 5, 2020, we thought we would have a Registered Charity Q&A on Friday, March 20. This will be a free opportunity for those with relatively straightforward questions to connect and we…
Here is an updated Canadian Charity Legal Checklist by Mark Blumberg. It is a checklist for Canadian registered charities to assist them with managing compliance issues. We use it as part of our informal risk reviews that we do for…
Blumbergs is pleased to announce that we will be hosting Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp again on Monday, April 20, 2020. An easy enough date to remember! This is a one-day boot camp on compliance and standards issues for…
The List of foreign charities that have received a gift from Her Majesty in right of Canada has now 5 foreign charities listed. Here is the list: Keep in mind that the placement on the list is only for two…
The Canadian Lawyer has an article Class action certified for “sham” charitable donation tax scheme. It discusses the class action lawsuit against a number of defendants dealing with the “Global Learning Gifting Initiative Charitable Donation Program” and how that class…
We all see from the media the terrible wildfires in Australia. Some Canadian donors or charities have wanted to assist with the relief and recovery efforts as well as research and prevention. Here are a few thoughts specific to the…
If a University is outside of Canada and on a special list maintained by CRA then that foreign university can issue Canadian “official donation receipts” under the Income Tax Act or tax receipts which are very valuable to Canadian taxpayers. …