In August 2016 we launched a website to improve transparency on Canadian registered charities. It is at www.charitydata.ca We have just made a number of improvements to the website. Here are some of the improvements: 1) We have added more…
Kate Robertson and Mark Blumberg recently prepared an article, “Some thoughts on Professional Athletes and Philanthropy in Canada: Part 1” which provides helpful information and guidance for professional athletes and their trusted advisors who are exploring philanthropic options in Canada. Part 2…
CRA uses a risk based approach to deciding which charities are to be audited. CRA a few months ago announced they are adjusting their audit strategy to focus more on larger Canadian registered charities. I guess someone in the past…
CRA's Guidance CG-002, Canadian Registered Charities Carrying Out Activities Outside Canada discusses a “development project”. The guidance provides Canadian registered charities greater leeway in certain instances when conducting a “development project” to be able to hand over capital assets and…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales recently published an Inquiry Report into a former charity named REDAID. It is well worth reading. In Canada, directors of registered charities sometimes focus too much on the Income Tax Act requirements of…
Tides Canada quietly announced earlier this year that their international donation matching system between the Tides US and Tides Canada is being shutdown as of the end of this 2016 year. The Tides mechanism was essentially a matching mechanism between…
There is an amazing tax incentive available to Canadians. Few people who are knowledgeable about charities want to discuss it. It just does not get any respect! I am referring to the ability of Canadians to donate to “foreign prescribed universities”.…
Here is an article I wrote entitled “Some thoughts on the Trump victory and its impact on Canadian nonprofits and charities“
I am pleased to be co-presenting to the ICN a webinar on “CRA Regulations and the Political Activities of Charities“. Here is the blurb on it: An ICN Webinar – CRA Regulations and the Political Activities of Charities On September…
We are proud to present the Blumbergs’ Snapshot of the Ontario Charity Sector 2014. The data subset used is the CRA's 2014 T3010 data but only for registered charities based in Ontario. A large part of the Canadian registered charity sector is based…
Currently there are only two organizations on the “List of foreign charities that have received a gift from Her Majesty in right of Canada“. They are the Aga Khan Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, both of which…
The Liberal Government has made some noises about modernizing charity law. Who could be opposed to modernization? As there is no idea as to what “modernization” means, it has opened up all sorts of calls for changes to charity law…
Here is a CRA document provided under access to information rules which includes their media response on Canadian charities and funding or supporting terrorism. Not surprisingly because of the very limited scope for CRA to divulge information under the confidentiality provisions…
Here is a recent CharityVillage article entitled “A national charity census: Mark Blumberg's Snapshot of the Canadian Charity Sector” which highlights the recent Blumbergs’ Snapshot of the Canadian Charity Sector 2014. Blumbergs has been providing the Blumbergs' Snapshot of the…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales has recently released a draft guidance on the types of controls English charities should be using when providing grants to non-English charities. The draft guidance is entitled “Grant funding an organisation that isn’t a…
Recently at the BOND website there was a good article on importance of funding local civil society organizations (CSOs) and how the mindset of some funders needs to change. The Article is entitled “From rhetoric to reality – how do…
In an invitation only event Blumbergs will have one of Israel’s top non-profit lawyers, Ophir Katz, of Ophir Katz & Co. Law offices, talking about the Israeli non-profit sector and the regulation of non-profits in Israel. Non-profits play a very…
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has updated The FATF Recommendations International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation. The FATF is “an independent inter-governmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system…
On the CRA website there is a list of foreign charities that received a gift from the Canadian government. CRA has just released a new Guidance CG – 023 Qualified donee: Foreign charities that have received a gift from Her Majesty in…
Blumbergs and the OCIC will be hosting a program on June 21, 2016 entitled “Recent Changes to the Regulation of Charitable Activities in China that will affect Chinese and Canadian charities”. You can register here. It will feature Prof. Mark Sidel,…
CRA recently released a letter which discusses whether an official receipt issued for property donated in kind can include an amount less than the fair market value of the property. CRA cited section 3501 of the Income Tax Act (Canada)…
Here is our article “Total revenue received from all sources outside Canada by Canadian Registered Charities in 2014“. It provides a list of Canadian charities that received foreign income in their 2014 fiscal year. Foreign income for Canadian charities has…
The Canada Revenue Agency ('CRA') recently published a Question and Answer piece on its website which provides information on providing assistance to people impacted by the wildfires in Alberta and information for registered charities that may have been impacted by the wildfires or would…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales has released two very interesting regulatory case reports including the Regulatory Case Report – The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Regulatory Case Report -The Roddick Foundation. These reports are interesting in that they discuss grants…