Non-profits and charities in Canada are receiving a lot of stakeholder scrutiny. Increasingly, funders, the media and the public are going beyond legal compliance and criticizing charities and non-profits for questionable governance practices and actions that don’t meet voluntary guidelines or ethical standards. Stakeholders are expecting more transparency and accountability.
We help organizations change their governing documents (such as articles and by-laws) and their governance practices. We educate boards on their fiduciary duties and understanding of legal compliance. We assist with creating or revising policies and procedures to help with compliance.
With the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (CNCA) and the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) almost all non-profits and charities in Ontario (and many outside of Ontario) will have made governance changes or will need to make changes. The CNCA affects over 25,000 Federal non-profit corporations and ONCA will affect over 50,000 Ontario non-profit corporations. The corporate changes provide an important opportunity for non-profits and charities to take stock of their governance practices and policies and make changes as necessary. If you wish to retain our law firm to assist with your charity application, you can contact us.
Governance top resources:
Should We Establish a Canadian Social Enterprise, Non-Profit or Charity and How to Do It? (online course for Canadian groups)
Fundraising from Canada – A course for groups outside of Canada (online course for foreign groups)
Should Our Canadian Business Establish a Corporate Foundation?
Fundamentals of Running a Canadian Charitable Organization/Operating Charity (online course)
Fundamentals of Running a Private or Public Foundation in Canada (online course)
Membership of Non-Profits and Charities in Canada (online course)
Multiple Corporate Structures for Canadian For-Profits, Non-Profits and Charities to Enhance Flexibility + Impact (online course)
Running and Maintaining a Federal Non-Profit Corporation under the CNCA – An Introduction (online course)
Separation and Independence by Canadian Charities from Entities that are not Canadian Charities (online course)
Should you agree to be a director or board member of a Canadian non-profit or registered charity? (online course)
The UK has far better transparency when it comes to charities than we have in Canada. It is interesting to read a report by the Charity Commission on England and Wales into a charity – Care4Calais. As we know, in…
Here is the Blumbergs’ Pre-Budget Submission for the 2024 Canadian Federal Budget. For those who have been following our law firm’s submissions over the last ten or more years, they have focused on transparency and accountability in the non-profit and…
The CRA recently sent a response to the Canadian Tax Foundation on the new qualifying disbursement/grant to grantee and directed donations provisions. As many are aware, section 168(1)(f) of the ITA was amended to provide that CRA can revoke a…
There has been some coverage in the media of a concern that Canadian charities may be required to file a T3 form for each of their “express trusts”. Examples of express trusts could be a perpetual endowment or a long-term…
Here is an updated Canadian Charity Legal Checklist by Mark Blumberg – July 2023. 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 for…
I received this note from Corporations Canada on Friday July 7, 2023: Just want to mention that today is Day 1, we have issued our first “Notices of intent to Dissolve“ under the NFP Act to corporations that are in…
This two-part course will be on Tuesday, August 15 and Wednesday, August 16, 2023. Both sessions will be from 12:00 – 4:00 PM EST. You can register here: Fundamentals of Running a Canadian Charitable Organization/Operating Charity – Online There are…
We recently updated our course titled Fundamentals of Running a Private or Public Foundation in Canada. This seven-hour course focuses on compliance issues with an emphasis on those specifically relevant to running a private or public foundation that is a…
As we had discussed in our blog on March 24, 2023, Corporations Canada will begin issuing Notices of Intent to Dissolve to CNCA non-profit corporations that have not filed their Annual Return in 3 years or more. Now, Corporations Canada…
CRA recently sent out a reminder that if your charity has a December 31 fiscal year end, you need to file your T3010 by June 30, 2023. Keep in mind that the number one reason that a Canadian charity loses…
Not sure how many people have an hour to hear me discuss with Mary Barroll, President of CharityVillage, issues facing the Canadian non-profit and charity sector. For those who are interested in the sector and its future, it may be worthwhile. I try…
There was a recent Globe and Mail article “CRA typo causes a multimillion-dollar mistake for the Hewitt Foundation“. This article is a reminder of the importance of the T3010. It is used by many different groups, not only regulators. This…
Recently the Future of Good had an article written by Gabe Oatley entitled Investigation: Ontario Trillium Foundation ‘Muzzled’ Charities with Changes to Advocacy Policy. The article raises two primary questions – does the OTF refuse to fund groups who are…
I saw some interesting questions posed by Ken Wyman relating to advocacy on LinkedIn. Ken, who is a well-known fundraising expert, has always been interested in advocacy and he shared his list with us. Canadian non-profits and charities often don’t…
Here is a letter from CRA dealing with a charity that provides a municipality (qualified donee) with funds. Depending on how the funds are provided, they may not be recognized as a gift under the ITA. With the changes in…
Some foundations in Canada and around the world have been grappling with their place and its impact. There is an initiative called Trust Creates Impact. “#TrustCreatesImpact is an initiative whose members reflect on and shape the future of foundations and…
We received a note from CRA that they have updated their T3010 forms to include the questions on the new qualifying disbursement regime. In other words, if a Canadian charity makes a grant to a grantee that is a non-qualified…
There are lots of criticisms of the Trudeau Foundation. Some are ridiculous, but that does not mean that there are not some serious problems with the governance of the Trudeau Foundation. For those who think that the Foundation does some…
Many Ontario non-profit corporations are struggling with how to deal with the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (“ONCA”). Over 50,000 ONCA corporations will need to make changes to their governing documents to conform with the new ONCA by October 18,…
This week, I did a webinar for the Canadian Charity Law Association on The Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (“ONCA”) – options for dealing with this important corporate change. While we usually don’t record and provide recordings of these events, here…
The latest Trudeau Foundation filings with Corporations Canada are here: Federal Corporation Information Federal Corporation Information – 386524-0 Beware of scams and other suspicious activities. See Corporations Canada’s alerts. Note This information is available to the public in accordance with legislation…
I just read an article from La Presse entitled «Ce don, c’est une bombe puante». It involved a number of interviews with former directors and mentors at the Trudeau Foundation. I was commenting earlier today that comparisons between WE Charity…
The CBC has reported on March 14, 2023 in an article, Intelligence watchdog investigating CRA following Islamophobia claims, that the claims against CRA of Islamophobia will now be investigated by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA). Presumably, NSIRA…
There was a recent decision on a motion in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice case of Muslim Association of Canada v. Attorney General of Canada, 2023 ONSC 1923 [PDF]. This decision is quite important, and the written reasons given…