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 Chair of the Charity Commission of England and Wales, Orlando Fraser, says the UK’s wealthiest people are ‘not covering themselves with glory’ with their giving. In response to numerous challenges facing charities, Mr. Fraser criticized the wealthy in the…
The Charities Directorate of CRA has released draft guidance for “Registered charities making grants to non-qualified donees“. (PDF) The CRA is requesting public feedback on the guidance by January 31, 2023. This guidance relates to the Federal Budget 2022 and…
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently heard its first case on donor advised funds in The Joseph Lebovic Charitable Foundation v. Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto. (PDF) This is the first time a court in Canada has discussed donor…
I recently checked the Advance Search page of the Charities Listing. CRA has now added another search function which divides groups into “Type of Qualified Donee,” and there are now listed namely: 1) Registered Charities (85,842 in total) 2) Registered…
Many people are quite worried about the Ontario Government’s use of the notwithstanding clause in the Keeping Students in Class Act that imposes a 4-year collective agreement on a group of workers (educational assistants, custodians and early childhood educators) that…
In our article, How much should a Canadian registered charity spend on administration (2022), we discuss how CRA has not provided guidance as to the acceptable amount that a Canadian registered charity can spend on administrative expenses, but it will…
The CRA has published a “readout” on the meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector (ACCS)(pronounced axe!) on August 25, 2022. These readouts provide almost no useful information. I have been highly critical of the Advisory Committee on…
When ordering corporate documents from Corporations Canada, it now appears that additional documents are available. It used to be listed only the documents from the Incorporation under the CNCA or continuance to the CNCA. Older documents under the Canada Corporations…
Below are the full audited Hockey Canada’s financial statements for the last eight years. As we have noted before, Hockey Canada is a soliciting corporation under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”) and was supposed to file its financial statements…
It was very interesting to read a report from the Sprott School of Business dealing with Hockey Canada and transparency entitled Hockey Canada – Financial Information: Issues about transparency and responsiveness. The report is definitely worth reading. It was written by…
We just launched a new course titled Objects/Purposes for Canadian Charities and Changes to Your Objects This course will discuss the importance of objects for a registered charity and will be particularly relevant in three circumstances: 1. When you are a…
We just launched a new course titled Professional Advisors and Philanthropy: Helping Clients Give Effectively to Good Causes. Professional advisors can play a key role with clients in helping them understand options relating to philanthropy. Whether it is lawyers, accountants,…
We just launched an online copy of the Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Institute 2022 (Recorded October 3, 2022); Every year, Blumbergs has its Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Institute. This year, for the third time, we did a “mini-institute” – very…
On August 9th, 2022, the Department of Finance Canada announced that it has published draft legislation (and explanatory notes) to implement Budget 2022 tax measures and amendments for comment. Among the proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act are changes…
We just launched a new course titled Being a Director of a Canadian Non-Profit or Registered Charity; the rewards, pitfalls, and obligations of trying to help your community by being a director of an NPO or charity. Here is a…
Here is the Blumbergs Canadian Charity Sector Snapshot 2020. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2020 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 83,991 of the approximately 86,000 registered charities…
We posted on July 12, 2022, the financial statements of many Registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Associations or RCAAAs that were obtained through access to information. Unfortunately, CRA does not post the financial statements of charities or RCAAAs on their website.…
Many Canadian registered charities have a December 31 fiscal year-end. These calendar year-end charities, need to ensure that they can accurately and completely file their T3010 by June 30 of this year. Here are a few suggestions: -For smaller and…
I have been contacted by a small number of charities and individuals who are dealing with the issue of a board member donating to the freedom convoy and how to deal with it. This is a situation where an individual…
The demise of the Kids Company charity in the UK was a big event. It was a large charity that had close connections with government that very quickly imploded. The Charity Commission notes: An official report has found that…
We received a note from Corporations Canada today relating to the statutory review of the CNCA. We have covered the review before here. The note reads: Yesterday, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry laid…
There are over 600,000 directors of Canadian charities alone. There are many more people in Canada who serve on the boards of non-profits that are not charities. Non-profits and registered charities need to have directors who are capable, caring, connected…
With the current focus on WE Charity and the CSSG program, there is a lot that can be learned about transparency in the charity sector. I will now discuss directors’ changes and the importance of notifying Corporations Canada if you…
Here is our article Ontario rules change for compensation of certain directors of non-profit corporations that are charities.