I will be presenting a webinar for Charity Village on October 19, 2023 on Top 10 Compliance Issues for Canadian Charities. Here is a blurb: Top 10 Compliance Issues for Canadian Charities A great deal has been written about legal…
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…
CRA has recently released a letter on whether certain Indigenous groups are a “municipal or public body performing a function of government”. In this case they are discussing an Indigenous board of health and a tribal health organization. In this…
Over the last decade, we have provided to the public CRA letters relating to a number of Canadian registered charity revocations. These letters from CRA cover many different grounds for de-registration. Some relate to relatively minor matters such as an…
Recently there has been more scrutiny on donors and restricted gifts. Here is an article by US professor Roger Colinvaux entitled “Strings are Attached: Placing a Spotlight on the Hidden Subsidy for Perpetual Donor Limits on Gifts“. It will be…
We are pleased to see that some of the documents that we are receiving from the Ontario government are now formatted correctly. ONCA and the new Ontario Business Registry came into effect on October 19, 2021. To our surprise, when…
This CRA letter explains the CRA’s view on Paragraph 7 of Article XXI of the Canada-U.S. Treaty and why the treaty does not make US 501(c)(3) organizations into “qualified donees”. For registered charities in Canada, the CRA’s views are important.…
Organizations that are considered to be non-profit under the Income Tax Act (Canada) have very different requirements than registered charities. In this redacted letter from CRA, the CRA discusses capital versus taxable dividends from a subsidiary of a non-profit and…
Here is another case involving the Canadian Humanitarian Trust Tax Shelter (“CHT Arrangement”). The case is called Parker, R. v. The King (TCC). The decision goes into extensive detail about the tax shelter arrangement and the donation.
In a recent Ontario case, Benjamin’s Park Memorial Chapel v. Bereavement Authority of Ontario, 2023 ONSC 3281, it deals with the scope of authority of the Bereavement Authority of Ontario in its regulation of funeral homes and the charitable foundation…
We had blogged before about a donor advised fund case involving the Jewish Foundation and a donor. Here is an appeal decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal on another related case but this time dealing with bankruptcy involving the…
I recently was provided with a copy of a letter that a secular humanist group received from the Charities Directorate of CRA. I asked if I could post the letter anonymously, and they agreed. Essentially the secular humanist group, I…
If you look at the CRA’s Charities Listing and search under “Sanction” and “Penalized” you will see at the moment there are three charities penalized. Here are the three: Organization name Status Type of qualified donee Province/Territory City Effective date…
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…
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) is asking for pre-budget submissions for the 2024 budget. Submissions are due by Friday, August 4, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Here is the FINA press release: Standing Committee…
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…
Here is the Blumbergs Snapshot of the Alberta Charity Sector 2021. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2021 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 30,354 of the approximately 86,000…
Here is the Blumbergs Snapshot of the Quebec Charity Sector 2021. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2021 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 30,354 of the approximately 86,000…
I received this note from the CRA today. It will be helpful for those who are interested in the recent changes to the T3010 as well as the existing questions on the T3010. Good afternoon, as a result of Budget…
We recently reviewed the categories of Canadian registered charities on the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return for 2021. The database, prepared by the Charities Directorate of CRA in February 2023, covers about 84,000 charities. The Canadian charity sector is divided…
Here is the Blumbergs Snapshot of the Atlantic Provinces Charity Sector 2021 (Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island). We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2021 as part of the Sean Blumberg…
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…