The Department of Finance has released the Notice of Ways and Means Motion to introduce an Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022, and other measures. Here is a PDF. It is…
The Logic recently had an article entitled “Liberals plan to order increase in charity foundations’ spending, following The Logic’s investigation“. The article notes: The commitment comes after an investigation by The Logic found that seven percent of charities, and…
I am very grateful that Mary Barroll, President of CharityVillage, spent over an hour with me discussing the charity sector in Canada including business activities and social enterprise as well as regulator and public policy issues. For those interested in…
In an article entitled Charities will soon have a higher spending quota to keep charitable status, Chris Nardi of the National Post discussed the Federal budget’s change in the disbursement quota. For our coverage, see Canadian Federal Budget 2022 and…
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled a budget today at 4:00 PM. Here is our article 2022 Canadian Federal Budget and its impact on the Canadian charitable sector. The budget dealt with many big issues surrounding Canada’s COVID-19 recovery and housing,…
The CRA put out a press release announcing that the Minister of National Revenue has appointed nine new members to the Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector (ACCS). The ACCS has been, in my view, unrepresentative of the charity and…
Non-profits and charities that fundraise in Alberta and are well-informed of their obligations probably received a bit of a surprise when they applied for registration under the Alberta Charitable Fundraising Act this year. The previously brief, relatively painless registration process…
The CRA recently published their annual “Report on the Charities Program 2020 to 2021″. (PDF) Here are some comments: The Minister of National Revenue states: “To continue building and maintaining public trust in the charities regulator and the charitable sector,…
Here is our article List of Canadian Registered Charities Revoked as a Result of an Audit Over the Last 30 Years In the article, we discuss how we recently requested and received from CRA a list of all Canadian registered charities…
I have not been keeping up with my reading. Just took a look at the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics and their report from June 2021 on Questions of Conflict of Interest and Lobbying in Relation…
Let’s start with the most obvious. Canadian individuals and corporations can donate to numerous Canadian registered charities that are dealing with the situation in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. Here are examples of some of the groups: Canadian Red Cross Society…
Here are some suggestions for donating to a Canadian charity in a disaster such as we are seeing in Ukraine. You might also find our article Helping Ukraine deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion helpful. Select…
Canada, on February 25, 2022, announced a $10 million matching fund for gifts by individuals to the Canadian Red Cross Society for their Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal. Then, Canada’s matching fund for the Canadian Red Cross Society was increased to…
Here is a recent case in the Federal Court of Appeal with charity Human Concern International v. Canada. (PDF) We had discussed this matter previously. Human Concern International is a Canadian registered charity and CRA had suspended their qualified donee…
We received information from Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate at the Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism about a new grant program to support Anti-Hate Security Measures for Faith-Based and Cultural Organizations. The Ontario Grant to Support Anti-Hate Security Measures for Faith-Based and…
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson is reviewing CRA audits of registered charities. I have extensive comments at the bottom of this note, if you want to skip some of the background below. There have been concerns expressed by some in the…
In a press release, the CRA reminds groups that COVID subsidies need to be included in your reporting. Specifically for NPOs and charities, they note: Tax-exempt employers and entities If you are a tax-exempt employer or entity (such as a…
The CharityData.ca website is the preeminent freely available transparency tool for information on Canadian registered charities. It has been available since August of 2016 and we have been making intermittent improvements to CharityData.ca ever since it was created. If you…
Here is the Blumbergs’ Pre-Budget Submission for the 2022 Federal Budget that we filed on February 25, 2022. Our top recommendations are: List of Recommendations Primary Recommendations Recommendation 1: That the Federal government amend Section 241 of the Income Tax…
The Federal Department of Finance Pre-budget Consultations 2022 has launched. Although it is not mentioned on the announcement (reproduced below) the period of the consultation is January 31 to February 25, 2022. With the occupation in Ottawa and the Russian…
For those who don’t know there is a concept called tax expenditures. It is an estimate of the cost to a government of certain tax concessions. How much does it cost the Federal government to give a tax break such…
As some may know Ontario is going to be having a fixed election this summer. As was the case in the Federal election, the Ontario election has rules around third party election advertising. Remember in June of 2021 an Ontario…
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 CBC has an article by John Paul Tasker on the banks freezing accounts that are linked to the “Freedom Convoy” and occupation of Ottawa. The article is “Banks are moving to freeze accounts linked to convoy protests. Here’s what…