Here is an interesting article from the NPQ entitled “Wallace Global Fund Fires Law Firm for Aiding Trump’s “Ethical Carnage”. It discusses how a large US charity has decided to sever a long term relationship with a major US law…
Canada has a mechanism to recognize certain foreign universities for purposes of donations. It is probably the most generous tax incentive system of any country in the world. Essentially if you are a degree granting university outside of Canada and…
We have just released our Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Sector Snapshot 2015. Lots of interesting statistics and information on the Canadian charity sector. As well if you want information on individual charities or want to sort charities based on about 20 criteria checkout…
Kate Robertson and Mark Blumberg recently prepared Part 2 of the article series, Guidance for Professional Athletes considering Philanthropy in Canada. This article provides suggestions and tips for professional athletes (and their trusted advisors) with respect to estabishing and operating a successful Canadian registered…
His Excellency The Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, is organizing a conference in Ottawa in late April entitled Giving: Working Together for the Common Good. I look forward to attending with others who are interested in the topic such…
For Ontario non-profit corporations the next few years will be challenging from a corporate law point of view. Here is our article “Fed up with ONCA yet? Consider skipping it altogether and moving to the Federal CNCA“. Furthermore, Blumbergs has…
The 2017 Canadian Federal Budget was released today. Here is our article 2017 Canadian Federal Budget – How will it affect the Canadian charitable sector?
The Ontario Hospital Association is having a conference entitled “Strengthening Foundation Governance: Current Issues, Challenges and Solutions“. I will be presenting on Charitable Giving, Transparency and Standards. There will be a number of other interesting presentations. Charitable Giving, Transparency and…
The Charity Commission has recently updated their guidance “Charity finances: trustee essentials“. It provides helpful information on finances that Canadian directors and trustees, as well as staff, should be aware of. Keep in mind that on certain points the law in…
This recent article in The Guardian entitled Charity regulator to crack down on political advocacy after complaints discusses how the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has cracked down on certain political activities by charities in Australia and how the ACNC is asking…
The Vancouver Sun is reporting that North Shore Rescue is suing the Search and Rescue Society of B.C. over allegations that the latter groups has been using the name of the North Shore Rescue to raise money. It will be interesting…
Here is a redacted copy of a notice sent by the Charities Directorate of CRA reminding charities of their filing date and the consequences of not filing the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return within 6 months of the end of…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and National Association of State Charities Officials (NASCO) are organizing a conference called “Give & Take: Consumers, Contributions, and Charity” on Tuesday March 21, 2017. It will be in Washington but it will be…
A number of Canadian charities have been revoked by CRA for supporting terrorism in addition to other concerns. One of those organizations was The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (Canada) or IRFAN Canada. It lost its charitable status…
AFP recently published an article of mine on the CRA’s Report on the Charities Program 2015-2016. They noted “Statistics, while helpful, sometimes require interpretation to fully understand the context of the material being presented. Lawyer Mark Blumberg provides a summary…
The consolidation of all Government of Canada websites into one domain at www.canada.ca has started. In theory this is an opportunity to have a more streamlined, secure government website. I have two concerns about how this will affect charities. First…
There are many rules and restrictions on Canadian private foundations and their investments. In 2015, the Federal government gave private foundations greater ability to invest in limited partnerships. If certain conditions are met from a CRA Income Tax…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales recently released an Inquiry Report on a UK charity that identified concerns with fundraising and foreign activities. There were a number of concerns raised but perhaps most interesting is the discussion around due…
CRA recently updated their guidance with respect to becoming a prescribed university outside of Canada. There are about 600 foreign prescribed universities and they can issue official donation receipts similar to a Canadian registered charity. The updated CRA publication (RC…
The Canada Revenue Agency (‘CRA’) recently updated the T2050 form used by organizations when applying for charitable status with the Charities Directorate of the CRA. On the last page of the form, CRA has included a privacy disclosure which indicates that CRA…
A notice from Corporations Canada of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (formerly Industry Canada) entitled “Last chance for not-for-profits to transition” has been sent out reminding non-profits that if they are still under the old Canada Corporations Act that…
The CRA has added a page on cause-related marketing page to the receipting part of their website. The CRA seems largely concerned that in some cases no official donation receipt should be issued when there is a cause related marketing arrangement…
If you are into technology and like to click things and then see those clicks magically be reflected in a newly generated page then you are going to love CRA's new Checklist Tool for Canadian registered charity applications. It allows…
The Charity Commission has released a case report that deals with political activities of a UK charity and also its funding of a non-charity. This case report is interesting from a Canadian perspective as there have been people in Canada…