In a Globe and Mail article entitled “Budget will include measures to expose links between charities and crime, Flaherty says” there is a discussion of potential items affecting charities in the 2014 Federal Budget set to be delivered on February…
Last night I was interviewed by Evan Solomon on CBC Power and Politics discussing Canadian charities and political activities. Other guests included Marlo Raynolds (former Executive Director of the Pembina Institute) and John Bennett of Sierra Club Canada. Here is…
Probably not. Otherwise that would be about 5-10 times more funds than all Canadian registered charities spent on political activities in 2012. In fact, when we reviewed who spent the most on political activities it appears to me that the…
I just reviewed the latest T3010 data disk for 2013 and here are the descriptions of activities for political activities by Canadian charities. This is only based on 7900 of the approximately 86,000 charities. Description Wrote less than 5 letters…
We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2011 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. We provided an overview of the whole charity sector in the Blumbergs’ Charity Sector Snapshot 2011. We have taken a…
So far the CRA 2013 database has about 7900 charities on it. There are in total approximately 86,000 Canadian charities who will file their T3010s. Therefore, less than 10% of the 2013 T3010 forms have been filed and inputted into…
The CRA has added a number of new webinars to their websites on arts, CED, the T3010 and political activities. The following recorded webinars are now available on the CRA’s video gallery: ?Arts activities and charitable registration ?Community economic…
Zachary Euler of the CRA Charities Directorate mentioned today in a presentation to the Blumbergs’ Charity Law Institute that CRA has recently posted a “Political activities self-assessment tool” on their website. The “Political activities self-assessment tool” is a helpful, plain…
On October 15, 2013, Blumbergs will be having the 2nd Annual Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Institute in Toronto. It will be a full day of practical legal and ethical compliance information geared toward charities, professional advisors and those interested in…
The Charity Commission made clear that it is not questioning the worth of the organization but refused to register it as it did not have exclusively charitable objects. The Human Dignity Trust was focussed on challenging laws around the world…
The Charities Directorate has recently put up new webinars dealing with political activities. Charities are allowed to conduct political activities but there are rules and limits around how that should be done. These webinars will help charities understand CRA’s views…
CRA has begun posting and releasing data from the 2013 T3010 which has extensive questions on Canadian charities and political activities. So far only 3400 have been released. Of them only a handful identify that they are doing political activities. …
On April 18, 2013 we will have the first Blumbergs’ Charity Law Boot Camp in Toronto. It will be a one day boot camp on compliance and standards issues for Canadian charities led by charity lawyer Mark Blumberg. Overview: This…
CRA has provided some comments on registered charities and political activities. We have consolidated these various articles into one document. CRA information on registered charities and political activities.pdf [Update – CRA has created a new space on their website with…
Today the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) released its much anticipated report on Tax Incentives for Charitable Giving in Canada. The report discuss “Charitable Donations and Donors in Canada”, “The Regulation of Charities”, “Tax Incentives and their…
The Charities Directorate has released a new T3010 (13) Registered Charity Information Return for Canadian registered charities with fiscal year ends after January 1, 2013. The changes on the T3010 (13) are basically more questions about the political activities of…
Here is what promises to be a great workshop being organized by the The Carleton Centre for Community Innovation and the School of Public Policy and Administration on public policy advocacy. It is led by Sean Moore and is available…
CRA’s Guidance on political activities was updated in December 2012. There are some minor changes to reflect changes to the disbursement quota and recent budgets including the 2012 Federal Budget dealing with political activities and Canadian charities. The CRA had…
The Canadian Department of Finance has released through Freedom of Information a Q&A on Budget 2012 and Canadian charities and political activities. Here is a copy of the memo Q&A on Budget 2012 and Canadian charities and political activities
The Canadian Department of Finance has released a memo on “Reaction to Budget 2012 Charitable Sector Proposals” Here is a copy of the Finance memo on Reaction to Budget 2012 Charitable Sector Proposals.
Here is a copy of a memo marked “Secret” and attachments from the Department of Finance on Finance released under Freedom of Information dealing with “Registered Charities – Political Activities, Foreign Funding and Transparency”. It may take a minute to…
On February 12, 2013 I will be making a presentation as part of Maytree’s Five Good Ideas series on “Five Good Ideas about Registered Charities and Political Activities” Find more information and register Five Good Ideas about Registered Charities…
We recently reviewed the T3010 information for 2011. The database was prepared by the Charities Directorate of CRA in September 2012 and covers about 81,000 charities (94% of Canadian registered charities) and their 2011 T3010 returns. Here is the article…
We recently reviewed the T3010 information for 2011. The database was prepared by the Charities Directorate of CRA in September 2012 and covers about 81,000 charities (94% of Canadian registered charities) and their 2011 T3010 returns. Canadian registered charities are…