In a recent copy of an access to information package that I requested, there is some discussion in CRA documents of proposed responses relating to the Liberal party platform’s commitment to not provide charitable status to anti-abortion groups. It is…
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…
The Charities Directorate of CRA recently released an Access to Information document which discusses audits of registered charities. Here is our article CRA audit statistics released through freedom of information in 2022.
The Charity Commission is consulting on whether to add additional questions to the T3010. They are suggesting some of the answers will be published and some will not be. In Canada, we have a T3010 that has not changed much…
The Globe and Mail recently covered a bill in the Senate that if passed would create a foreign lobbyist register. Here is Bill 237, An Act to establish the Foreign Influence Registry and to amend the Criminal Code. Here are…
Americans are reeling from a recent leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion that is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and leave abortion in the hands of state politicians, causing many Americans to decry what they believe to be…
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…
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,…
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…
There are approximately 6,300 private foundations in Canada. Private foundations have been growing at a higher rate than any other type of Canadian registered charity. They have assets of around $100 Billion. Although there are some differences between a private…
I was asked the question “How engaged are Canadian registered charities in this election?” by a journalist and to be honest, I had to say I have no idea. There seems to be a big disconnect between the words spoken…
The Liberals have recently released their Liberal Party Platform-Forward-For-Everyone. The Liberals and Conservatives have always played a culture war game at the expense of the charity sector. Whether it’s political activities of environmental charities, abortion, etc. The cost of…
Here is the Blumbergs’ Snapshot of the Ontario Charity Sector 2019. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2019 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project and focussed on the T3010s of Ontario registered charities. …
Here is the Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Sector Snapshot 2019. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2019 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 83,892 of the approximately 86,000 registered charities…
The Conservatives have put forward some proposals in their platform that are unclear and could have a significant negative effect on the charity sector, especially larger charities such as universities, hospitals, international development and environmental organizations. Here are the proposals…
Yesterday it was announced that the 2021 Federal election will be held on September 20, 2021. Charities and non-profits need to pay attention to the rules that could apply to them including under the Income Tax Act, Third-party election advertising,…
So the rumour mill says that the Liberals may call a Federal election in August. Hopefully, we will not have the misinformation about charities and elections as we saw in 2019. Essentially, if you are a registered charity there are…
A few weeks ago a Canadian registered charity called the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) was involved in a scandal when it was discovered that its president had hired a private investigator to surveil the Chief-Justice of Manitoba who…
I recently read a fascinating report from the Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations (ECVO) on Transforming the Non-Profit Community in Edmonton. It is relevant to all cities and communities in Canada. So many great quotes but here are just a…
On April 21, 2021 we had our Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp 2021. It is the second Boot Camp that we have conducted online and our tenth Boot Camp in total. Those who missed the course can catch the…
Recently CRA updated their post on charitable activities to highlight the ability of charities to carrying out public policy dialogue and development activities (PPDDA) but also to remember that with an upcoming election in the future that charities may also…
Here is a document in Excel that we recently received from the Charities Directorate of the CRA. It is entitled T3010 Master Public Data Dictionary – January 2021 and it discusses recent changes to the T3010. If you click the link…
We have been blogging about CRA’s draft guidance “Advancement of religion and charitable registration” in 2009, 2017 and 2018. Essentially CRA has been working on the document for a long time and their first draft was put out 11 years…
The CRA has updated their guidance CG-027, Public policy dialogue and development activities by charities. There were only minor changes to the guidance to provide greater clarity. The CRA notes that “This guidance explains how the CRA will administer…