A great deal has been written about legal compliance surrounding charities in Canada. Much of that material, however, is highly specialized, hard to understand, and sometimes esoteric. As a result, it can be difficult for charities, employees, and volunteers to…
Here is a presentation from the Charities Directorate to Minister Lebouthillier about options for political activities. It provides a good overview of the issues and some of the options. It is provides a concise summary of some legislative and other changes. Some…
There are approximately 32,000 registered charities in Canada that are religious charities. They account for approximately 40% of all the registered charities in Canada. It is important that Canadian registered charities are aware of CRA‘s views on what is religion and…
We have just released the Blumbergs’ Snapshot of the Ontario Charity Sector 2015. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2015 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. We had previously provided a 2015 overview of the…
Here is a recent Charity Village article by Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf entitled Setting a new tone: The newly released report on the political activities of charities. The article discusses The Report of the Consultation Panel on the Political Activities of Charities and…
The Canadian Charity Law Association (CCLA) is pleased to present: Charities, Regulation and Donors – some international perspectives on June 22, 2017 at 8:30AM in Toronto. The 1/2 day program will cover 4 thought provoking topics (see bios below) and…
In this article Some of the Canadian charities that spend the most on political activities? I have not only listed some of the Canadian charities that spent the most on political activities but also showed readers how they can find and sort the…
Here is an article entitled Total revenue received from all sources outside Canada by Canadian Registered Charities in 2015 which lists the Canadian charities that received the largest contributions from outside of Canada. The charity world is increasingly international…
There seems to still be interest in the topic of charities and political activities! My prayers that we focus on more important issues have not been answered. I get calls or emails every few days asking about it. It is…
We are pleased to announce the Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Law Institute 2017 will be on Monday October 16, 2017. Further details will follow. Registration and early bird information is here.
In a press release entitled “Minister Lebouthillier welcomes the Panel Report on the public consultations on charities and political activities” CRA noted the receipt of a report on charities and political activities. That report was reflective of the vast majority…
Mark Blumberg will be co-presenting on “How community foundations can lead and engage in small ‘a’ advocacy” in Ottawa at the Community Foundations of Canada 2017 Conference on Saturday May 13, 2017. Here are more details on the session: Block…
David Callahan, is the editor of Inside Philanthropy, and he is one the top progressive experts on philanthropy in the US. His article “Second Thoughts: Why I Changed My Mind About Philanthropy and Public Policy” has nothing to do with…
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…
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 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…
In August 2016 we launched a website to improve transparency on Canadian registered charities. It is at www.charitydata.ca We have just made a number of improvements to the website. Here are some of the improvements: 1) We have added more…
The CRA released a report today entitled Report on the Charities Program. It has lots of useful information on the charity sector, regulation of charities, statistics relating to the Charities Directorate and various new developments. Although this is the…
The CRA has recently completed a 2 1/2 month consultation with Canadians on the ability of Canadian charities to conduct political activities. Here is the full text of the CRA press release on the closing of the political activity consultation on…
Mark Blumberg recently presented a webinar for the Canadian Charity Law Association (CCLA) to discuss CRA’s consultation on political activities and the importance of Canadian charities conducting political activities. The deadline for submissions to CRA has been extended to…
CRA recently announced that the deadline for online submissions for its political activities consultation has been extended to December 14th, 2016. The CRA is looking for feedback on the rules and CRA's guidance relating to political activities. You can email your submissions…
If your charity is considering conducting political activities here are some basic questions you might want to ask: What are the charity’s legal “objects” – not mission or vision etc. – charities are only supposed to deal with political activities…
I recently wrote an article for Hilborn entitled “CRA consultation on political activities – to submit or not to submit?” Here is the text of the article: CRA consultation on political activities – to submit or not to submit? The…
I am pleased to be co-presenting to the ICN a webinar on “CRA Regulations and the Political Activities of Charities“. Here is the blurb on it: An ICN Webinar – CRA Regulations and the Political Activities of Charities On September…