We have prepared as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project this Snapshot on Political Activities in the Canadian Charity Sector 2013. The Snapshot on Political Activities in the Canadian Charity Sector 2013 will be helpful to those who are interested in…
I recently wrote an article “Election 2015 and Canadian charities” for Hilborn. Charities that are involved in political activities may find it helpful. It covers issues such as what political activities can charities be involved with during an election,…
The CRA has posted an “Advisory on partisan political activities” as a reminder to Canadian registered charities that they must avoid all partisan political activities, although they are allowed to conduct certain political activities related to their objects and within…
Here is a recent article I wrote “Canadian Charities and Political Activities: Keeping room temperature in a chilly environment“.
Political activities and charities has been a hot button issue over the last few years. With Prime Minister Harper launching the 2015 election today it is important for Canadian charities to be aware of their legal obligations and to comply…
CRA has recently posted two new web pages on Charities and political activities (Budget 2012) and The audit process for charities. The two pages have some new information and statistics but really are just cogent expressions of the CRA's views. …
On July 15, 2015 Mark Blumberg will be delivering a 2 hour presentation entitled “Top 20 Charity Law Issues for Canadian Registered Charities” in Ottawa. The presentation is complimentary but if you are interested in attending you should register here. Here…
I will be on a panel at Carleton University on July 16 discussing “Public policy for philanthropy, charities and nonprofits– The issue we cannot ignore” with Cathy Barr, Senior Vice-President, Imagine Canada and Liz Sutherland, Policy Advisor, Ontario Nonprofit Network. Here is the invitation:…
The House of Commons Finance Committee has announced the 2015 pre-budget consultations. Charities interested in making submissions to the Finance Committee should review their recent press release. Submissions should be dealing with certain themes and no longer than 2,000 words.…
The involvement of charities in political activities has been a major story since 2012. The 2012 Federal Budget introduced new reporting requirements for charities for 2013 but does not fundamentally affect the ability of charities to engage in political activities.…
I was delighted to present as part of a panel at the Université de Montréal Charity Law Conference 2015 on May 8, 2015. The panel was entitled The Modern Charities Regulator and my presentation was entitled “Overview of the Regulatory Environment in Canada…
In a recent Toronto Star article entitled “Critics say Fraser Institute letter highlights ‘enormous lack of clarity’ in charity-audit rules” the Toronto Star discusses a letter from the Fraser Institute to supporters. The article raises some interesting points but I…
We have blogged about the CRA Program Update 2015 separately but wanted to focus here on what the update provides in terms of information on the political activity audits of CRA's Charities Directorate. CRA should be commended for publishing a…
We have just released the Blumbergs' Snapshot of the Canadian Charity Sector 2013 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 83,000 of the 86,000 registered charities in Canada that had filed their T3010 and were processed…
As part of their educational mandate to encourage charities to be compliant with their legal requirements, including when conducting political activities, the Charities Directorate has released a “Political Activities PowerPoint Presentation” that registered charities can use internally to understand the…
The CRA Fundraising Guidance, is CRA's main document dealing with the obligations of registered charities when it comes to fundraising. The CRA Fundraising Guidance was initially published in 2009 but then significantly updated on April 20, 2012. At the bottom of each…
The Globe and Mail had an article by Konrad Yakabuski questioning the degree of transparency about sources of funding with Canadian registered charities that are “think tanks” Here is the Globe and Mail article “Think tanks need to show us the money“.…
Here is an updated version of the Canadian Charity Legal Checklist. For those who are interested in reviewing legal compliance for their registered charity they may find the checklist helpful.
The CRA has recently proposed annulment of the registration of Dying with Dignity Canada (DWD), a Canadian registered charity. In terms of full disclosure I am a legal counsel to DWD. Here is a note from DWD and…
Here is a copy of the slides of a presentation made by Cathy Hawara, Director General of the Charities Directorate of CRA, to the PFC conference in October 2014. It covers some interesting material.
It seems that about every year there is a new T3010 form. CRA has released the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return for returns for fiscal year ends after Jan 1, 2015. Here is the slightly revised T3010 (15e) Registered Charity Information Return…
Imagine Canada has obtained an interesting sessional paper from the Canada Revenue Agency. The questions responded to were provided by MP Hedy Fry. The paper provides some insight into CRA activity relating to charities and political activities. Here is a…
On February 11, 2015, I will be delivering a webinar for the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) entitled “Advocacy and Political Activities: Busting myths and misconceptions!” Here is the information on the webinar: Webinar Wednesdays: Advocacy and Political Activities: Busting myths…
I received an email from Marni Soupcoff of the Canadian Constitution Foundation. She discusses the narrative that supposedly no “right-leaning” groups are being audited for political activities. I thought I would share it. Dear Mr. Blumberg, On January 20, news broke…