Blumbergs Professional Corporation is involved with many charity applications each year. In this series, CRA Charity Application Graveyard, we aim to provide groups considering charitable status applications with insights into common issues the CRA encounters, based on our analysis of access to information documents, CRA letters, and the CRA’s Charities and Giving website. These reasons given in the Charity Application Graveyard are not presented in order of importance.
CRA is concerned when considering charity applications whether the applicant is advancing religion or instead promoting a philosophy.
CRA identifies the following issues:
Advancement of religion versus the promotion of a philosophy
Based on the information we have, it is our position that the applicant is not advancing religion in the charitable sense but is instead promoting the philosophy of [Insert philosophical belief].
To be registered under the Income Tax Act, a religious organization must advance a religion. According to case law,24 advancing religion involves promoting all of these three key elements:
- a doctrine that there is a god(s), or supreme being(s) (a theistic doctrine)
- a doctrine that adherents must worship or revere that god or supreme being (a worship doctrine)
- a particular and comprehensive system of faith and worship
Not everything done in the name of religion advances religion within the meaning of case law. A clear and material connection must exist between an organization’s activities or programs and its promotion of the religion’s key elements. Generally, an organization formed to promote a particular philosophy or ideology will lack at least one of the key elements of religion and will not be eligible for registration as a cha1ity. Usually, that missing element is the belief in, or worship of, a supreme being or entity.
Since the applicant does not exhibit all three key elements for the advancement of religion, the applicant does not qualify for charitable registration.
If you want further ideas about CRA’s views on the charitable concept of “advancing religion”, the CRA, unfortunately, has not published its guidance on religion. However, we have obtained a number of draft versions of the CRA guidance that are helpful in understanding CRA’s position with respect to religion and advancing religion.
Not everything is charitable, and sometimes, for some groups, depending on what they want to accomplish and what their sources of revenue are, it may not even be desirable to be a registered charity. One thing is clear – CRA spends a lot of time and resources reviewing charity applications, and unless your application meets all of the charity law requirements under the Income Tax Act and common law, they will not be able to register your organization as a charity.
If you require assistance with your charity application, you may be able to retain our law firm, and you can contact us here. It is best to contact us before establishing the entity and making an application to CRA, as this will minimize costs, changes and delays.