Here is the CRA Guidance Purposes Not Furthered which discusses when CRA would register a charity when with respect to some purposes there may not be enough information. Essentially, it sets out the risk assessment that CRA would use.
CRA notes:
This document applies when:
• an applicant has provided sufficient information about the activities it will conduct to further most of its purposes;
• but there are some purposes that the applicant may only pursue further down the road, and as a result, the applicant only has a very general sense of the activities it thinks it might conduct to further those purposes.When there is no reasonable possibility of getting additional information, the two options are:
• to register only after the purposes have been amended, or
• in low-risk situations, or in situations approved by the manager, to register without requiring an amendment to purposes.
When you are applying for charitable status you want to make sure that there is a detailed description of the activities under each purpose or CRA may refuse your application.
CRA expects “Depending on the type, complexity, duration, and expense of an activity, the applicant organization should be able to provide documentary evidence that shows:
- the purpose the activity furthers;
- the exact nature of the activity;
- the charitable benefit the activity provides;
- the eligible beneficiaries of the activity;
- whether the activity confers any private benefit (and how much);
- the precise location(s) where the activity is conducted;
- the specific details concerning how the organization directs and controls the activity; including how it monitors the activity, and how its resources
are used; and - the nature, amount, sources, and destination of income that the activity
may generate (for example, tuition fees from operating a school, or the
sale of goods or services).