CRA has a massive backlog of requests for changes in charitable purposes by registered charities. This is not surprising. Many Ontario non-profits have just discovered a totally new thing called ONCA in the last month or two! They are now rushing to try and update their governing documents. About 20,000 of the 60,000 Ontario non-profits are registered charities. Many of them have hopelessly outdated purposes that are not broad enough for their needs and not appropriate for CRA.
So many registered charities are working to update their purposes and the waiting time for such a request from CRA for an operating charity has gone from 2 months to 10 months for a review of purposes. There is no grandfathering of purposes. Either your purposes are acceptable or not. Even if approved by CRA decades ago, unless they were approved more recently or just happen to be appropriate, they may need revision. Also, CRA does not review just purposes; they also need a detailed statement of activities to accompany the purposes.
The good news is that for many organizations purposes are not frequently changed. For some, it is only every 20 or 50 years.
Here are some comments from CRA on purposes:
Charitable purposes and activities: Useful tips to draft and describe them
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is here to support you, whether you are going through the registration process or need support as a registered charity in Canada.
If you are thinking about applying for registration, or your registered charity is wanting to change its purposes or carry on new activities, read on to find out more!
Understanding charitable purposes and activities
A registered charity must be constituted exclusively for charitable purposes and conduct charitable activities that support these purposes.
Purposes, also known as objects, are the goals your organization aims to achieve. These should be outlined in your governing document. Activities are the actions your organization takes to achieve these goals.
Your charitable purpose must fall into one of these categories:
- Relief of poverty
- Advancement of education
- Advancement of religion
- Other purposes that benefit the community
Your organization can also be constituted for making gifts to qualified donees.
To see examples from a specific category, click on one of the four links above.
Tips for drafting charitable purposes and describing activities
Any charitable purpose, except for making gifts to qualified donees, should clearly identify the what, how, and who.
That means showing, either expressly or implicitly, the following three elements:
- what: the charitable purpose category
- how: the means of providing the charitable benefit
- who: the eligible beneficiary group
For example, if your purpose is to advance education, you might state:
To advance education [what] by providing awards [how] to students of School ABC [who] to encourage academic excellence.
To show how your organization benefits the public, you need to describe in detail all the activities you will do to further each purpose in your governing document.
For more information, see CG-019, How to draft purposes for charitable registration, and visit our page Describing your activities.
What to do if your registered charity plans to change its purposes or carry on new activities
If your registered charity is considering changing its purposes or carrying on new activities, you should consult with the Charities Directorate first to ensure your charity:
- conducts only charitable activities
- has charitable purposes that support the planned charitable activities
- maintains its registered charity status
After making any changes to your charity’s purposes, be sure to submit the amended governing document to the Charities Directorate.
We’re here to help
Learn more about the CRA’s service standards by visiting Service Standards 2024–2025.
For questions concerning charitable purposes and activities, please call the Charities Directorate client service team at 1-800-267-2384. Our representatives are available to help you Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern time.
Published on: September 18, 2024