Jewish National Fund of Canada is a Canadian registered charity. They advised today that the CRA has decided to revoke their registered charity status and they were appealing to the Federal Court of Appeal. None of the CRA letters have been publicly disclosed at this point as best we can tell.
In 2019, the CBC had an article that identified that the Jewish National Fund of Canada apparently was being audited by CRA. The article was entitled “Canadian charity used donations to fund projects linked to Israeli military‘.”
The CBC article noted:
The Jewish National Fund of Canada, one of the country’s long-established charities, has been the subject of a Canada Revenue Agency audit over a complaint that it used charitable donations to build infrastructure for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), in violation of Canada’s tax rules.
The JNF funds numerous projects in Israel, such as reforestation efforts in areas hit by wildfires and the construction of playgrounds for special needs children.
However, it has also funded infrastructure projects on Israeli army, air and naval bases. While no law bars a Canadian citizen from writing a cheque directly to Israel’s Ministry of Defence, rules do ban tax-exempt charities from issuing tax receipts for such donations, and also ban donors from claiming tax deductions for them.
The organization, which disclosed to donors last year that it has been under audit by the Canada Revenue Agency, said it stopped funding those projects in 2016.
Here is the press release from JNF Canada released today:
July 25, 2024 Statement: JNF Canada Files Legal Appeal
JNF Canada Media Statement/Release
July 25, 2024
The Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF Canada) has launched legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Appeal to contest the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) wrong and unjustified decision to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status. The appeal states that the CRA review process was flawed and fundamentally unfair.Throughout this multi-year process JNF Canada has demonstrated its willingness to work with the CRA. When the CRA raised concerns, JNF Canada made changes to its operations in the spirit of collaboration even though it does not agree with CRA’s positions and those positions have not been tested in court. JNF Canada also sought alternatives to the revocation prior to launching its legal challenge. JNF Canada remains deeply concerned with the CRA’s decision to revoke its charitable status and its failure to provide a fair due process, thereby undermining a basic fundamental right for all Canadians.“Similar to other charities that support the needs of children, workers, and vulnerable communities we would expect CRA to work with, not against, our charity,” noted Nathan Disenhouse, National President, JNF Canada. “Our position is that it is unjust for CRA to revoke a charity because a charitable object that it accepted almost 60 years ago is now no longer considered to be a valid charitable object. It is simply unjust to close a charity supported by over 100,000 Canadians based on reversing a decision the CRA made in 1967.”“Today’s legal appeal,” he continued, “will allow JNF Canada’s concerns to be considered before an impartial legal process.” At the same time, JNF Canada emphasized that it remains open to liaising with the CRA in the hope of reaching a resolution outside of the legal process. JNF Canada remains determined to fulfill its mandate to advance charitable projects in Israel to benefit all citizens and to continue to act as a pillar of the Jewish community in Canada. JNF Canada will continue its charitable activity including collecting and receipting donations and distributing funds while the legal challenge is before the Federal Court of Appeal. It has informed donors and organizations of the legal appeal, reinforcing that JNF Canada is continuing its work as the legal appeal process proceeds.
About JNF Canada For decades the Jewish National Fund of Canada has cared for the Land of Israel. This mission took the role of planting trees, building water reservoirs, preserving natural habitats, as well as building parks and bicycle trails. This work continues to this day. More recently, JNF Canada has taken on projects to build the social infrastructure of the land of Israel for the benefit of the People of Israel. We collaborate with a variety of important institutions and organizations in Israel to build social service infrastructure to benefit vulnerable populations such as youth-at-risk, victims of domestic abuse, children with special needs, veterans and the disadvantaged.
There has been quite a lot of coverage about JNF Canada including but not limited to:
The CJN’s article JNF pushes back against allegations it violated Canadian tax law (January 11, 2019)
Charity Intelligence rating and comments on JNF Canada (updated August 3, 2023)
Times of Israel JNF Canada audited over donations linked to Israeli military (January 8, 2019)
National Post CRA notifies Jewish National Fund it will revoke Canadian charitable status (July 25, 2024)
JNF Letter from National President and CEO to our JNF Family & Supporters (July 24, 2024)
CharityData page on Jewish National Fund of Canada Inc.
JNF: JNF Canada Files Legal Appeal (July 25, 2024)
CRA Charities Listing page of Jewish National Fund of Canada Inc.
Corporations Canada page for Jewish National Fund of Canada.
Here is an ATIP (Access to information and privacy request) regarding JNF Canada, specifically its financial statements and some governing documents.
My full comment to the National Post was:
In 2019 a major Canadian news organization wrote that they had heard from Jewish National Fund of Canada that their charity was being audited by CRA over allegations of the charity funding a foreign military by building infrastructure on Israeli military bases. Canadian charities are not allowed to fund foreign militaries. Apparently, the charity advised the media outlet that they had stopped funding the Israeli military in 2016. So clearly there were previously some compliance issues, and it is hard to say much without reviewing the letters from CRA combined with the letters from the charity to CRA.