The CRA has laid charges against a promoter of an art donation scheme in which there was a donation of overvalued artwork to the Municipality of Larouche. Municipalities are qualified donees entitled to issue official donation receipts just like registered…
The world changed on July 14, 2010. Well at least all links to the Charities Directorate website changed that day – so if you have an old link in most cases it will take you to a referral page and…
This case involves an accountant, Mr. Michael George Perris, recommending a charity tax shelter scheme to his client that was unsuccessful. The case deals with whether this accountant is a fiduciary and if so whether he breached his fiduciary duties…
In this letter CRA discusses “Whether the adjusted cost basis is a reasonable proxy for “cost” of an interest in a life insurance policy in applying the deeming provisions of 248(35) with respect to a gift to a qualified donee…
This article entitled “With social media, know potential risks and plan ahead” provides some tips for charities interested in using social media. The article appeard in Canadian Fundraiser and Philanthropy, July 15, 2010. http://www.canadianfundraiser.com/newsletter/article.asp?ArticleID=3370&ClientID=13785
CRA has just released a new guidance called “Canadian Registered Charities Carrying out Activities Outside Canada”. Although the name indicates “foreign activities” this document deals with a lot more than foreign activities. It covers the relationship between a…
Here is a sample contractor agreement for a Canadian registered charity conducting foreign activities. One of the elements of having direction and control for a foreign intermediary is to have a written agreement. Therefore it is important that charities have…
The CRA has just released a revised version of their document “Donations to Prescribed Universities Outside Canada”. It has helpful information for foreign universities interested in being designated a “prescribed university”. Although this document just hints at it – it…
Here is a map of many of the US organizations efforts in Haiti produced by Interaction http://haitiaidmap.org/ Interaction is a “A coalition of more than 160 humanitarian organizations working on disaster relief, refugee-assistance, and sustainable development programs worldwide.” According to…
Here is a link to the upcoming Ottawa seminar
here is CRA’s Charities Connection #3
here is a revised version on the UK Charity Commission Guidance Internal Financial Controls for Charities (CC8) Here is the summary: A1. What is this guidance about? Internal financial controls are essential checks and procedures that help charity trustees:…
Here is the Blumbergs Canadian Charity Law List – June 2010 -if you would like to be on our mailing list you can do so at: https://cancharlaw.thewire.dev/subscribe/ If you find the information useful please forward to friends. There is no…
The US Council on Foundations and the European Foundation Centre have created “Principles of Accountability for International Philanthropy”. Canadian charities operating outside of Canada in addition to reviewing CRA’s Guidance on foreign activities may wish to review the Principles of…
Here is a note by Wayne D. Gray and Lydia Wakulowsky of McMillan on Bill 65, the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010. It provides a short summary of the legislation.
Industry Canada last week released draft regulations for the CNCA, the new Federal non-profit act. There is also a “Notice from the Director — Consultation on proposed Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Regulations” dated June 25, 2010 which contains an explanatory note…
I will be leading two new workshops for the Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) on two hot legal issues – Fundraising Compliance and Appropriate Receipting. One can attend them both, plus a networking lunch, for $50, or each workshop is…
In a recent speech Andrew Hind of the UK Charity Commission touches upon trends including the importance of charities being able to demonstrate their public benefit and to successfully use technology. The speech is located at:
Here is a copy of my article “How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead?” which was just published in the Canadian Donor’s Guide.
The US-based Hudson Institute has released its 2010 Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances. It contains lots of statistics about official development assistance (ODA), international philanthropy and remittances. On the plus side if you add ODA, international philanthropy and remittances…
The long anticipated report by Commissioner John C Major entitled “Air India Flight 182: A Canadian Tragedy” was released today. The report is located at: http://www.majorcomm.ca/en/reports/finalreport/ Furthermore, Volume 5 deals with terrorist financing at and specifically there is a…
CRA in a letter discusses certain issues that were posed at the 2008 STEP National Conference. Question 12 dealt with Third-Party Civil Penalties and it noted that as of April 21, 2008 12 such cases existed of which “2 relate…
In this letter CRA discusses “Will a corporation that is being incorporated under provincial non-profit legislation be tax-exempt under paragraph 149(1)(l) of the ITA?” CRA notes “Paragraph 149(1)(l) of the Act (set out below), provides an exemption from tax for…
The UK Charity Commission has published some revised guidance for UK charities on risk management, financial difficulties and insolvency, financial reserves and internal financial controls. While UK law is not identical to Canadian law these documents provide very helpful information…