The CRA notes in its Fundraising Guidance that “Generally, the CRA uses a series of progressive compliance measures. In some cases of non-compliance, the CRA uses education letters or compliance agreements. The CRA can also impose a monetary penalty, suspend…
While telemarketing is allowed by Canadian charities they must be very careful in its use. In the CRA Fundraising Guidance CRA advises as follows: “4. Our charity has hired a telemarketing firm to raise funds. However, when the firm contacts…
In Cathy Hawara’s presentation to the Canadian Bar Association on April 30, 2010 in slide 15 she notes the most up to date statistics on charitable gifting tax shelters. “The scope of the problem is significant; the CRA estimates that…
Here is a copy of the presentation by Cathy Hawara to the National Charity Law Symposium in Toronto April 30, 2010. The presentation provides an update and also discussion of number of current and important topics. Here is the presentation…
There has been some public concern expressed about executive compensation at charities. It is important that charities have appropriate mechanisms to ensure that the charity is neither paying executives too little or too much for the services provided. If you…
This seminar in Kitchener looks very interesting and I will hopefully be able to make it. It is of the International Committee on Fundraising Organizations (ICFO). Transparency and Effectiveness in the Charitable Sector You and your leadership team are invited…
According to the IRS in the US there are 1,238,201 organizations called 501(c)(3)s which are similar to our “registered charities”. We often hear in Canada that we have too many registered charities at 85,300 – so how do you think…
The Toronto Star looked at the high fundraising costs of certain Canadian professional team foundations in an article entitled “The high cost of sports charities”. It would appear to me that Canadian registered charities need to spend a little more…
I was looking at a partial list of Canadian registered charities that have employees being paid 350,000 plus. It is partial because only about 30,000 registered charities by February 2010 had filed their 2009 T3010B return, out of 85,300 charities. …
CRA has advised that they will remove Charities Information Letters and Employee Speeches as they are out of date or the information is contained elsewhere. “Removal of Charities Information Letters and Employee Speeches We have recently completed a review of…
Here is CRA’s new Charities Connection newsletter that was released today.
Here is an announcement from the Ontario about developing a “comprehensive and long term strategic action plan for its partnership with the not-for-profit sector”. Building A Strong Partnership With The Not-for-profit Sector April 22, 2010 McGuinty Government Making It…
Unfortunately the Canadian public and many policy makers have a very poor understanding of the charity sector. I thought this piece from a speech by Helen Burstyn of the Ontario Trillium Foundation summarized the issue nicely. “Challenge 2: Limited understanding…
CRA will be releasing a new T3010 form. Charities can still use the current form and here are some notes from CRA on what financial information is no longer necessary in light of the removal of the 80/20 expenditure requirement…
Here is an article by James Daw on two registered charities that recently lost their charitable status for involvement with tax shelters. Although these charity gifting tax shelter “charities” are being attacked by CRA and falling like flies there are…
Here is the Hansard transcript of comments from April 19 with respect to Bill C-470. The bill has passed second reading and will now be referred to committee. Some good points in the Hansard but unfortunately a lot of errors…
Here is an article by Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf in CharityVillage on Bill C-470 Here is my main note of Bill C-470
The CRA announced today the revocation of another Canadian registered charity called “Destiny Health and Wellness Foundation” which was involved with charity gifting tax shelters. News release The Canada Revenue Agency revokes the charitable status of Destiny Health and Wellness…
The Canada Revenue Agency has just announced that it has revoked the charitable status of the Canadian charity “Liberty Wellness Initiative” for involvement in a charity gifting tax shelter. News release The Canada Revenue Agency revokes the charitable status of…
There have come to light a couple of instances of large expenditures by Canadian charities on legal fees. Canadian registered charities are allowed to spend funds on legal fees. In some cases, say for example a legal clinic, such expenditures…
The Israelite Church of Christ Canada is a short procedural case dealing with the jurisdiction of the Federal Court of Appeal in which the federal court of appeal granted CRA’s motion to quash the appeal . Here is CRA’s summary…
Here is a list of some of the top 10 workshops I have been delivering around Canada over the last year. If you think that your organization can benefit let me know and maybe we can work something out. 1)…
I got a mention in an article by Paul Waldie on the issue of salary disclosure and salary caps in the Canadian charitable sector. The article is entitled Six-figure salaries the norm at top charities and it is located at: …
The Charities Directorate of the CRA has issued a Notice of Suspension to International Relief Fund for the Afflicted (IRFAN). Prior to this suspension there was only 1 other charity that was suspended. CRA is making greater use of the…