The Ontario Ministry of Government Services is launching a new Ontario Business Registry at some point over the next year or two. This Registry will one day contain profiles on any business that is registered (including non-profit corporations), groups incorporated…
For those interested in understanding the complexity of US non-profits, much of which is similar in Canada, you might find the Philanthropy and Digital Civil Society: Blueprint by Lucy Bernholz to be quite interesting. Here is a description “Philanthropy and…
I received the following today from CRA reminding charities to file their T3010 if it was due between March 18, 2020 and December 31, 2020: English version *** La version française suit *** Your organization has been identified…
Statistics Canada launched a crowd-sourced questionnaire on diversity in the non-profit and charity sector. I encourage groups to complete the questionnaire so that we have some more information on diversity within non-profits and charities. It is available until December 23,…
We have been blogging about CRA’s draft guidance “Advancement of religion and charitable registration” in 2009, 2017 and 2018. Essentially CRA has been working on the document for a long time and their first draft was put out 11 years…
We recently received a copy of the CRA Ministerial Welcome Package which is dated November 2019. There are a number of references to charities including on pages 39, 64, 65, 73, 87-88, 95 and 120. There is no reference in the…
In a recent CRA document, we obtained that was released through access to information, it provides a good explanation of why CRA cares about charitable purposes and ALSO charitable activities. For most people the point is obvious. If you are…
About 4000 groups apply each year to the Charities Directorate of CRA to receive registered charitable status and about 46% obtain that status. The groups who don’t get charity status are not necessarily in any way bad groups – but…
A recent report entitled “Unfunded: Black Communities Overlooked by Canadian Philanthropy” is a wakeup call that Foundations and Charities are not doing enough to fund Black led organizations and groups that work primarily on Black communities. Their recommendation is to…
The CRA recently introduced a simplified process to allow employees in certain cases to claim home office expenses. About 1/2 of charities in Canada have employees so this will be helpful for them. Also, many volunteers have day jobs and…
On Friday, December 11, 2020 I gave testimony to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) on the CSSG and We Charity scandal. Here is the video of the testimony. The part dealing with procurements and…
The CRA has revoked its first two registered charities in over a year. Actually, over 13 months not one charity has been revoked. Some think that if the CRA is not revoking any charities that is a good news story. …
The CRA has updated their guidance CG-027, Public policy dialogue and development activities by charities. There were only minor changes to the guidance to provide greater clarity. The CRA notes that “This guidance explains how the CRA will administer…
CRA released several new updates and guidances for registered charities on Friday. This includes a new guidance on the advancement of education (CG-030, Advancement of education and charitable registration) and relief of poverty (CG-029, Relief of poverty and charitable registration).…
I wish I did not have to write this article about the Canadian rules around international philanthropy and foreign activities but unfortunately, a small group of people has been constantly complaining about direction and control for 20 years. It is…
If you have followed the WE Charity scandal one of the major concerns is the lack of transparency with Canadian registered charities. That is not to say that a charity cannot be transparent, but the legally required transparency for registered…
As we have discussed extensively, as a result of COVID the CRA has extended the deadline for filing the T3010s that were or will be due from March 18, 2020 till December 31, 2020 to a deadline for this year…
CRA issued a few new guidances today, including a guidance on the advancement of education: CG-030, Advancement of education and charitable registration. This is a welcome new guidance that explains what CRA expects from a charity or an entity applying…
Today, CRA released it’s new Guidance, CG-029, Relief of poverty and charitable registration. This relatively short guidance provides some useful information on what CRA considers to be charitable activities that relieve poverty. As so many charities are involved with relief…
CRA released today the updated guidance CG-002, Canadian registered charities carrying on activities outside Canada. Essentially, this guidance deals with Canadian charities conducting foreign activities. About 5000 Canadian registered charities conduct foreign activities every year. Over the next 10 years…
Earlier this month, CRA update the T3010 form found here. With the CRA’s COVID-19 extension for the T3010 Annual Return, many charities must file their T3010 by December 31, 2020. This deadline is fast approaching and many charities may have…
Here is a description of the presentation on November 24, 2020: Lunch ’N Learn Panel: WE Have a Problem Jaya Mootoo , Ann Rosenfield, MBA, CFRE , Hawa Y. Mire, MA , Mark Blumberg, LLB, LLM, TEP Description:…
Mark will be presenting on November 19, 2020 at the CIMA Canada Conference on “Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas: at Work and Beyond”. CIMA is the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants® (CIMA) which was founded in 1919 and is the world’s…
CRA recently sent out a newsletter reminder that charities with a T3010 (Registered Charity Information Return) filing due between March 18, 2020 and December 31, 2020 must file by December 31, 2020. It is vitally important that all charities file…