The Ontario Hospital Association is having a conference entitled “Strengthening Foundation Governance: Current Issues, Challenges and Solutions“. I will be presenting on Charitable Giving, Transparency and Standards. There will be a number of other interesting presentations. Charitable Giving, Transparency and…
The Charity Commission has recently updated their guidance “Charity finances: trustee essentials“. It provides helpful information on finances that Canadian directors and trustees, as well as staff, should be aware of. Keep in mind that on certain points the law in…
This recent article in The Guardian entitled Charity regulator to crack down on political advocacy after complaints discusses how the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has cracked down on certain political activities by charities in Australia and how the ACNC is asking…
The Vancouver Sun is reporting that North Shore Rescue is suing the Search and Rescue Society of B.C. over allegations that the latter groups has been using the name of the North Shore Rescue to raise money. It will be interesting…
Here is a redacted copy of a notice sent by the Charities Directorate of CRA reminding charities of their filing date and the consequences of not filing the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return within 6 months of the end of…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and National Association of State Charities Officials (NASCO) are organizing a conference called “Give & Take: Consumers, Contributions, and Charity” on Tuesday March 21, 2017. It will be in Washington but it will be…
A number of Canadian charities have been revoked by CRA for supporting terrorism in addition to other concerns. One of those organizations was The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (Canada) or IRFAN Canada. It lost its charitable status…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales has provided some useful information on the dangers of using cash couriers for implementing local and foreign activities. Here is the alert: Commission and police strongly advise charities against the use of…
AFP recently published an article of mine on the CRA’s Report on the Charities Program 2015-2016. They noted “Statistics, while helpful, sometimes require interpretation to fully understand the context of the material being presented. Lawyer Mark Blumberg provides a summary…
The Department of Finance has released its estimates of tax expenditures. Here is the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures – Concepts, Estimates and Evaluations 2017. A number of the examples given of tax expenditures apply to charities: The exemption from tax…
The consolidation of all Government of Canada websites into one domain at www.canada.ca has started. In theory this is an opportunity to have a more streamlined, secure government website. I have two concerns about how this will affect charities. First…
There are many rules and restrictions on Canadian private foundations and their investments. In 2015, the Federal government gave private foundations greater ability to invest in limited partnerships. If certain conditions are met from a CRA Income Tax…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales recently released an Inquiry Report on a UK charity that identified concerns with fundraising and foreign activities. There were a number of concerns raised but perhaps most interesting is the discussion around due…
CRA recently updated their guidance with respect to becoming a prescribed university outside of Canada. There are about 600 foreign prescribed universities and they can issue official donation receipts similar to a Canadian registered charity. The updated CRA publication (RC…
The Canada Revenue Agency (‘CRA’) recently updated the T2050 form used by organizations when applying for charitable status with the Charities Directorate of the CRA. On the last page of the form, CRA has included a privacy disclosure which indicates that CRA…
A notice from Corporations Canada of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (formerly Industry Canada) entitled “Last chance for not-for-profits to transition” has been sent out reminding non-profits that if they are still under the old Canada Corporations Act that…
The CRA has added a page on cause-related marketing page to the receipting part of their website. The CRA seems largely concerned that in some cases no official donation receipt should be issued when there is a cause related marketing arrangement…
If you are into technology and like to click things and then see those clicks magically be reflected in a newly generated page then you are going to love CRA's new Checklist Tool for Canadian registered charity applications. It allows…
The Charity Commission has released a case report that deals with political activities of a UK charity and also its funding of a non-charity. This case report is interesting from a Canadian perspective as there have been people in Canada…
In October 2016 the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation announced that they were looking at a merger. Today the CCS sent out an email announcing “On behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), I am thrilled to…
On Sunday January 29, 2017 there was a terrible tragedy in Quebec City. A right-wing terrorist massacred six people praying at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec and injured almost 20 others. This is the worst terrorist attack in Canada in over 25 years. It's hard…
In Canada, the Charities Directorate of CRA reviews carefully all registered charity applications. Some of the latest statistics from the CRA show that most charities that apply for registration are not granted it. It is not that these organizations are…
In August 2016 we launched a website to improve transparency on Canadian registered charities. It is at www.charitydata.ca We have just made a number of improvements to the website. Here are some of the improvements: 1) We have added more…
Kate Robertson and Mark Blumberg recently prepared an article, “Some thoughts on Professional Athletes and Philanthropy in Canada: Part 1” which provides helpful information and guidance for professional athletes and their trusted advisors who are exploring philanthropic options in Canada. Part 2…