As we noted earlier ONCA has been indefinitely delayed. The government has said that certain implementing legislation has to be passed and certain technological systems put in place before ONCA comes into force. The Ontario government said they would provide the sector with 2 years…
On September 12, 2015, the Canadian Government announced the Syria Emergency Relief Fund. Depending on certain donations made between September 12 and December 31 this fund could reach potentially $100 million. As with previous “matching” funds the charity that raises…
As many know the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) was passed in 2010 and was supposed to be brought in by January 2013. There are ostensibly 59,000 Ontario non-profits, although many may be dormant. The Ontario government announced today “The government is fully…
Mark Blumberg will be presenting on October 26, 2015 to the Canadian Endowment & Foundations Forum on the topic of “Top Compliance Issues for Foundations and Recent Legal Developments” Here is the description of Mark's presentation: Top Compliance Issues for Foundations…
Lynn Gluckman of Blumberg Segal has presented on “Managing Restricted Gifts: Cy pres and avoiding the need for Cy pres” for the Charity and Not-For-Profit Law section of the Ontario Bar Association. Here is further information on the program held on September…
Mark Blumberg will be team teaching, with Valerie Campbell and Sharilyn Hale, the Humber Fundraising Management Course “Ethical and Legal Issues”. It was previously taught by Ken Wyman so we will have big shoes to fill. Here is more information…
I am looking forward to delivering a 2 hour presentation on the topic of Top Compliance Issues for Registered Charities, their Directors and their Accountants to the CPA Ontario's Practitioners Conference on September 18, 2015. Here is the description of the session: Top Compliance…
A class action lawsuit was commenced on August 18, 2015 in Vancouver against numerous parties involved with a tax shelter scheme related to the Ideas Canada Foundation for the taxation years 2001, 2002 and 2003. Those who invested in…
In July, the B.C. Supreme Court, in the decision of Habitat for Humanity Canada v Hearts and Hands for Homes Society, upheld a claim for specific performance of a clause within an affiliation agreement between two charitable organizations. This decision involved a…
This article discusses Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and how it impacts Canadian Registered Charities and Non-profit Organizations. Download Article
I was delighted to read a publication “Donor Beware: Investigation into the sufficiency of the Canada Revenue Agency’s warnings about questionable tax shelter schemes”. The special report was prepared in December 2013 by J. Paul Dubé, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman. The…
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Here is an updated version of the Canadian Charity Legal Checklist. For those who are interested in reviewing legal compliance for their registered charity they may find the checklist helpful. Download Article
In this submission to the Ontario Government, Mark Blumberg argues that Canadian registered charities that are Ontario corporations should not have to undergo essentially redundant regulatory review by the PGT when they make changes to their objects or move over…
It looks like ONCA may not even come into force until mid-2016 and perhaps 2017. It is difficult to know what will happen but the microfiche based record system for Ontario corporations and very outdated technology that Ontario currently uses…
About 2.7 million Canadians work for Canadian registered charities. They earn approximately $122 billion per year. This article takes data from the CRA’s T3010 Registered Charity Information Return and shows the charities that spend the most on employment compensation. Download…
The Blumbergs' Snapshot of the Canadian Charity Sector 2013 is part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 83,000 of the 86,000 registered charities in Canada that had filed their T3010 and were processed into CRA’s Charity…
This article Canadian Charities Conducting International Activities (2015) discusses the regulatory environment for Canadian charities conducting foreign activities as well as certain practical and ethical issues. Download Article
Since 2012 there has been greater scrutiny of Canadian charities and their political activities. The Canadian government has allocated over $13 million to improve transparency, educate charities and to conduct approximately 60 audits on political activities. CRA recently noted that…
I recently wrote an article “Election 2015 and Canadian charities” for Hilborn. Charities that are involved in political activities may find it helpful. It covers issues such as what political activities can charities be involved with during an election,…
The Department of Finance in late July released for consultation purposes draft legislative proposals that will have an impact on charities. The 2 main changes are an “exemption from capital gains tax for certain dispositions involving private corporation shares…
For the 86,000 Canadian registered charities who file their T3010 Registered Charity Information Return every year and the 4500 or so organizations that apply for registered charity status every year, the introduction over the next few years of electronic filing…
Communication or outreach by the Charities Directorate to the charity sector is vital to ensure that charities understand their compliance obligations and are assisted in complying with those obligations. Here are excerpts from the comments by Cathy Hawara, Director General of…
The CRA has posted an “Advisory on partisan political activities” as a reminder to Canadian registered charities that they must avoid all partisan political activities, although they are allowed to conduct certain political activities related to their objects and within…