Tens of thousands of Ontario non-profit corporations that were originally incorporated under Part III of the Corporations Act (Ontario), had a 3-year transition period during which to bring their constating documents (i.e. letters patent, by-laws, etc.) into conformity with the…
Here is an interesting article ‘The Dark Side of the NGO Halo: Exploring moral goodness as a driver for NGO unethical behavior’, in which Dr Isabel de Bruin “found that people in charities can glorify their charities’ noble goals, noble…
In a recent decision the Ontario Court of Appeal rejected a request by a charity to seal documents in a court proceeding. Here is some background on the matter and an explanation of the meaning of this decision. The Muslim…
While there are many ways of looking at the average size of a Canadian charity, typically, size is measured in terms of revenue or assets. This is probably quite unfair as some charities have a huge amount of assets and…
Today, the Federal government added Samidoun as a listed terrorist organization. Just a reminder for Canadian non-profits and charities that there are terrroist organizations listed that are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc and you should be aware of which groups are…
There was a recent article from the JTA and appearing in the Jerusalem Post “Canadian crackdown on Israel-linked charities raises concerns in Jewish community“. The article represents a number of very different perspectives relating to the JNF Canada revocation and…
There has been a paucity of CRA views on municipalities and receipting. Although some rules that apply to registered charities don’t apply to municipalities, it is clear that the rules around receipting are similar. Municipalities that are not aware of…
There is an interesting class action lawsuit in the US against a large church. It involves a number of different matters, including claims questioning the promises made by the church that they provided 15% of their funds for overseas work. …
If you went to an arts conference and someone said Monet, Picasso and Michael Jackson are all the same – they are R&B musicians, you would probably want to move away from that person quickly! Unfortunately, this level of flawed…
There are many advantages for Canadian charities filing their T3010 online, as we have discussed numerous times. But how many Canadian registered charities are using the online system? We recently received data from the Charities Directorate for the fiscal 2023-2024…
I have started reading Checkbook Zionism which discusses the philanthropic relationship between Jews in the US and causes they are interested in in Israel. The book is about the US. However, it may be quite interesting for those who spend…
Certain official notices, such as charity revocations, are published in the Canada Gazette. These notices are officially published on a Saturday. I think it has been this way for a long time. Recent changes to the Income Tax Act from…
Some charities and non-profits think that they are exempt from the requirements of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (“CASL”). While there are some exemptions for registered charities, generally CASL does apply to charities and non-profits, and such organizations should be aware of…
The US Form 990 is filed by some organizations that have addresses in Canada. Sometimes, it is a Canadian charity or non-profit in Canada that has applied for 501(c)(3) status, but sometimes, it is a US 501(c)(3) that has an…
CRA has a massive backlog of requests for changes in charitable purposes by registered charities. This is not surprising. Many Ontario non-profits have just discovered a totally new thing called ONCA in the last month or two! They are now…
There has been a lot of coverage of the JNF Canada revocation and lots of discussions, especially in the Jewish community. The short answer to the Question, “How much of an impact will revocation of JNF Canada have on Canadian…
Recently, the Ne’eman Foundation was revoked by CRA for a number of reasons. The Neeman Foundation announced immediately after its revocation that another charity, The Emunim Fund, was taking over the donors and programs. The Emunim Fund was incorporated on…
On December 19, 2023 CRA published their Guidance CG-032, Registered charities making grants to non-qualified donees. The new guidance is helpful, but because of the complexity of the wording from the Income Tax Act (Canada) and the lack of case…
The Department of Finance just released the “Notice of Ways and Means Motion to introduce a bill entitled An Act to amend the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax Regulations and Explanatory Notes“. Essentially, these are changes relating to donations of appreciated…
Did you know that as of September 1, 2023, there were 47,243 Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”) corporations. There were 43,449 as of a year earlier. That was an increase in just one year of 3794 CNCA corporations. Clearly, many…
The Jewish National Fund of Canada (“JNF Canada”) has been recently revoked as a registered charity by the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency. JNF Canada has appealed the decision in the Federal Court of Appeal. Various parties critical…
I recently received a question from a client about whether it’s possible to change the articles of incorporation. I was wondering why I was receiving such a question. And no, you cannot change your original articles of incorporation. They stay…
Even while charity law is a little different in England compared to Canada, this revised UK guidance “Decision-making for charity trustees (CC27)” could be quite helpful for directors and trustees of Canadian charities. If Canadian charities heed some of…
We will be having a new online course on “Receipting for Canadian Registered Charities” on November 28, 2024, from 1:00 PM EST to 4:30 PM EST. The cost is $295, but there is an early-bird special if you sign up…