In April 2008, CRA released a Consultation on proposed policy regarding fundraising by Registered Charities (RC4456-e) (“Fundraising Consultation”).  This document is a relatively short six page overview, and CRA has recently provided charities with a more detailed document entitled “Background information for proposed policy on fundraising by Registered Charities” which is 29 pages (“Background Document”).  The background document provides greater detail, further definitions of terminology and CRA’s positions on various points.  In this article I will discuss the content of the Fundraising Consultation and Background Document, discuss and analyze the criticisms from others of these documents, and provide my own comments.

This article discusses a Canadian legal perspective on Planned Giving Internationally. It was written by Mark Blumberg and recently appeared in “Your Guide to Charitable Giving and Estate Planning”, a supplement that appeared in the Globe and Mail on Friday May 11, 2007 and was produced by the Greater Toronto Area Roundtable of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners.

Here is a copy of a presentation I recently delivered on promoting bequests to charities.  As charities seek to diversify or increase revenue, bequests become an even more important potential source.  It covers some of the advantages and disadvantages with using bequests, whether an organization should create a bequest program, 16 steps to setting up a planned giving program that emphasizes bequests, as well as legal, ethical, and practical issues to keep in mind. 

Here is a copy of my article discussing the Consultation on proposed policy on fundraising by Registered Charities RC4456

Here is a copy of my recent article Global Philanthropy Growing as World Shrinks which appeared in the CAGP Toronto 2008 Supplement Your Guide To Giving Back.

Here is a copy of a paper I wrote a few years ago on Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRT) in Canada.  The CRT vehicle is extensively used in the US and less so in Canada.  There is a concern that if the rules for CRT are made more favourable this will result in greater immediate tax benefits to a few wealthy people, but not much benefit for Canadian charities for decades to come if at all.

I recently delivered a presentation to a number of international development charities in Ottawa entitled “Encouraging Bequests While Avoiding Legal and Ethical Issues”.  It covered issues such as the CRA Fundraising Policy and its effect on planned giving and bequests, 15 steps to create a basic planned giving program with or without money, 18 legal concerns with bequests to avoid, and 6 ethical issues with bequests and planned giving to be aware of.  A copy of the presentation is in PDF here.

Here is a copy of my presentation to the Canadian Association of Paralegals on Establishing a Canadian Non-Profit or Charity - Avoiding practical, legal and ethical problems.

Here is a copy of my article ‘Bequests - Avoiding problems with the ultimate planned gift’ which was presented at a recent Ontario Bar Association Conference.