Charity questions for our political parties in this 2008 Canadian election

Although charities are greater than 10% of our economy in a federal election the charitable sector gets between 0 and 0.01 of the attention.  We spend a lot of time talking about sweaters.  In this blog I ask a few rhetorical questions (as no one is actually going to respond!) about some public policy issues involving charities.

Blumbergs Canadian Charity Law List - September 2008 - Fundraising, Lobbying, Political Activities

In the September Newsletter we discuss the CRA Fundraising Consultation, provide my article on Canadian Charities and Foreign Activities which appeared in The Philanthropist, review rules for lobbying and political activities by Canadian charities, and provide a link to the CRA Report on Small and Rural Charities in Canada.

How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead such as Fundraising and Administration?

Here is my updated article on “How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead

This note discusses why low overhead may not be a good thing for a charity and what is appropriate.

Canadian Federal Election - Canadian charities must avoid partisan political activity

Canadian registered charities need to scrupulously avoid involvement with partisan political activity.  In this brief note we cover CRA policy statement CPS-022 on political activity by charities and CRA’s Advisory on Partisan Political Activities. It is really important for Canadian charities to understand the policy statement and advisory for two reasons: 1) failure to do so can result in a charity losing its charitable status; and 2) many charities can in fact do more allowable political activities than they currently do but they misunderstand CRA’s views on this important topic and they think that CRA disapproves of all “political” activity, which is clearly not the case. Full Article in PDF

Fundraising and Grantmaking from Canada - Legal Issues

Here is a copy of a powerpoint presentation Blumbergs recently delivered to a US 501(c)(3) on Fundraising and Grantmaking from Canada

United States Examining Tax Breaks for Charities, Will Canada follow?

The bad economic times, the war in Iraq and increasingly worsening socio-economic situation in the US is having some Democrats and Republicans wonder whether the structure and tax incentives for the charitable sector is working.  Will Canada follow the lead and ask tough questions?