International Pentecostal Ministry Fellowship of Toronto v. The Queen - (FCA) important case

In International Pentecostal Ministry Fellowship of Toronto v. The Queen (FCA) located at http://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/en/2010/2010fca51/2010fca51.html the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed CRA’s jurisdiction over Canadian charities registered under the Income Tax Act (Canada).  In quite a strongly worded statement the decision states “We have not been persuaded that there is any merit to the Appellant’s argument that the provisions of the ITA dealing with the registration and deregistration of charities are an unconstitutional infringement on provincial legislative authority. In our view, these provisions relate, in their pith and substance, to federal taxation, and accordingly they are intra vires the Parliament of Canada under subsection 91 (3) of the Constitution Act, 1867. Both the advantages of registration and the drawbacks of revocation relate solely to the tax treatment of charities and their donors. They do not impermissibly affect the affairs of charities in any other way, nor do they impede provinces from otherwise regulating charities.”  The court also rejected the charity’s argument that CRA by going to revocation did not follow its own guidance.  The court noted that CRA’s “decision falls squarely within the range of acceptable outcomes.” and that “it was reasonably open to the Minister to find the breaches sufficiently serious as to warrant revocation.”  This is important victory for charities and CRA in that it makes it clear that CRA can remove the charitable status of a sufficiently non-compliant charity. The public in Canada expects CRA as a regulator to regulate and sometimes that means removing the registered charitable status of groups that do not comply with the basic requirements of being a charity.  I would also commend the Federal Court of Appeal for the length of decision.  When a charity is making an argument that lacks “any merit” you don’t need a 20 page decision and a couple pages will do.

Being Good at Doing Good Charity Conference in Toronto was a great conference

Just finished help organize the Being Good at Doing Good Conference organized by the Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) and supported by the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency through its Charities Partnership and Outreach Program.  Thank you to CRA and Mackenzie Financial for sponsoring.  Thank you to all the CLIP and Capacity Builders staff who worked so hard on this project.  Also thanks go to all the speakers, especially those that came from afar,

How do you know if your Canadian non-profit is not really a charity under 149.1(l) of the ITA?

CRA provides their answer in this piece from the APFF 2009 Conference.

Brochure released for Charity Law Information Program Conference in Toronto - great speakers/topics

Here is the Toronto Charity Law Information Program Conference brochure

Top Ethical Issues for Canadian Charities Webinar with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Top Ethical Issues for Canadian Charities”.  https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=505027&rKey=4ccd7037d565a5d1&act=pb

Cooperation and Mergers in the Canadian Charitable Sector Webinar with Mark Blumberg

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Cooperation and Mergers in the Canadian Charitable Sector”. https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=624477&rKey=bb493098d9d816c9&act=pb

Webinar - Charities Working in Difficult Areas-16 Steps to Avoiding Involvement with Terrorism

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Working in Difficult Areas: 16 Steps to Avoiding Direct or Indirect Involvement with Terrorism” with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg.  https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=506162&rKey=030166e88da95ab7&act=pb

Avoiding Extreme Misuse of Charitable Assets: Fraud, Money Laundering, and Terrorism Webinar

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Avoiding Extreme Misuse of Charitable Assets: Fraud, Money Laundering, and Terrorism” with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg. https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=440632&rKey=dabdc720d228c0e6&act=pb

Foreign Activities: An In-Depth Review of Legal Issues with Charity Lawyer Mark Blumberg

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Foreign Activities: An In-Depth Review of Legal Issues” https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=336577&rKey=4724562b329b659a&act=pb

Ethical Issues and Foreign Activities - a free webinar with Canadian charity lawyer Mark Blumberg

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Ethical Issues and Foreign Activities” with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg.  https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=595442&rKey=2c43133114600d23&act=pb

How to Read a Charity’s Financial Statement with Eric Plato, CMA - free webinar

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “How to Read a Charity’s Financial Statement” with Eric Plato, CMA. https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=594467&rKey=3c0bfefcfc6c0c08&act=pb

Dealing with a Canada Revenue Agency Charity Directorate Audit of a charity with Mark Blumberg

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Dealing with a Canada Revenue Agency Audit”. https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=547947&rKey=c91388f375f36729&act=pb

Low Cost Fundraising - Legal Issues with Third Party Events and Bequests -with lawyer Mark Blumberg

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Low Cost Fundraising - Legal Issues with Third Party Events and Bequests”. https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=547307&rKey=d508eba7a71f3dbc&act=pb

Practical Advice on Maintaining Adequate Books and Records - webinar from CLIP

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Practical Advice on Maintaining Adequate Books and Records” with Eric Plato, CMA.  https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=597002&rKey=c6620d6d25fd8462&act=pb

CRA’s New Fundraising Guidance: What Does It Mean? - a webinar from charity lawyer Mark Blumberg

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “CRA’s New Fundraising Guidance: What Does It Mean?” https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=440027&rKey=482cc2c6dcf99042&act=pb

Business Activities and Earned Income by Canadian Charities - webinar from CLIP

Here is an archived webinar entitled “Business Activities and Earned Income by Canadian Charities” with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg. https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=559052&rKey=9947b9c3dc70b510&act=pb

Allowable Canadian Charitable Activities and Non-Charitable Activities - webinar from CLIP

Here is an archived webinar entitled “Allowable Charitable Activities and Non-Charitable Activities” by charity lawyer Mark Blumberg https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=556857&rKey=ba363d7271522385&act=pb

Receipting for Canadian Charities: To Issue or Not to Issue an Official Donation Receipt

Here is an archived webinar entitled “Receipting for Canadian Charities: To Issue or Not to Issue an Official Donation Receipt” with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg. https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=581177&rKey=1f03a97ff473446d&act=pb

Legal Issues for Canadian Charities: Beyond the Top 10 - free webinar from CLIP

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Legal Issues for Canadian Charities: Beyond the Top 10” with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=560427&rKey=eb2b26271716b465&act=pb

Top 10 Canada Revenue Agency Compliance Issues for Charities - free webinar from CLIP

Here is a free archived webinar entitled “Top 10 Canada Revenue Agency Compliance Issues for Charities” with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg.  https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=347957&rKey=b0409024f1fe1f72&act=pb

Webinar Basic Internal Financial Controls for Canadian Registered Charities with Mark Blumberg

Here is an archived webinar entitled “Basic Internal Financial Controls for Canadian Registered Charities” https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=387717&act=pb&rKey=cbfd36b7be66045d

Tour of the Canada Revenue Agency Charity Directorate and Various Charity Law Resources on the Web

Here is an archived webinar entitled “Tour of the Canada Revenue Agency Charity Directorate and Various Charity Law Resources on the Web” with Mark Blumberg, a Toronto based charity lawyer.
https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=548647&rKey=c0ce81cdd52ef188&act=pb

Risk Management for Canadian Charities - free webinar from the Charity Law Information Program

Here is an archived webinar entitled “Risk Management for Canadian Charities”  https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=388027&rKey=1314cbfa89fddcf3&act=pb

Governance 101 for Canadian Charities and Their Boards of Directors - free webinar from CLIP

Here is a free webinar entitled “Governance 101 for Canadian Charities and Their Boards of Directors” from the Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=505717&rKey=3a1e71ab5ca2421f&act=pb

Federal and Provincial Cooperation in the regulation of charities in Canada

It is not well known but the Federal and Provincial governments work collaboratively on charity regulation in Canada “to develop mutually beneficial public awareness and education products and projects.”.  Here is a little piece which illustrates some of the collaboration. 

CRA modifies page on disbursement quota calculation -useful page for understanding DQ for charities

If you are trying to understand the disbursement quota for Canadian charities then you may find this CRA page on the disbursement quota calculation helpful.  Here is the link http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/chrts/prtng/spndng/clclb-eng.html

Ned Breslin: Rethinking Hydro-Philanthropy - very interesting article on water

If you are interested in the provision of water in developing countries this article by Ned Breslin is well worth reading.  http://www.waterforpeople.org/site/DocServer/Breslin-Rethinking-hydrophilanthropy-012910-web.pdf?docID=1521

Webinar: Haiti - Legal and Ethical Issues for Canadian charities responding to the earthquake

[the archived recording of the webinar Haiti - Legal and Ethical Issues for Canadian charities is now available at https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=619547&rKey=680663606ebf9a91&act=pb (It is approx 1h and 10 min)]  We are also beta testing some other webinars at: http://www.globalphilanthropy.ca/index.php/blog/comments/webinars_on_canadian_charity_law_-_charity_law_information_program_clip_by_/

OCIC, myself and Capacity Builders will be organizing a free one hour webinar entitled “Haiti - Legal and Ethical Issues for Canadian charities responding to the earthquake”  As we are all aware with the earthquake in Haiti, Canadians have responded quickly and donated generously.  Canadian charities have received record contributions to help with the disaster in Haiti.  Many of the charities raising funds for Haiti have never operated in Haiti and/or been involved in disaster assistance. We have learned from past disaster responses in post-conflict areas that good intentions and money are not enough.  Join charity lawyer Mark Blumberg (editor of http://www.globalphilanthropy.ca) as he highlights some of the top legal and ethical challenges facing Canadian registered charities operating in Haiti.  From Income Tax Act rules to ethical dilemmas it is important that charities are aware of these and other issues.  For all Capacity Builder Webinars you can see https://ocsa.webex.com/mw0306l/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=ocsa

An example of a dysfunctional governance situation at a Canadian charity -Rights & Democracy

There have been a number of articles on a Montreal based charity named Rights & Democracy.  One can learn a number of lessons on how not to deal with governance from this example.