August 2010
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/25/2010 |
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A bill to impose a salary cap on Canadian registered charities has passed 2nd reading and will shortly be reviewed by the Finance Committee of the House of Commons. As they say, there is usually one simple solution to a complex problem that is totally wrong. To have a single cap for all Canadian charities means that Canadian hospitals, research institutions, and universities will not even have a chance of being able to compete with other similar institutions around the world. While it sounds appealing to cap salaries at $250,000, a very problematic piece of legislation when you drill down to the details . You see it is not about what charities want to pay for things - every charity would ideally want everything for free. Charities need to able to recruit people to accomplish their mission. Charities should never pay more than they need to. They should never pay more than fair market compensation. But you cannot just put a one-size fits all number on what it is. When there are only a few neurosurgeons you cannot pay what you want - you need to pay something related to the going rate for neurosurgeons or be prepared to do without them. If you are a small community in the North and you want to have a specialist in your community, you may have to pay that person more than what a comparable hospital in Toronto or Chicago would pay.
Here is a link to CRA’s new page “Floods in Pakistan” http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/whtsnw/tms/pkstn-fldng-eng.html It also has links to CIDA’s matching program.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/23/2010 |
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CIDA has announced that it will have a matching fund for donations raised by Canadian charities for the Pakistan relief from August 2 to September 12. The Pakistan Floods Relief Fund will not be given to each charity that raised funds but instead there will be an application process in which charities can apply for the funds and they will have to demonstrate that they have the capacity to do the work effectively. This is similar to the Haiti earthquake fund a few months ago.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/23/2010 |
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I will be doing a number of programs for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (ICAO) including on Top Compliance Issues - Registered Charities, Directors, CAs; Charity Fundraising and Receipting Rules and Recent Legal Developments Affecting Registered Charities.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/22/2010 |
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CanadaHelps is offering a number of free training seminars for charities. They look very interesting and here are the details:
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/22/2010 |
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Here is a copy of a powerpoint from a workshop at the CIVICUS World Assembly entitled “Assessing the Contribution of Faith-Based Organisations in Development: Mythical or Real?”.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/21/2010 |
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Here are some of my notes on my learnings at the CIVICUS World Assembly 2010 that I am attending in Montreal.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/20/2010 |
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For those who could not attend the CIDA presentation today in Toronto here is a copy of the CIDA presentation and material on Partnership with Canadians Branch- August 2010. There are some questions posed in this document that CIDA is looking for input by Wednesday August 25. Here is a cleaner copy of the CIDA presentation from the OCIC, without the questions.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/18/2010 |
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Global Giving
This document contains a list of countries and regions in which Canadian charities are conducting foreign activities. The information comes from the 2008 T3010 Registered Charity Information Return and specifically Question C5: “For programs the charity managed directly, outside of Canada, list the countries or regions where programs were carried on. Do not include countries or regions where programs were managed by a qualified donee.” Here is the list of Canadian Charities that Operate Abroad listed by Country and Region based on 2008 T3010 information.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/17/2010 |
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Here is a request from the Humanitarian Coalition with respect to Pakistan http://thehumanitariancoalitionenglish.cmail4.com/t/y/e/miritl/biljdktji/ Here are some blogs and pictures from Pakistan http://www.thehumanitariancoalition.ca/index.php/site/newsRoomArticle/blogs_and_info_from_pakistan/ The Humanitarian Coalition is made up of Care Canada, Oxfam Quebec, Oxfam Canada and Save the Children. They fundraise and work together in major international disasters to be more efficient, effective, and coordinated.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/16/2010 |
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Here is an interesting guide for those involved with funding NGOs around the world. Don’t be put off by the title - you may still be intelligent even if you don’t follow all the principles!
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/15/2010 |
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I will be one of the presenters at an upcoming PFC program called Global Giving - Possibilities and Pitfalls.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/11/2010 |
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Here is an article on the Chronicle of Philanthropy about New York State’s new law limiting deductions for donors who earn over 10 million http://philanthropy.com/article/NY-Governor-Signs/123863/ It is thought that other states as well as the Federal government may follow this example. There are some that argue the the more the merrier when it comes to tax incentives for people giving to charity. However, as New York is seeing the greater the tax incentives for general charitable giving the greater foregone revenue needed to run basic government services. This may be a ‘luxury’ they cannot afford. Also while some donors are fixated on tax rates, according to a number of surveys tax barely figures in the equation. Will Canada follow NY’s example? We will see.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/11/2010 |
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The 4th annual Artez InterAction one day conference is coming up on September 28, 2010 at the Mars centre in Toronto. There are lots of good speakers but make sure you catch Claire Kerr - she is a very funny lady! For more information see: http://www.artez.com/news_and_events/conferences/artezinteraction_north_america/conference_sessions
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/09/2010 |
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Tomorrow, the Humanitarian Coalition will launch an appeal for flooded Pakistan. Here is a link to their website http://tiny.cc/rr9x7 For those who have not heard of the Humanitarian Coalition it is “a network of Canadian NGOs determined to unite in cases of humanitarian crises. Four of Canada’s leading aid organizations have founded the Humanitarian Coalition: CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec and Save the Children Canada.”
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/09/2010 |
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Here is the segment (2.5 minutes) with Sean O’Shea, a consumer reporter for Global TV. Mark Blumberg, moi, is being interviewed along with much more serious, important, and influential characters such as Marcel Lauzière of Imagine Canada http://www.globaltoronto.com/Video+Donor+beware/3378491/story.html
The case involves the CRA denial of EFILING privileges to Mr. Christopher Paterson, an individual who prepares clients’ returns because he assisted them with a “scheme” in which the applicant “accepted money from taxpayers who wished to “donate” to these charitable organizations in exchange for an “enhanced receipt” for tax purposes (the scheme). The receipt provided to the taxpayer would reflect a much larger sum of money than was actually paid and would then be used in the preparation of the client’s tax return to provide the client with sizeable deductions from their taxable income.” Mr. Paterson had objected to the CRA determination and the Federal Court upheld the CRA decision. The CRA Chief of Appeals had noted “[The applicant’s] conduct was disreputable in nature because of [his] involvement in selling charitable donation receipts to [his] clients for gain. Further, [he] knowingly prepared returns using these donations receipts from which there were no actual contributions to the registered charities. As a result, [the CRA] find[s] that [his] conduct in this matter does not reflect positively on the integrity of the EFILE program…” The court noted “While the applicant may not have had any reason to question the authenticity of the receipts his clients were being supplied, he most definitely knew that the amounts paid by his clients were not equal to the amounts they were given credit for when he was completing their income tax returns. There was evidently some sort of wilful blindness on the part of the applicant. The mere fact that the applicant did not believe this to be fraudulent does not detract from his admission that he participated in a scheme whereby taxpayers were making claims for the deduction of sums of money they never paid to these charitable organizations. As it is often said, ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/08/2010 |
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The New York Times reported that “Returning home from a three-week trek on foot to deliver free medical care to the remotest regions of the country, the aid workers — six Americans, a Briton, a German and four Afghans — had just finished eating when they were accosted by gunmen with long dyed-red beards, the police said. The gunmen marched them into the forest, stood them in a line and shot 10 of them one by one.” ...“The attack, the largest massacre in years of aid workers in Afghanistan, offered chilling evidence of the increasing insecurity in the northern part of the country and added to fears that the insurgency has turned even more vicious in recent months.”
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/04/2010 |
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The Kootenay Doukhobor Historical Society v. The Queen case illustrates quite well that even if a non-profit and a staff person agree that the staff person is an independent contractor, there is an independent contractor agreement, and the staff person has considerable latitude in carrying out the tasks, the staff person can be found to be an employee. It is vital that non-profits and charities properly categorize staff. Failure to consider someone an employee when they really are an employee, and failure to withhold EI, CPP and income tax amounts, can result in considerable liability for a non-profit or charity. As well, directors of the non-profit or charity can be on the hook for the outstanding amount and this is probably the most common reason that the directors of a non-profit or charity would ever have personal liability.
Here is a list with the 2008, 2009 and 2010 major deregistrations along with a link to the CRA press release and scanned copies of the actual letters sent by CRA to the charities outlining their reasons for revoking or annulling their charitable status.
CRA has recently released a new guidance called “Canadian Registered Charities Carrying out Activities Outside Canada”. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/chrts/plcy/cgd/tsd-cnd-eng.html Although the name suggests “foreign activities” this document deals with a lot more than foreign activities. It covers the relationship between a Canadian charity and any non-qualified donee, whether in Canada or abroad. If a Canadian charity has dealing with, for example, a non-profit that does not have charitable status then the same rules apply as to a Canadian charity dealing with a foreign entity. Essentially, almost all organizations outside of Canada are non-qualified donees. If you are going to transfer resources to them you need to maintain “direction and control” over those resources. This document helps a Canadian charity understand what is required for direction and control. Failure to maintain direction and control can result in a 105% penalty of the amount transferred and/or revocation of charitable status.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/01/2010 |
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Alberta requires some charities to register under its Charitable Fund-raising Act including those who raise $25,000 or more per year, or use a fundraising business to fundraise for the charity. There are exclusions if your charity only fundraises from family or members, you only ask for in-kind goods (rather than cash) or you only do gaming such as bingo under the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. If you meet the registration requirements, and do not fit within one of the exceptions, then your charity must register with the Alberta government, even if you are registered with the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency.
July 2010
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/29/2010 |
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Here is a press release in which CIDA Minister Bev Oda announces further steps to achieve aid effectiveness. http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/acdi-cida/ACDI-CIDA.nsf/eng/CEC-722111726-KXG There is also a backgrounder. This document is a must read for any organization receiving CIDA funds or hoping to one day. There is a lot in this document and it will be interesting to see if practically this makes any real difference at CIDA.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/29/2010 |
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With the recent changes in the 2010 Federal budget including the elimination of the 80/20 expenditure rule it became necessary for CRA to revise the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return.
Here is a copy of my presentation to the Ontario Council For International Cooperation (OCIC) on “Advocacy and Political Activities for Canadian International Development Charities: Some Legal and Ethical Perspectives”.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/27/2010 |
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There was recently an interesting case “Innovative Gifting Inc. v. House of the Good Shepherd” that involved charities. This was not a case involving the Federal Court of Appeal or Tax Court - the usual places charity law issues are dealt with. This case was in the regular Ontario court system - some “fundraisers” called Innovative Gifting were trying to enforce an agreement they had with a number of Canadian charities. The long and the short of it, the court would not enforce the agreements as they found them to be void or voidable because they were counter to public policy and the agreements were “vague, uncertain and filled with inherent inconsistencies”.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/26/2010 |
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Chris Sorensen of Macleans just wrote a piece entitled “An artful scheme: One firm’s pitch to help people use a tax shelter by buying and then donating old photos is raising eyebrows in the art world and words of caution from experts”. It discusses a scheme called VIA (Vintage Iconic Archives) Project.
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/24/2010 |
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Just goes to show that no matter how many front charities the Charities Directorate shuts down there will always be gullible individuals ready to believe any business that says one can put down $1,000 and get a $5,000 donation receipt. As one of the comments to this CBC article noted, it is interesting to note that these purveyors of tax shelters held their marketing session at the Fantasyland Hotel. Such irony is priceless.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/07/20/charity-tax-scheme-fast-edmonton.html#socialcomments Do yourself and the “aids orphans in Africa” a favour and donate to real charities!
Posted by
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/21/2010 |
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Here are some questions and answers from the CRA relating to the Application of the GST/HST to Canadian Registered Charities
