Applying for Registered Charity Status

There is a list called "foreign charities that have received a gift from Her Majesty in right of Canada".  As the name suggests a group that gets a "gift" from the Federal government can apply to CRA to be on the list for a period of 2 years.  Being on the list means that the foreign charity can issue official donation receipts to Canadians and also receive gifts from Canadian charities.  When a Canadian charity provides funds to a foreign group that is listed as a qualified donee under this category there is no need for direction and control.  The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation has been added till February 19, 2021.  Groups that are on the list must be careful to only issue official donation receipts in accordance with the Income Tax Act of Canada. 

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There are a couple of important qualified donee categories that have increased in size - first the "List of municipal or public bodies performing a function of government in Canada registered as qualified donees" which is largely aboriginal bands and secondly, the "List of universities outside Canada registered as qualified donees".  

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Blumbergs is pleased to announce that we will be hosting Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp again on Monday April 20, 2020. An easy enough date to remember!   This is a one-day boot camp on compliance and standards issues for Canadian registered charities. You can find out more information and register for the program here. This Boot Camp will cover the differences between for-profits, non-profits and registered charities and why in some cases you may wish to have one or more of each to have maximum impact. It will focus on matters that are significant for any operating charity surrounding revenue generation rules, receipting, transparency, and protecting your charity against risks. Topical issues such as collaboration, foreign activities, political activities, the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (CNCA) and Ontario Non-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) will be touched upon as well.

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The Canadian Charity Law Association is delivering some upcoming webinars. Registration is free but space is limited. Topics are subject to change. 

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I have been asking the Ontario government for months for an update on whether ONCA is coming into force and when.   On September 25, 2019 I received a short note from the Policy and Business Law Unit of the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services (MGCS).  They noted "Thank you for your inquiry to the ministry regarding the Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA).  The ministry is working to bring ONCA into force as early as possible."  In January 2019 they noted "The ministry is continuing to work to bring the ONCA into force as early as possible with a target of early 2020".[my emphasis] Note they seem to be omitting the part about targeting early 2020.  I guess we are supposed to read the tea leaves - does that mean that it will be coming in early 2020, some other time or not coming in at all.  Your guess is as good as anyone.   

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Join us on Monday October 7, 2019 in Toronto for the 8th Annual Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Law Institute. We will be featuring a number of speakers covering different legal and compliance issues affecting Canadian charities and non-profits.  It will be a full day packed with practical legal and ethical compliance information geared toward charities, professional advisors and those interested in regulatory issues affecting charities and the non-profit sector. Space is limited. Here is the agenda.  

The price is $275 for the day. It includes breakfast, lunch, breaks, coffee and drinks, HST and handouts. For more information (including the agenda) or to register here is a link to the Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Law Institute 2019.

CRA is encouraging non-profits that want to apply to become registered charities to use their new CHAMP system for the application process.   They recently made an announcement that they will still however accept paper applications using the old Form T2050 until September 30, 2019.   It is not clear whether they will not accept paper applications after that date or if they really want you to use CHAMP but they will accept a newer paper form called the T1789 (E) 19 for those who cannot access the CHAMP system.  We will see.  No doubt it is better for CRA and obtaining a timely response from CRA to use the online system but in light of the current challenges that some are having with that system they may still for a while continue to accept paper applications even if it slows down the process. We have been using a mix of online and paper applications depending on the client and whether they can authorize our firm to access their RR number on CHAMP.

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We have just launched our 3rd online course - this one is entitled "Fundraising from Canada: A course for groups outside of Canada".   It is geared towards those outside of Canada thinking about fundraising in Canada and the options for structures that will assist including establishing a Canadian registered charity.   

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CRA in June 2019 brought in a new charity application system under their CHAMP modernization program.  Here is our article Making sense of CRAs new online Canadian charity application system which discusses the new system and also provides a paper copy of the questions on the new system. Some people, including professional advisors, have had challenges with the new system and hopefully this article will be of assistance.

We have a directory dealing with applications for charity status.  If you wish to apply for charity status in Canada and need legal assistance you can retain our law firm to assist.  Here is information on how to contact us. We have 9 lawyers who focus on working with non-profits and charities that are based in Canada and abroad.

The Journalism and Written Media Independent Panel of Experts released a report that they had provided to the Federal government relating to the 2019 federal budget and the proposals on journalism.   Here is a copy of the report.  As well here are minutes of their meetings. 

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On June 28, 2019, the Tax Court of Canada released its decision Promised Land Ministries v the Queen, in which it upheld CRA's decision to suspend the registered charity Promised Land Ministries ("PLM")'s receipting privileges for one year for failing to maintain adequate books and records over a foreign activity by the Canadian charity.  This case is vital reading for any Canadian charity conducting foreign activities because of its extensive discussion of books and records and foreign activities.

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We have created two new online courses for those outside of Toronto who are not able to easily attend our programs.  They might also be helpful to those in Toronto who cannot wait for our next session as they sometimes only occur annually.  Online course are never going to be the same as in-person courses but for many they are far easier to access and more convenient.  You can do an online course at your pace and redo sections if you wish.

The first course is "Should We Establish a Canadian Social Enterprise, Non-Profit or Charity and How to Do It?".   The course is $149 and you can register at https://charity-law.teachable.com/ 

The second course is "Receipting for Canadian Registered Charities".  The course is $225 and you can register at https://charity-law.teachable.com/ 

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Canadian charities now have more options for doing certain transactions online using the CHAMP system.   Charities should look into accessing their CHAMP account. 

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Here is our article on "Objects of registered charities in Canada are sometimes not charitable".  Objects are very important and often Canadian charities don't understand that even though they are a registered charity their objects may not actually be charitable.  

Here is a Q&A from CRA about the new journalism qualified donee category.  

CRA is set to introduce its online system for organizations applying for charitable status. Once this system is available on June 1, 2019, paper applications will no longer be accepted and organizations will only be able to apply for charitable status online using CHAMP.  We suggest that if you are currently working on a charity application it may be best to complete it and file the application with CRA before May 31 to avoid having to re-input all the information on the T2050 form into the online system and potentially avoid any initial delays or issues associated with the new system.

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On March 15, 2019, CRA announced that there will be changes to the T3010 Annual Return and the T2050 Application to Register a Charity to account for the recent changes to the political activities rules for Canadian registered charities. Instead of reporting on their political activities, charities will report their public policy dialogue and development activities (PPDDAs). According to CRA, registered charities will have less to report for PPDDA than they previously reported for their political activities. The changes to the T3010 and T2050 are set to come in November 2019. Until the changes are made, CRA has provided instructions on how to fill out the current T3010 and T2050 for PPDDA. 

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The Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp will be held again on Monday April 8, 2019. This is a one-day boot camp on compliance and standards issues for Canadian registered charities. You can register for the program here. 

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Finance Minister Morneau delivered the 2019 Federal Budget today.  Here is our article "2019 Canadian Federal Budget - How will it affect the Canadian charitable sector?"

Finance has already released a Fall Economic Statement that did contain a number of initiatives relating to the charity sector and you can see our article "Finance 2018 Fall Economic Statement and its Impact on Canadian Charities, Journalism and Social Finance".   

We have created a course entitled "Should We Establish a Canadian Social Enterprise, Non-Profit or Charity and How to Do It?".   The course is $149 and you can register at https://charity-law.teachable.com/   Here is an overview of the course:

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On Thursday December 13, 2018, Bill C-86 received Royal Assent. Within this Bill, there are several changes to the Income Tax Act related to charities, especially with regards to political activities.  The change allows Canadian registered charities to conduct public policy dialogue and development activities (PPADA) connected to the legal purpose of the charity as long as they are not directly or indirectly partisan.   We are awaiting guidance from CRA on how they will interpret the new provisions on political activities.  Also the CWP decision will probably one day end up in the Supreme Court of Canada and perhaps they will have a thing or two to say about political activities and how purposes and activities relate to registered charity status.  

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The CRA released today their Report on the Charities Program 2016 to 2018.  They note: "We made the report shorter by reducing the amount of text and added more visuals. The report is now easier to understand and has a more modern look."  There is far less information in this report than previously provided which is unfortunate.   Although with all the crazy changes Finance is coming up with on political activities I am surprised that CRA had the time to prepare this report at all. 

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The Government of Canada recently announced that it will now be using the Market Basket Measure (“MBM”) to measure Canada’s poverty line. Previously, Canada did not have an official measure of poverty; rather MBM was used along with Low Income Cut-Off (‘LICO’) and low income measure (‘LIM’). With Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy, announced in August 2018, the Federal Government needed an official poverty measure to guide this new strategy.

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On Monday November 19, 2018 I presented to the Special Senate Committee on the Charity Sector in Ottawa.  My presentation dealt with a number of areas especially transparency of non-profits and registered charities, good charity regulation, and political activities by charities.

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Here is our article Finance 2018 Fall Economic Statement and its Impact on Canadian Charities, Journalism and Social Finance.