May 29, 2021
CRA increasingly emphasizing importance of separation between registered charities and non-qualified donees
In the last couple of weeks I have read two separate CRA notes on the importance of maintaining sufficient separation between a registered charity…
April 29, 2021
Successful finish for Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp 2021 (Online)
On April 21, 2021 we had our Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp 2021. It is the second Boot Camp that we have conducted online and our tenth…
April 29, 2021
Updates to CharityData.ca
We have recently made a number of updates to CharityData.ca. The most important update is including more 2020 and 2019 charity returns. Also, if…
April 4, 2021
“Cross-Border Philanthropy – A U.S. Perspective” by Eric Zolt – excellent paper
I just finished reading an excellent paper entitled Cross-Border Philanthropy - A U.S. Perspective by Eric Zolt. It both provides a good summary of…
March 17, 2021
Will changing structured arrangements into a reasonable person test help the charity sector? – Part 4 – Charitable purposes and Conclusion
Recently a bill was proposed in the Senate -BILL S-222 An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (use of resources), which will eliminate the “own…
March 17, 2021
Will changing structured arrangements into a reasonable person test help the charity sector? – Part 3 – The Reasonable Person – lots of questions
Recently a bill was proposed in the Senate -BILL S-222 An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (use of resources), which will eliminate the “own…
March 17, 2021
Will changing structured arrangements into a reasonable person test help the charity sector? – Part 2 – The Main Provisions and various general concerns
Recently a bill was proposed in the Senate -BILL S-222 An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (use of resources), which will eliminate the “own…
March 16, 2021
Will changing structured arrangements into a reasonable person test help the charity sector? – Part 1 – The preamble
Recently a bill was proposed in the Senate -BILL S-222 An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (use of resources), which will eliminate the “own…
February 4, 2021
Canada adds 13 organizations to list of terrorist entities including Proud Boys, The Base and Al-Quaeda and ISIS affiliates
Canada just added 13 new listed terrorist organizations including the Proud Boys, Atomwaffen Division, the Base, and Russian Imperial Movement. They…
January 31, 2021
Some additional WE Charity documents from CRA finally arrived
I requested a long time ago from CRA some WE Charity early documents. They only arrived this week and here they are: …
January 23, 2021
CRA provides additional information on foreign activities by Canadian charities
After years of seeing less and less transparency about registered charities in Canada coming from the CRA, for various reasons, we now have one…
January 14, 2021
Going the Extra Mile: The Liability of Foreignness in U.S. Foundation International Grantmaking to Local NGOs
I recently ran across a very good article entitled: "Going the Extra Mile: The Liability of Foreignness in U.S. Foundation International Grantmaking…
December 29, 2020
Bloomberg Businessweek: “How a Charity Superstar Innovated Its Way to Political Scandal” – with coverage of the WE Charity scandal
Today an article appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek entitled "How a Charity Superstar Innovated Its Way to Political Scandal: The Kielburger brothers…
December 29, 2020
Happy Holidays from the OECD – a very interesting report on different countries and how they treat philanthropy and charities
An interesting report from the OECD on charities in many different countries recently was published. It was given a really exciting title namely…
December 20, 2020
Why does CRA ask about charitable “activities” and not just about charitable “purposes”
In a recent CRA document, we obtained that was released through access to information, it provides a good explanation of why CRA cares about…
December 12, 2020
Mark Blumberg’s testimony to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) on CSSG/WE Charity Scandal
On Friday, December 11, 2020 I gave testimony to the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) on the CSSG and We…
November 30, 2020
Some are calling for changes to Canadian charity rules for foreign activities
I wish I did not have to write this article about the Canadian rules around international philanthropy and foreign activities but unfortunately, a…
November 27, 2020
CRA releases foreign activity guidance after multi-year delays as well as guidance on intermediaries working in Canada
CRA released today the updated guidance CG-002, Canadian registered charities carrying on activities outside Canada. Essentially, this guidance…
November 18, 2020
Mark Blumberg to present as part of a panel at the AFP GTA Congress 2020 on “WE have a Problem”
Here is a description of the presentation on November 24, 2020: Lunch ’N Learn Panel: WE Have a Problem Jaya Mootoo , Ann…
October 30, 2020
Capacity building, education, and online courses for the Canadian charity and non-profit sector
Our firm has been using online tools for over 10 years – primarily webinars. In 2018, we moved to providing paid online courses dealing with charity…
October 30, 2020
The Charity Report provides a profile of the Blumbergs’ Snapshot of the Canadian Charity Sector
We were pleasantly surprised to see that The Charity Report "your independent source of news in the charity sector" recently published an article…
October 22, 2020
Blumbergs Canadian Charity Sector Snapshot 2018
Here is our Blumbergs Canadian Charity Sector Snapshot 2018. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2018…
September 30, 2020
The WE Charity scandal and its impact on the Canadian charity sector?
A lot has happened since we originally published this article on September 4th so here is an updated version below. The WE Charity…
September 14, 2020
Decline in trust in the Canadian non-profit and charity sector as a result of the WE Charity scandal
A recent public opinion poll by Proof Communications, which runs the CanTrust index, dealing with trust shows a 6% decline for the non-profit and…