May 7, 2021
CRA warns about tax shelter gifting schemes and the consequences of participating
CRA recently sent out an email entitled "Warning: Watch out for tax shelter gifting schemes". I am not sure if this is just regular communication or…
May 6, 2021
Update on ONCA – launch will be when new Ontario Business Registry (OBR) is ready
I asked MGCS for an update on ONCA and received the following on May 5, 2021: We are targeting to proclaim ONCA as soon as possible and will…
May 5, 2021
Changes to T3010 filings for registered charities that are under the Ontario Corporation Act, effective May 15, 2021
Registered charities under the Ontario Corporations Act will be affected by some changes when filing their T3010. CRA will no longer be using the…
May 5, 2021
Ontario Corporation Act non-profits can continue to hold virtual meetings till December 31, 2021
The Ontario government is providing some temporary legislative changes to the Ontario Corporations Act such that irrespective of your governing…
May 4, 2021
“Ontario Taking Steps to Better Prepare and Support Youth Leaving Care” – Finally
On May 3, 2021 I was very pleased to read a press release from the Ontario government entitled "Ontario Taking Steps to Better Prepare and Support…
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
Report #2 of the Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector – April 2021
Report #2 of the Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector - April 2021 was released on April 29, 2021. Here is a link. Here is a PDF of the…
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 29, 2021
Government Response to Special Senate Committee to the Charitable Sector
The Federal Government has recently released its response to the Special Senate Committee to the Charitable Sector. We will be reviewing and…
April 19, 2021
2021 Canadian Federal Budget – How will it affect the Canadian charitable sector?
A lot has changed in 2 years when the last Federal budget was delivered. Today, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland introduced a Federal…
April 14, 2021
If a charity official donation receipt does not have all mandatory elements then it can be invalid
In a recent Federal Court of Appeal case called Kueviakoe v. Canada, the court decided that an official donation receipt lacking certain basic or…
April 10, 2021
Employees in the Canadian Charity Sector -most charities either have no employee or 1 employee
I recently read a very good report from The Charity Report dealing with charity sector employees entitled Charity Sector Employees: Employee…
April 7, 2021
Centre for Inquiry Canada publishes report on “The Costs of Religion in Canada”
Someone sent me a link to a report from the Centre for Inquiry Canada entitled "The Costs of Religion in Canada". It is advocating for…
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 29, 2021
Blumberg Segal LLP is looking for an Associate Lawyer to join our Charity and Non-Profit practice
Blumberg Segal LLP is looking for an Associate Lawyer to join our Charity and Non-Profit practice. Here is a link and the text of the job listing:…
March 28, 2021
Some interesting information on co-operatives in Canada from Statistics Canada
StatsCan recently did a short report on cooperatives which illuminates this type of entity. It also notes that about 64% of co-operatives are…
March 28, 2021
Statistics Canada report on charitable donors in 2019
Stats Can recently released their Charitable Donors, 2019 report. I have been critical of StatsCan in the past for their annual reports on…
March 27, 2021
Discussion paper from the T3010 User Group on improvements to the T3010
It was very nice to read recently a discussion paper from the T3010 Research Group on how the T3010 and data in the sector can be improved. It was…
March 26, 2021
Canada now has 2 registered journalism organizations
Recently The Narwhal News Society was added as a registered journalism organization (RJO) and therefore along with La Presse Inc. there are now two…
March 24, 2021
How has COVID affected funding of the Canadian charity sector? Part 1
Yesterday I tweeted about a US study on the effect on COVID on donations. The study noted that US charitable giving increased by 10.6 percent in…
March 21, 2021
Trying to do grantmaking in Canada better
Well, we are in the midst of a pandemic and this has resulted in some grantmaking foundations and philanthropists increasing giving and thinking…
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…