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…
February 21, 2021
Revised P113 – Gifts and Income Tax 2020 – deals with tax benefits of donating to charities
2020 was a turbulent year. The CRA has updated their document P113 – Gifts and Income Tax for 2020. The P113 is a helpful guide to the tax…
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…
July 19, 2020
We have recently added two new online courses for Canadian charities
We have recently added 2 new full-day courses namely Fundamentals of Running a Canadian Charitable Organization/Operating Charity and Fundamentals of…
June 6, 2020
New course on restricted gifts in Canada by Mark Blumberg
Today we are launching a new course of restricted gifts for Canadian charities: "Restricted Gifts - Managing the Opportunities and Dangers of…
May 8, 2020
Additional Information from the BC Financial Services Authority on gifts of life insurance to charities
I wrote to the BC Financial Services Authority on May 4, 2020, asking for some clarifications relating to their Information Bulletin entitled…
May 5, 2020
BC Financial Services Authority and gifts of life insurance to charities
Every year less than 1% of Canadian registered charities identify in their T3010 receiving a life insurance policy for which they issued an official…
April 24, 2020
Special purpose fundraising for COVID-19 – be careful what you ask for!
Many groups are doing special purpose fundraising for COVID-19 in which they are specifically soliciting or accepting for COVID-19 related programs.…
April 23, 2020
PGT views of what is “pandemic-related”
We have written about 2 recent notices from the Ontario Public Guardian and Trustee ("PGT") relating to restricted funds and the pandemic. These are…
April 8, 2020
Ontario Ministry Allows Virtual Witnessing of Wills -important for bequests
Many people at home right now have some time on their hands and some are thinking about updating their wills. Some don't have wills at all and for…
March 22, 2020
If your Canadian charity has assets/reserve and you don’t have a reserve fund policy you should stop fundraising
There is a backlash brewing against charities that are putting up desperate requests for funding but when people look at their annual report,…
January 29, 2020
Some initial issues for a new Canadian grantmaking foundation
Here is our article "Some initial issues for a new Canadian grantmaking foundation". Hopefully, it will provide some ideas as to issues that new…
December 9, 2019
Donor Advised Funds can have greater secrecy – it can also be a problem
Donor Advised Funds are registered charities in Canada that allow a donor to donate to the charity but the donor retains the ability to recommend…
August 27, 2019
Question to CRA on alter ego trusts and whether transfers are a donation
STEP Canada had a CRA Roundtable on June 6-7, 2019 and they discussed a number of topics. One issue of interest to charities and…
June 28, 2019
Online Charity Law Courses from Blumbergs – 24/7 compliance education for registered charities
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…
April 22, 2019
CFA Society of Toronto 2019 Wealth Conference
I will be speaking at the CFA Society of Toronto 2019 Wealth Conference on May 1, 2019 dealing with the topic "Professional Advisors and…
February 27, 2019
BC Bodner Estate Case – yes an estate can give to a list of charities and non-profits
An interesting little case in BC called Bodner Estate. Irene Bodna died and left about 8m to 24 different registered charities and non-profits that…
July 17, 2018
CRA letter on gifts from an estate and recent changes to rules
Here is a letter from CRA discussing when an official donation receipt can be issued for a gift from an estate and how the 2016 changes affect…
July 17, 2018
CRA letter on private foundation receiving residue of alter ego trust and excess corporate holdings
There are certain rules in the Income Tax Act that only apply to private foundations and not charitable organizations and public foundations. …
June 24, 2018
UK guidance on bequest giving can be helpful for Canadian charities
The Institute of Legacy Management has published voluntary ethical guidelines for charities' legacy professionals, covering issues that can arise…
May 25, 2018
Blumbergs’ Receipting Kit for Canadian registered charities – by Mark Blumberg
Here is our Blumbergs’ Receipting Kit for Canadian registered charities 2018. If you wish to receive updates on the Receipting Kit you should join…
May 11, 2018
Philanthropy and First Nations with Richard Bridge, charity lawyer
Here is a recent archived presentation Philanthropy and First Nations with Richard Bridge which explains the importance of philanthropy with…