Charities – Articles Archives

Credit Proofing Charity Assets by Mark S. Anshan Most charities and not for profit organizations are incorporated as non share capital corporations. These corporations are considered separate legal entities from their members or directors. This 'separateness' protects the members (and to a large extent directors) from being personally liable in ...

Litigating Human Rights Cases Held not to be Charitable in England By Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. Over the years we have regularly criticized both the CRA and the Federal Court of Appeal for what we consider to be their too restrictive view of political activities.[1] We often have cited the ...

New Resources to Help Ontario Non-Profits By Joel Secter As corporations incorporated under Part II of the Canada Corporations Act (CCA) come to within one year of the October 17, 2014 deadline to continue under the new Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (CNCA), amendments to Ontario's new Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 ...

Indian Experiment Would Have Interesting Implications in Canada by Adam Aptowitzer One of the advantages of being part of the commonwealth is that we share commonalities in methods of taxation and governance with a variety of different countries. So when one of these countries experiments with a different way of ...

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE - THE MOVEMENT By C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. In October I attended the Sixth Annual Social Enterprise World Forum in my home town of Calgary. Over a thousand enthusiasts from dozens of countries were also there. Past world forums were held in Edinburgh Scotland, Melbourne Australia, San Francisco ...

Credit Proofing Charity Assets Part II by: Mark S. Anshan In last month's newsletter we discussed the method of credit proofing a charity's assets by incorporating separate corporations to hold different types of assets and operate discrete activities. A key element in organizing into separate corporations is to ensure that ...

The CRA is making a list and you should check it twice by C. Yvonne Chenier Q.C. Budget 2011 seems a long time ago, as does January 1, 2012 when some of propositions of that budget came into force. One of the interesting provisions that the charitable sector had lots ...

Collaborative Advocacy by Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. The vast majority of charities in Canada do not carry on advocacy or political activities. But that having been said, there is little doubt that there are some which would get involved if they had the resources to spare. Of course, the first ...

Books and Records For Charities: Part III (What to Do about Missing Records) By Alexandra Tzannidakis The failure to maintain books and records is ground for suspension of a charity's tax-receipting privileges. Such a suspension can translate into the loss of big donations. This article is the last in a ...

Drache Aptowitzer LLP's Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act Webinar Series Session 1: How to Continue under the new Act (by Alexandra Tzannidakis) Download a pdf of the slides View a recording of the webinar Alexandra Tzannidakis LL.B. - atzannidakis@drache.ca ...

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine: Paying Attention to Bylaw Details By: Adam Aptowitzer In our experience, organizations (usually small but sometimes large as well) generally ignore their bylaws or otherwise harbor delusions about what is actually written there. This is particularly true regarding the definition of membership. For example, ...

Some Good News for Registered Charities as Canada's Anti-Spam Law is finalized By C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C The Minister of Industry has recently announced (http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?mthd=tp&crtr.page=2&nid=798829&crtr.tp1D=1) that most parts of Canada's anti-spam law will come into force on July 1, 2014. This legislation intends to stop unsolicited commercial electronic messages and ...

Drache Aptowitzer LLP's Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act Webinar Series Session 2: How to Comply After You have Continued Under the New Act Download a pdf of the slides View a recording of the webinar ...

Case Law is Clear: Receipting Requirements are Mandatory By Joel Secter We have written about the importance of proper donation receipting before.[1] However, a recent Tax Court of Canada case highlights the need for registered charities to issue official donation receipts that meet all of the mandatory receipting requirements. In ...

Charitable Receipts for "Barter Units" By Alexandra Tzannidakis A quick Google search will reveal the popularity of so-called 'barter clubs', where members exchange goods or services as opposed to paying for them with legal tender. Such arrangements are especially popular in times of economic recession, as one might well imagine ...

Reading the Tea Leaves By Adam Aptowitzer Despite the fact that predicting the future is usually a job for soothsayers and readers of tea leaves, we nevertheless take the opportunity of the new year to try and understand the conditions which charities will face in the upcoming year. Of course, ...

Donation of Space Yields no Charitable Receipt By Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. While we have no firm data on the point, out experience suggests that there are literally thousands of small registered charities which operate out of private homes. Typically one or more of the founders handles much of the ...

Credit Proofing Charity Assets Part III Recruitment of Directors By Mark S. Anshan In the last part of this series, we discussed the independence and authority of the separate corporations and balancing that fundamental principle with the "control" by the parent corporation. The ability to maintain independence and ensure that ...

WE ARE A LOT LIKE OUR NEIGHBOURS NEIGHBORS by C. Yvonne Chenier Q.C. Recently I had opportunity to attend an American Bar Association Section of Taxation 2014 meeting with many of my American colleagues who also practice what we call "charity and not-for profit law" and they call "tax exempt ...

Securing legal and operation nexus between Canadian charities and overseas counterparts Mark S. Anshan In an earlier article we discussed the means by which parent non profits can maintain control of subsidiary non profits as part of the credit proofing approach to protecting assets. The same principles and solutions can ...

The Dire Consequences of Failing to 'Continue' to the New Federal Not-for-profit Corporations Act By Alexandra Tzannidakis, LL.B. Federal not-for-profit corporations take heed: you have a deadline of October 17, 2014, by which to switch over (or "continue") to the new Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act. The changeover period has been ...

Corporate Art Collections By Joel Secter Have you ever walked into a corporate office or professional firm only to find yourself admiring the art? Though some businesses rent art to avoid the capital outlay required to purchase it,[1] many take advantage of the capital cost allowance (CCA) to build their ...

When Opportunity Knocks Should You Even Open the Door? By: Adam Aptowitzer Charities are like any other actors in society, opportunities arise and they should be considered. Some will be discarded and others will be pursued. For charities though, the evaluation of opportunities must be made with the additional consideration ...

NPO Rental Income by Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. A recent CRA ruling [1] dealt with the question as to whether the rental of vacation properties to non-members would jeopardize the tax exempt status of an entity described in paragraph 149(1)(l) of the Income Tax Act. Paragraph 149(1)(l) provides an exemption ...

Not-for-Profit Report is a Call to Action By: Adam Aptowitzer For many years, increasingly stringent regulation of the charity sector pushed oversight of the not-for-profit sector off the list of priorities. There was not even any good data on the number of not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) in existence, because the CRA ...