Charities – Articles Archives

Donation of Intellectual Property Rights Can Be Controversial By Brent Randall Intellectual property rights, which include trade-marks, copyrights and patents, are frequently transferred or licensed between parties. Generally, ownership of intellectual property allows the owner to profit by way of royalties, licensing fees or sale of the rights. The right ...

Unanimous Members' Agreements: A New Era in Not-for-Profit Management By Alexandra Tzannidakis The new Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act makes a general attempt to regulate not-for-profit corporations in a manner similar to the Canada Business Corporations Act. As part of this vision, it allows non soliciting corporation (generally those that are ...

Santa's Philanthropy By C. Yvonne Chenier Q.C. Santa considers himself to be a Canadian resident for income tax purposes. He grumbles and files his income tax return like everybody else. One of his new elves used to be an accountant who left it all behind to be an elf. He ...

Tough Ruling in Non-Profit Distribution to Members By Arthur Drache C.M., Q.C. A recent ruling letter[1] from the CRA takes a fairly hard line on the distribution to members, a position which in our view can certainly be disputed. The following is the fact situation. A non-profit organization provides, among ...

Fundraising by Charities - CRA does not mean Business By C.Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. The CRA has not changed its position on fundraising by charities. The new and improved Fundraising by Registered Charities Guidance, CG-013 issued by the CRA on April 20, 2012, is still their last word on the subject ...

Why Jurisdiction Matters to Corporate Finances: CNCA vs. ONCA By Alexandra Tzannidakis While Federal not-for-profit corporations are still adjusting to the new Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (CNCA), their Provincially-incorporated counterparts in Ontario are about to face a similar change when the Ontario Not-for-profit Corporations Act (ONCA) comes into force later ...

Lessons on Political Activity - From New Zealand By: Adam Aptowitzer Over the past few years the charity sector has become used to Federal budget announcements designed to put increased restrictions on its operations. Budget 2012 was exceptional only in that it provided an additional $ 8 million over two ...

Accumulation of Profits in a Non-Profit Organization By Arthur Drache A ruling letter released by the CRA at the end of 2012[1] offers some pithy comments on the situation where a non-profit organization has accumulated significant surpluses. The document has been so redacted vis a vis the factual background that ...

Predicting 2013: Thoughts About the Upcoming for Charities By: Adam Aptowitzer In the past we have sworn off predicting developments relating to the charity sector, but 2013 is somewhat different in that several projects that were begun earlier can be expected to mature in the coming 12 months. And so, ...

How to Structure Community interest corporations By Brent Randall This past May, British Columbia became the first province in Canada to approve a new business model that is focused on the social economy rather than profit. The province's Business Corporations Act will be amended to include definitions and provisions relating ...

New Canadian Anti-Spam Laws on the Horizon By Alexandra Tzannidakis Back in 2010, Bill C-28 (Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam) was passed by Parliament and received royal assent. It was expected to come into force in 2012, but delays in drafting the regulations mean that 2012 has come and gone ...

The Friction Factor By C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. An American suffragist (Frances E. Willard, 1839-1898) apparently once said: "The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum". I am not sure exactly what she was referring to but she ...

T-3010: Mounting Complexity for Charities By Arthur Drache In the olden days, say a dozen or so years ago when the Voluntary Sector Initiative was still underway one of the objects was to simplify the annual report requirements for registered charities. Indeed, serious discussions were held about either exempting small ...

Feeling Duped into Donating: Can You Be Protected? By Brent Randall At his pinnacle, Lance Armstrong was one of the most famous athletes in the world and the most dominant professional cyclist ever. His popularity at the time, and his personal story of overcoming cancer, inspired many to contribute to ...

Charitable Receipting Can be a Charity's Achilles Heel By Adam Aptowitzer In Greek mythology Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War. Although mortal when born, the goddess Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx. Ostensibly to ensure he did not drown, she ...

New Hope For Taxpayers Caught in Charitable Donation Tax Shelter Schemes by Alexandra Tzannidakis In November 2012, the Tax Court of Canada added an interesting new twist to the epic story of Canada Revenue Agency versus tax shelters with its decision in Berg v The Queen. The story is an ...

Foreign Bribery Rules Will Now Apply to NGOs By Arthur Drache C.M., Q.C. One might be forgiven if the announcement that the government is tightening up the legislation Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA) dealing with bribery of foreign officials was moved to the front burner because of a ...

Market for Art is Subject to Unparalleled Sources of Ambiguity By Brent Randall Last month, sculptures once thought to have been created by Michelangelo failed to sell at auction. The pieces, originally appraised at $31 million, were found by experts to actually have been the work of Johan Gregor van ...

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS UNDER ATTACK? by: C.Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. In the past few weeks three or four legal decisions or news items have caught my attention. I do not know if it is a trend or not but it seems that more facets of the operations of religious organizations have been ...

Finance Committee Report is a Disappointment By: Adam Aptowitzer Several years after hearings into charitable donation incentives were first proposed by Member of Parliament Peter Braid, we finally have the report of the Parliamentary Finance Committee. Unfortunately, it seems that the after years of anticipation the final report is neutered ...

CHECK THOSE RECEIPTS By C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. In Alberta, and potentially in some of the other provinces that have regulated fundraising, there may already be confusion about receipts issued by entities referred to as "charitable organizations". Now, potentially because of the new super credit that was announced for first ...

No Obligation for Charity to issue a Receipt for a Gift By Arthur Drache We have made the point in articles gone by that there is no obligation on a charity to issue a receipt for a gift though of course a refusal to do so would raise serious questions ...

Why Every Charity Should Consider Incorporation by Alexandra Tzannidakis Before a group can be registered as a charity, there has to actually be some legal thing to register. This means that every charity faces the choice of which legal structure to use. A charity can be constituted as a trust, ...

Virtual Currencies: Implications for Charities By Brent Randall Virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin, have been steadily increasing in popularity. At the time of this writing, one Bitcoin is valued at nearly $90 CAD. While an explanation of the exact nature of Bitcoin is outside of our scope, what can be ...

Quick Our Basement is Flooding - Call a Lawyer By: Adam Aptowitzer There are times being a lawyer is a bit like being a plumber. Like a plumber, a lawyer is called when an organization is being built, and like a plumber we are called in an emergency. But that ...