The Impact of Business Activities on Your Organization by Brent Randall If you operate an organization that engages in business activities (which CRA defines as deriving revenues from the provision of goods and/or services), the nature and goals of this business can help determine whether charitable registration is suitable for your group. Charities are able […]
If They Were So Prescient, How Come They Did Not See That Coming? By Adam Aptowitzer On May 1st, 2013 the Federal Court of Appeal issued its judgment in the Prescient Foundation[1]. The case itself was notable not simply because of the decisions rendered by the Court on the questions in issue, but also (and […]
Dealing with Fraudulent Donations There is a great deal of information available for individuals on how to avoid donating to a fraudulent or otherwise problematic charity. But the donor-donee relationship goes two ways: what happens when a charity receives a donation that turns out to be fraudulent in some way? You may have heard of […]
How Not to Choose a Charity: The Folly of Overhead Ratios To the ongoing despair of the non-profit sector, the number one criterion that potential donors use in selecting a charity continues to be the ominous “overhead ratio”. In the face of all the information available to them about their options, donors tend to zero […]
STAY OF EXECUTION: A PRECEDENTIAL WIN FOR A CHARITY AT THE FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL by Adam Aptowitzer The charities community is well aware that the Canada Revenue Agency works to shut down charities it feels are deserving of such a punishment. In some circumstances, notably, but not exclusively, with respect to charities involved in […]
Books and Records for Charities: Part I (An Introduction) 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 first in a series on what “books and records” means and how to meet the […]
Credit Proofing Charity Assets 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 the event the organization finds itself liable for damages […]
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 more “liberal” approach of the […]
Credit Proofing Charity Assets Part II 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 independence and authority are maintained while, at the same, […]
Books and Records For Charities: Part III (What to Do about Missing Records) 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 three-part series on what “books and records” means […]