The Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) Charities Directorate’s website is a valuable resource for the over 85,000 registered charities in Canada and is probably not used as much as it could be by charities and their advisors. The website provides detailed information on starting up, operating and winding down a charity and has many other useful features.  We use the CRA website on an almost daily basis.  Apparently, there were approximately 2.3 million visits to the CRA’s website last year so obviously others are using it as well.  

In this two part series we will list 15 ways that the Charities Directorate website can help your charity.

 1.     Qualified Donee Lists

Canadian registered charities can either conduct activities using their staff or through an intermediary or they can gift funds to qualified donees. Qualified donees are organizations that can issue official donation receipts for gifts they receive from individuals and corporations. Registered charities can easily gift funds to qualified donees and should always check the status of recipients to determine whether they fit into this special category. If an organization is not on one of the lists then they are considered to be a non-qualified donee and if a registered charity provides resources to the non-qualified donee then the registered charity will have to maintain direction and control over such resources.    

Qualified donees include the following:

• a registered charity (including a registered national arts service organization);
• a registered Canadian amateur athletic association;
• a registered housing corporation resident in Canada constituted exclusively to provide low-cost housing for the aged;                          
• a registered Canadian municipality;
• a registered municipal or public body performing a function of government in Canada;
• a registered university outside Canada that is prescribed to be a university, the student body of which ordinarily includes students from Canada;
• a registered charitable organization outside Canada to which Her Majesty in right of Canada has made a gift;
• Her Majesty in right of Canada, a province, or a territory; and
• the United Nations and its agencies.

Her Majesty in right of Canada, a province, or a territory, and the United Nations and its agencies are qualified donees that do not have to be registered to be recognized as such.  

 2.     Information About a Charity

The Charities Directorate maintains a Charities Listings database that provides a searchable list of charities that you can use to find out if a charity is registered, revoked, annulled, suspended, or penalized. The database provides information on a charity’s contact information, general activities and financial information. If you want to know whether a charity is still a registered charity and its BN number then the Charities Listing is the go-to place to find that information.  Also gifts from one charity to another are listed under the donor charity. If a charity was revoked then sometimes there will be information on why it was revoked. 

Another helpful resource to find information about a charity is Charity Focus from Imagine Canada which has about 10 years’ financial information for charities in an easy to read format.  These sites provide a good starting point to learn about a charity that you may wish to work with and to check if your charity’s information has been recorded correctly.   One caution – don’t be too impressed with information on the T3010 as it is not always accurate and there is often little context.

To find even more information about a charity you can also request certain documents from CRA, such as:

• a copy of a charity’s governing documents, including its statement of purpose;
• a copy of the public portions of a charity’s application for registration and notification of registration, including any conditions or warnings;
• the names of the individuals who at any time were a charity's directors/trustees and the periods during which they were its directors/trustees;
• a copy of the public information from a charity’s annual information return and financial statements;
• a copy of letters the CRA has sent to a charity about the grounds for revocation or annulment;
• a copy of letters or notices the CRA has sent to a charity about a suspension or an assessment of tax or penalty (other than the amount of revocation tax); and
• a copy of a charity’s application; and
• information filed in support of requests for:
  • re-designation as a charitable organization, private foundation, or public foundation;
  • designation as an associated charity; and
  • permission to accumulate property.

Checkout the “How to Get Information about a charity” to learn more about obtaining these documents.

3.     Applying for registration

Individuals and organizations interested in applying for charitable status with the Charities Directorate should review the various documents on the Charities Directorate website to get a sense of the application process and requirements.

The most common delays and problems encountered by individuals and organizations applying for charitable status result from not submitting all the required documents and having purposes that are not exclusively charitable. The Charities Directorate is very particular about how purposes should be drafted and provides recommendations in their guidance, How to Draft Purposes for Charitable Registration, CG-019, and also some examples in its Model purposes webpage.

 4.     Operating a Registered Charity

Every charity should try to review the documents in this section as they relate to the ongoing requirements for maintaining a charity’s charitable registration. These include requirements relating to the following:

You can also access electronic copies of all the forms that your charity is required to file here. These include current forms as well as forms used in previous years.

 5.     Policies and Guidance

There are hundreds of policies and guidance published by the Charities Directorate to provide additional information and support to registered charities. These policies and guidance are helpful in explaining the various rules governing registered charities in Canada. The policies and guidance we recommend that clients review most often are:

-       How to Draft Purposes for Charitable Registration, CG-019;

-       Fundraising by Registered Charities, CG-013;

-       What is a Related Business? CPS-019;

-       Using an Intermediary to Carry out a Charity's Activities within Canada Outside Canada, CG-002;

-       Using an Intermediary to Carry out a Charity's Activities within Canada Within Canada, CG-004; and

-       Political Activities, CPS-022.

The website provides an A to Z listing of the policies and guidance available to assist with searching for a specific topic.

 6.     Educational Resources for Charities

The Charities Directorate has created and compiled various educational resources for charities. These include videos, webinars, checklists, toolbox for directors, officers and volunteers, newsletters and list of external support services. You can also sign up for its electronic mailing list to receive updates.  The CRA sends out about one email per month.

7.     Checklists for Charities

The following checklists are available for registered charities on the Charities Directorate website.  The checklists are a quick reminder of certain important information. 

Mark Blumberg and Yi-Mei Ting are lawyers at Blumberg Segal LLP in Toronto, Ontario.  To find out more about legal services that Blumbergs provides to Canadian charities and non-profits please visit www.blumbergs.ca,  www.canadiancharitylaw.ca  or www.globalphilanthropy.ca

This article is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be legal advice. You should not act or abstain from acting based upon such information without first consulting a legal professional.