Charities Connection

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Charities Connection


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CRA News, Information, and Events Specific to Registered Charities

Charities Connection is an electronic publication that has replaced the Registered Charities Newsletter. It is shorter and gives registered charities more timely information on technical issues, new guidance and policy changes, Charities Directorate initiatives, and reminders.

No. 4 - September 2010

Facts and figures on the work of the Charities Directorate in 2009-2010

For the 2009-2010 fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) the Charities Directorate:

  • received 111,136 telephone enquiries on our toll-free line;
  • received 10,671 written requests for service, from registered charities;
  • received 3,634 new applications for registration as a charity;
  • received 411 applications for re-registration as a charity;
  • formally denied 828 applications;
  • registered 2,843 charities (including both new registrations and re-registrations);
  • revoked the charitable status of 1,131 organizations at their own request;
  • revoked 593 registered charities because they did not file their annual registered charity information return within the six-month period after their fiscal year end;
  • revoked 41 registered charities for other causes (for example, because they no longer complied with the requirements of the Income Tax Act); and
  • completed 718 audits of registered charities, which were chosen through a variety of methods, including: random selection, follow-up on possible non-compliance or complaints, or based on a review of annual information returns.

Number of registered charities as of December 31, 2009 (by designation and charity type)

The number of registered charities continued to grow in 2009. As of December 31, 2009, there were 85,229 registered charities, up from 84,011 on December 31, 2008.

Charity type Public foundation Private foundation Charitable organization Total
Poverty 2,019 2,626 13,354 17,999
Education 781 784 12,264 13,829
Religion 323 674 32,339 33,336
Other purposes beneficial to the community 1,901 782 17,382 20,065
Total 5,024 4,866 75,339 85,229

Charities Information Sessions in 2009

Representatives from the Charities Directorate travelled to 60 different cities and towns across Canada to deliver a total of 102 Charities Information Sessions.

Webinars

The Charities Directorate began piloting Internet-based webinars in February 2009 as another way to deliver compliance-related education to charities. To learn more about the Directorate's webinars, and to view recordings of previous webinars, go to Charities Webinars.

In 2010, the Charities Directorate delivered 21 webinars in English and French, with an average of 138 participants for each session.

Note
Charities Information Sessions are now presented from September to November; new webinars from January to June.

Education and training for charities

Funding provided through the CRA's Charities Partnership and Outreach Program

The Charities Partnership and Outreach Program provides funds to qualifying charities and non-profit groups so that they can deliver education and training to the charitable sector. Launched in 2005, the program's main objectives are to improve the capacity of the sector to develop and deliver sustainable compliance-based education programs; increase the capacity of the charitable sector in meeting regulatory compliance requirements in a sustainable way; and raise awareness among the charitable sector of regulatory obligations under the Income Tax Act.

This partnership between the CRA and the charitable sector continues to produce important educational and training resources for charities on topics such as:

  • fundraising practices
  • receipting
  • foreign activities
  • maintaining books and records
  • education on tax shelter issues

Go to the program's funded projects page for a list of projects. There you will find funding details, project summaries, and links to the websites related to the projects.

Education for donors

The Charities Directorate raises awareness of charity regulation, and increases the public's ability to make informed donation decisions. The Directorate recently developed a new educational tool for donors - the videocast series called Giving to Registered Charities 101.

The series includes three videos:

  • What's it all about? introduces viewers to how charities become registered in Canada.
  • What's in it for me? shows viewers the important role that charities play in Canada and the tax incentives available to those who support registered charities.
  • Where do I begin? gives viewers the basic information they should know before donating to registered charities.

The videos are a great educational resource for donors - they were designed to appeal to all demographics, and to communicate much information in a short time. The videos can be easily shared through the Internet.

What can you do to support the CRA's public education initiative?

You can share the Giving to Registered Charities 101 videocast series with your own contacts in a number of ways:

  • Email the link to the videos to colleagues.
  • Add a link to the videos to your social networking sites and websites.
  • Embed the videos directly into your website.

Help us to educate the public about donating to registered charities.

New webpages: Revoking registered status

In July, the Revoking registered status section of the Charities and giving webpages was enhanced. The new topics include:

These webpages will be of interest to registered charities that are going through the revocation process -- whether due to a revocation for non-compliance, or as a result of a request for voluntary revocation. The information on these pages will also be of interest to registered charities wanting to know more about revocations in general, for example, the consequences of revocation.

Stay informed

Date modified:
2014-07-30