General requirements for charitable purposes

To be registered as a charity, your organization must have only charitable purposes and use its resources only on charitable activities that further those purposes.

Purposes (also known as objects) are the aims, goals, or objectives of your organization. These should be stated in your organization’s governing document.

To be charitable, each purpose must fit in one of the four categories of charity and be for the benefit of the public. The four categories of charity are:

• relief of poverty
• advancement of education
• advancement of religion
• other purposes beneficial to the community in a way the law regards as charitable
  • This category includes various purposes that do not fall within the other categories but which the courts have recognized as charitable. A purpose that fits under the fourth category will have to state a specific subcategory to show what benefit is conferred by the purpose.

Your organization can also have a purpose to make gifts to qualified donees (such as other registered charities).

How to write your organization’s charitable purposes

We recommend that each of your purposes include all three of the following elements:

• the category or subcategory of charity (what benefit is conferred by the purpose)
• the scope of activities (how the organization will further its purpose)
• the eligible beneficiary group (who can receive the benefit).

To do so, choose one of the options below:

Copy: use a CRA model purpose

The easiest way to write charitable purposes is to copy one of our examples from our extensive list of charitable purposes.

Simply review the examples and select the ones that accurately reflect your organization’s goals and how it wants to achieve them.

Modify: personalize a model purpose

While the CRA provides an extensive list of examples of charitable purposes, they may not exactly reflect your organization’s activities or who you intend to benefit. You may also want to adapt the wording of a model purpose to better reflect your organization’s terminology and values.

In this case, select a relevant example purpose that identifies the category or subcategory of charity that best fits your organization’s purpose (the what), and tailor it to your organization by changing how you describe:

• the scope of activities (how); or
• the eligible beneficiary group (who)

Create: write your own charitable purpose

While our list of charitable purposes can be helpful to many organizations, they may not meet every organization’s needs. In that case, you might want to write your own charitable purpose for your organization.

When writing your purpose, we recommend that you clearly identify:

• the category or subcategory of charity (what benefit is conferred by the purpose)
• the scope of activities (how your organization will further its purpose)
• the eligible beneficiary group (who can receive the benefit)

You must ensure that your organization’s purpose fits within one of the four categories of charity and is for the public benefit. Your organization’s purposes must also be stated clearly and precisely enough to ensure it cannot pursue non-charitable purposes. Purposes that are too broad or vague do not meet the requirements to be charitable.

Helpful tips

Here are best practice tips based on common issues identified in organizations’ purposes. While these are not requirements, we recommend following these tips when writing purposes or personalizing a model purpose.

For an in-depth guide on how to write a charitable purpose, see Guidance CG-019, Charitable purposes of a registered charity.

Special topics

If your organization wants to make gifts to qualified donees

Your organization can have a purpose to make gifts to qualified donees, such as other registered charities. This type of charitable purpose does not need to include the what, how, and who.

For examples of purposes to make gifts to qualified donees, see Examples of charitable purposes.

If your organization wants to make grants to non-qualified donees

Your organization can make qualifying disbursements to grantee organizations (also known as grants to non-qualified donees) to fund charitable activities that further your organization’s charitable purposes.

To do this, your organization must have a charitable purpose that fits within one of the four categories of charity (including the what, how, and who).

That charitable purpose does not need to refer to “making qualifying disbursements to grantee organizations.” However, a charity’s purpose that fits in one of the four categories of charity (including the what, how and who) can also state it allows making qualifying disbursements to grantee organizations.

See Guidance CG-032, Registered charities making grants to non-qualified donees.

If your organization wants to carry on public policy dialogue and development activities

Your organization can carry on unlimited public policy dialogue and development activities (PPDDAs) that further its stated charitable purposes.

However, your organization cannot have a political purpose. This means that when writing your organization’s purpose, you should avoid referring to influencing the laws, decisions, or policies of the government. This is the case even if most or all of your organization’s activities are PPDDAs. Instead, your organization’s purpose must describe the public benefit it seeks to achieve.

See Guidance CG-027, Public policy dialogue and development activities by charities.