The Nonprofit FAQ

Resources for nonprofit organizations in Canada
The topics in this FAQ entry are:


General Information




Websites that offer wide-ranging information about nonprofits, philanthropy and related topics (all three are available both in English and French):
Charity Village
http://www.charityvillage.ca
Imagine Canada (the result of a 2005 merger between the Canadian Centre on Philanthropy and Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations)
http://www.imaginecanada.ca
NonprofitsCan is a continuously updated listing of information on the nonprofit and voluntary sector (a project of Imagine Canada).
http://www.nonprofitscan.ca


Start Up

Timothy Jaques wrote to NONPROFIT on February 1, 2000, to say:

The basics are in Forming and Managing A Non-Profit Organization In Canada, by Flora MacLeod. Please note that in Ontario some of the forms and requirements have changed recently -- for the better, making it easier in fact." (Order http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0889086427/internetnonprofi">Forming and Managing A Non-Profit Organization In Canada from Amazon.com. A royalty will be paid that will help maintain this site.)

Government Regulators




Information about federal regulation and support for charity work in Canada is available at the website of the Charities Directorate - Direction des organismes de bienfaisance of Canada Revenue Agency - Agence du revenu du Canada:
-- http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/charities/

From the website (3/1/05): "The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) registers qualifying organizations as charities, gives technical advice on operating a charity, and handles audit and compliance activities. Registered charities are required to file an annual return with the CRA, a portion of which is available to the public, and must meet certain requirements of the Income Tax Act concerning their expenditures and activities."

Further discussion of related government policies in Canada can be found at http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/faq/933-113/297-268

Employment




Job listings and discussions of nonprofit careers in Canada are featured at http://www.charitycareers.com

Check out the latest crop of nonprofit sector jobs at:
http://www.charityvillage.com/applicant/jobs.asp

And of course you can use http://www/Idealist.org">Idealist.org and search for jobs in Canada or a Canadian city.

Associations and Centers




Ben Peterson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights blogs about non-profit management. A topic as simple as it is valuable, the blog aims to provide insight to the non-profit community on how to manage, administer, and grow non-profits into sustainable organizations.
http://www.jhr.ca/ben/

CAGP*ACPDP Canadian Association of Gift Planners*Association canadienne des professionnels en dons planifies
http://www.cagp-acpdp.org/

The Calgary Centre for Non-Profit Management
403-538-8606 or http://www.thecentre.ab.ca

CharityVillage A wide-ranging web-site covering nonprofit questions, issues and resources from a Canadian perspective.
http://www.charityvillage.com

help@charityvillage.com

Tel 1-800-610-8134 * Fax (416) 352-6055

NonprofitsCan An information-rich website focused on Canadian organizations and issues. It is an initiative of the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (http://www.ccp.ca/).
http://www.nonprofitscan.org/


Volunteering



Hundreds of volunteer opportunities every week:
http://www.charityvillage.com/applicant/volunteer.asp

And also at http://www.idealist.org">Idealist.org.

Fundraising



Society of Fundraising Executives(SFRE), based in Halifax NS, "dedicated to the professional development of fund raising executives who are responsible for conducting activities with
integrity, and are committed to upholding the Society's Code of Ethics." For this and other Canadian and International Professional Associations, go to:
http://http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/nonpr/profas.asp

Kerry Cater asked about sources of information on Canadian donors. Ken Wyman replied on October 16, 1997, with this comment to The Grantsmanship Center's Forum (see http://www.tgci.com/):

The best place to find Canadian foundation info is on the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy web site http://www.ccp.ca.

Lots of free info and for a fee you can have access to the Canadian Directory of Foundations online. Or someone in Canada could go to a good library or a larger charity and see the print version. Call them at 416 515-0769.

The Canadian Centre on Philanthropy and the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations merged in 2005 to form Imagine Canada -- http://www.imaginecanada.ca

Ken Wyman wrote directly on June 29, 1999, to announce:

GOOD NEWS: You can now download and print out your own free copy of three of my books from the Internet

  • Face to Face: How to Get Bigger Donations from Very Generous People
  • Fundraising for Grassroots Groups
  • Guide to Special Events Fundraising


The URL for this Canadian government web site is
http://www.pch.gc.ca/cp-pc/partners.htm

If you prefer to have a hard copy mailed to you, the price is $40 US each , including taxes and shipping.

Groups in Canada should contact me for Canadian prices:

64B Shuter St #200

Toronto ON M5B 1B1

416 362-2926 phone; 416 362-3039 fax

Computer Recycling



Per Wayne Berry 2/19/00:

Reboot Canada

136 Geary Avenue, Suite 110

Toronto, Ontario M6H 4H1

tel: (416) 534 6017 fax: (416) 534 6083

e-mail: info@reboot.on.ca

http://www.reboot.on.ca


University Programs




Troy Lehman forwarded this list of academic programs at Canadian Universities to the ARNOVA-L list (see http://www.arnova.org) on 8/8/01:

York University: Nonprofit Management and Leadership Program (MBA concentration)
http://www.schulich.yorku.ca/NMLP.nsf/

Dalhousie University: Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program (Certificate in Non-Profit Sector Management)
http://www.dal.ca/~henson/nonprofit/

Queen's University: Public Policy and the Third Sector (MPA concentration)
http://policy.queensu.ca/sps/ThirdSector/

McGill University: Master of Management for National Volunteer Sector Leaders (Master of Management- National Voluntary Sector Leaders option).
http://www.management.mcgill.ca/exec/vleaders/index.html


Research



'Knowledge Network' Prepared for British Columbia, but probably useful throughout Canada on many topics, the experimental 'Voluntary Sector Knowledge Network' is at http://www.vskn.ca/index.htm

Sandra Bozzo wrote to ARNOVA-L on March 26, 1998:

Are you looking for the most current research on the Canadian nonprofit sector?

The Canadian Centre for Philanthropy has launched its on-line Research-in-Progress catalogue. The catalogue was developed through an exhaustive mail and telephone survey of Canadian academic researchers, national voluntary organizations, policy institutes and think tanks, as well as government departments. The catalogue contains information on research concerning nonprofit, voluntary or charitable organizations (including grass-roots or community associations and cooperatives). We have
information on ongoing research projects and recent published works.

Examples of topic areas include: accounting, administration, advocacy, accountability, charitable donations, employment, evaluation, finance, fundraising, governance, law and legislation, management practices, marketing, politics, public policy, volunteers.

The catalogue can be found on the Centre's website at:
http://www.ccp.ca/information/research

Adam Becker wrote 10/29/02:

The Philanthropist is a quarterly journal that publishes in-depth articles and information of interest and assistance to the management and directors of Canadian foundations and charities and their legal and financial advisors.

We have recently developed a web site where you can now view the table of contents for the current and most past issues, as well as subscribe or order back copies. If you are concerned about or are interested in this area of law, governance, or management, this site will be of interest to you.

--http://www.thephilanthropist.ca

Background





Carl Juneau, Assistant Director, Charities Division, Revenue Canada wrote (6/28/99):

For USA readers, here's a useful sketch of the way things are organized in Canada (sent to CharityLaw, a service of http://www.charitychannel.com):

Under Canadian Income Tax Law, the term "non-profit organization" refers to a type of organization that is tax-exempt. However, contributions or gifts to such organizations do not give rise to a tax deduction (or tax credit).

A "charity" on the other hand is tax exempt, but can also issue tax receipts that allow donors to claim a tax deduction or credit in calculating their income taxes. Such charities have to be registered with Revenue Canada in order to be able to issue the tax receipts. Theoretically at least, a charity that is not
registered, is taxable.

Other organizations besides registered charities can also issue tax receipts in exchange for gifts. These are not necessarily non-profits (Canadian municipalities, for instance), but under tax law, they are referred to collectively as "qualified donees".

A useful discussion of the limits on political activities of charities is posted by Canada Customs and Revenue Agency at http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/tax/charities/policy/cps/cps-022-e.html#P100_8549.

Sandra Bozzo wrote to ARNOVA-L on August 24, 1998:

I thought that you may be interested in knowing that the results of the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating were released this morning by Statistics Canada on behalf of a research consortium which includes the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. These statistics are the most recent stats on Canadian patterns of giving, volunteering and participating. Results of the Survey will also be released this morning at the World Volunteer Conference of the International Association for Volunteer Effort in Edmonton. The highlight report is publicly available from Stats Can at a cost of $15 or you can download it
from the Stats Can site http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/980824/d980824.htm The Canadian Centre for Philanthropy will be preparing a series of fact sheets on the survey results, which will begin to appear on the Centre's web site http://www.ccp.ca in early September (1998).

The Chronicle of Philanthropy discussed in its August 27, 1998, issue the report of the Program on Accountability and Governance in the Voluntary Sector. There is a good deal of interesting information at the program's website: http://www.pagvs.com/. (This site appears to be no longer operating though related information can be found at http://www.ccp.ca/information/documents/cp144.htm and CharityVillage's report on the project is available at http://www.charityvillage.com/charityvillage/pagvs.html -- Ed. 7/31/01)